Gloria Anzaldua | |
Gloria AnzalduaGloria Anzaldua, "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" Gloria Anzaldua (1942- ) was born in Jesus Maria of the Valley, which
is situated within Texas's Rio Grande Valley. Anzaldua earned a B.A. from
Pan American University in 1969 and an M.A. from the University of Texas
at Austin in 1973. She has taught at the University of California at Santa
Cruz, Georgetown University, and Colorado University. Anzaldua frequently
explores feminism, sexual identity, and Chicana issues in her work, and
is noted for her passionate style and concern for the spiritual. Her books
include the collection of essays and poems, Borderlands/La Frontera:
The New Mestiza (1987), several children's books, and a collection
of short fiction, La Prieta (1995). Anzaldua also contributes to
periodicals such as Ikon and Third Woman. Among her awards
and honors, she has won a National Endowment for the Arts fiction award,
an American Book Award, and the Sappho Award of Distinction. "How
to Tame a Wild Tongue" is taken from Borderlands. | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION | CONTENT - What policy did Anzaldua's grade school have about speaking Spanish
while on the premises? Did things change much at Pan American University?
- What distinction does the author draw between speaking "American"
and speaking "English" in paragraphs five and six?
- Explain what Anzaldua means by this sentence in paragraph ten: "Language
is a male discourse."
- Why are students sometimes encouraged to take French in high school
and college, and not Spanish?
- How does the author relate language to self-identity?
- How and why did Chicano/Chicana Spanish arise? How does the author
use it? How does it differ from other kinds of Spanish?
- Explain the author's concept of "linguistic terrorism."
According to Anzaldua, what repercussions has this trend had for Chicana
feminists?
STRATEGY AND STYLE - Anzaldua divides her essay into sections and provides titles for
them. What does she gain from this choice? How would the piece be different
without?
- What's ironic about the title? What does the author seem to be saying
about taming "wild tongues"?
- Why do you think Anzaldua devotes the first three paragraphs to the
anecdote about her trip to the dentist? How does it fit in with the
rest of the essay? Do you attach any particular significance to the
fact that the dentist is a man? Explain.
- Compare the quote that makes up paragraph four to the one that ends
this piece. Both concern language, but how are they different? How do
these two quotes mirror the development of the essay itself?
- In paragraph seventeen, the author makes a list of "some of
the languages" Chicanos speak, breaking it down into eight. What
effect does this list and her use of the word "some" have
upon her remarks about the nature of her language
| ENGAGING THE TEXT | - Recall a time someone made an assumption about you based solely upon
the language you used. How did it make you feel? Explain. How can you
relate these feelings to your reading?
- Should non-English speaking people intending to live in the U.S.
learn English? Why or why not? Is English your first language? What
impact does the answer to that last question have on your answer to
the first two? How might have these factors in your life affected your
reading of this essay?
| SUGGESTIONS FOR SUSTAINED WRITING | - Examine the author's use of italics throughout the essay. If you
don't speak Spanish, did any of italicized words give you trouble? What
did you do about it? If you do speak Spanish, what effect might this
technique have upon non-Spanish speakers, and did you have any trouble
with dialect? In either case, how can you relate these issues to the
essay's stance on multilingualism more broadly?
- How many languages do you speak? Pick the language you speak the
most and break it down into sublanguages and dialects and slang, as
Anzaldua has done. How many can you come up with? Describe when and
where you use each of your languages.
| FOR FURTHER RESEARCH | Anzaldua argues that even when discussing the broad topic of Spanish/English
acculturation, it is misleading to call it a "bilingual" topic,
because many different languages are involved. Pick a specific state or
locality and do some research to find out what, if any, multicultural
initiatives have been/are being raised. What are the main issues being
discussed in this area? If this topic doesn't seem to be much of a concern
in the area you've picked, why isn't it? Should it be? | WEB CONNECTION | Read this review
of Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. What did you learn
about the book from the review itself? What issues raised in the review
would necessitate consulting the book itself in order to find out? | LINKS | Biographical Are you unsure of where to start your online research? You'll find
a biography, a photo, four bibliographies, and some links at Anzaldua's
page
at the Voices From the Gaps site. Here is a page
about Anzaldua that contains a biographical sketch and some links. What's
different about the information here, compared to that found on the
page above? What, do you think, accounts for the difference? Would you prefer a stand alone approach to this author's biography?
Here's a brief
bio, along with a photo and some links.
Bibliographical Ready for some of Anzaldua's work in e-text? Great! Here's a page
with links to some excerpts of Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza.
Do you like using e-text? Why or why not? Did you know that this author also writes books for children? Here's
a bit more information
about one of Anzaldua's children's books.
Cultural Interested in studying the topic of Spanglish further? This essay
called "The Gravitas of Spanglish" from The Chronicle of
Higher Education is a good place to start. How can you compare this
reading to the one in your text? Interested in putting this author's work into a cultural context? Here
are some feminism
and women's literature links. How can this information help you
in your writing about Anzaldua?
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