In the excerpt from Borderlands/ La Frontera, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, Gloria Anzaldúa, conveys the message that language is an individual’s identity as she delves into the circumstances that Chicano Mexicans, who she identifies herself with, are experiencing. The author implements a number of personal experiences to provide a credible, rational, and emotional appeal. This along with the tropes and schemes, anaphora, polysyndeton, metaphor, simile, allegory, allusion, and erotema develop a powerful message. As the events described in the passage center in the Rio Grande Valley, the origin of this dialect, Anzaldúa frequently code switches between English and Spanish to emphasize certain points of the excerpt. Under the oppression of the
…show more content…
Through the implementation of anaphora, Anzaldúa emphasizes the differences between this and other dialects of Spanish by the repetition of “We” adding to the idea that language is identity as “Chicano Spanish sprang out of the Chicanos’ need to identify ourselves as a distinct people.” (36, 38). Anzaldúa expresses that “I am my language,” contributing also to this idea as the metaphor emphasizes the author directly revealing this (39). She relays that the worst way to hurt her is to offend Chicano Spanish because it is the author’s ethnic and racial identity, prompting the audience to have an increase in sympathy as they know that Chicanos have already had this characteristic insulted before. A majority of Chicanos and Chicanas are ashamed of their linguistic because it has been labeled as an illegitimate language. As the main threat of the enormous sizes of English and Spanish continues, it is revealed that Chicanos possess a large amount of shame because of its label as an illegitimate language to the extent that when Anzaldúa encounters literature pieces from these people, she is shocked at their presence. These pieces are overshadowed by a more influential entity. This provides the author with the motivation to write this excerpt as she desires for people to take pride in their
Through the implementation of anaphora, Anzaldúa emphasizes the differences between this and other dialects of Spanish by the repetition of “We” adding to the idea that language is identity as “Chicano Spanish sprang out of the Chicanos’ need to identify ourselves as a distinct people.” (36, 38). Anzaldúa expresses that “I am my language,” contributing also to this idea as the metaphor emphasizes the author directly revealing this (39). She relays that the worst way to hurt her is to offend Chicano Spanish because it is the author’s ethnic and racial identity, prompting the audience to have an increase in sympathy as they know that Chicanos have already had this characteristic insulted before. A majority of Chicanos and Chicanas are ashamed of their linguistic because it has been labeled as an illegitimate language. As the main threat of the enormous sizes of English and Spanish continues, it is revealed that Chicanos possess a large amount of shame because of its label as an illegitimate language to the extent that when Anzaldúa encounters literature pieces from these people, she is shocked at their presence. These pieces are overshadowed by a more influential entity. This provides the author with the motivation to write this excerpt as she desires for people to take pride in their