How To Tame A Wild Tongue

How To Tame A Wild Tongue

Anzaldua's purpose of "How to Tame A Wild Tongue" is to show how language is the key to freedom and self-identity. With language, she is able to represent who she is as a Chicano and the struggles she has to face in society. Even though others look down upon her because is a Chicano and does not fit into certain groups such as English or Hispanic speaking, she is still proud of her identity and the ability to represent it through language. 

As a reader, Anzaldua's use of Spanish or different variants of it throughout the text can be very confusing. Although, this displays the author's purpose. The reader's confusion shows how language can be extremely powerful and without that level of fluency you are not able to understand what she is saying. This also shows Anzaldua's experience as a Spanish speaker in American culture and the stigma that she must speak English if she is in the United States. As a reader, you expect her to translate into English like she was expected to speak English at all times. 

The use of personal experiences strengthens her argument by displaying how language can affect how people see you. By giving her own experiences, you can understand all of the different languages she needs to use when talking to certain people. This also gives her credibility and the audience is able to trust her perspective and get a feel for her multilingual lifestyle. Using personal experiences also makes readers feel included. If the author just started to list the different languages and didn't give her own perspective, the audience would not be as educated about her experiences nor really comprehend the struggles that she faces. 

Anzaldua believes that English is a neutral language that she can use in different environments without the judgment of others around her. Her main purpose was so she could hold off on speaking Chicano Spanish so that other Spanish or English speakers and peers would not deem who she was based on the language she was speaking. English becomes a neutral language when two people from different variants of a language need a form to communicate. I agree with Anzaldua that English is a neutral language because it is used frequently between people who speak different languages and need a form to communicate in.