Gloria Anzaldua's How To Tame A Wild Tongue

In Gloria Anzaldua’s, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” she emphasizes her feelings on the racial, societal and cultural differences that she faces as a Mexican living in the United States. Anzaldua’s story starts with the setting of her at the dentist. She writes, “I hear the anger rising in his voice. My tongue keeps pushing out the wads of cotton, pushing back the drills, the long thin needles. And I think, how do you tame a wild tongue, train it to be quiet, how do you bridle and saddle it? How do you make it lie down?” Reading this quote at the beginning of Anzaldua’s story conveys a great metaphorical image on what is trying to be directed to me as a reader. In the article, Anzaldua writes about “Linguistic Terrorism”. To me, this is a term that is lucid and idiosyncratic. She clarifies this term by connecting historical context to further blossom the meaning. For instance, in her story Anzaldua says, “Attacks on one's form of expression with the intent to censor are a violation of the First Amendment. Wild tongues can't be tamed, they can only be cut out.” I completely agree with the author when she illustrates that the attacks on one’s form of expression (in her case language and identity) with the intent to censor is not socially ethical. One of the more frustrating aspects of this story is that …show more content…
Mellix provides some examples of the occurrence of language switching in her story. For instance, Mellix’s says, “As a child I felt this same doubleness in uptown Greeleyville where the whites lived. ‘Ain't that a pretty dress you're wearing!’ Toby, the town policeman, said to me one day when I was fifteen. ‘Thank you very much,’ I replied, my voice barely audible in my own ears. The words felt wrong in my mouth, rigid,