Revision: "How to Tame a Wild Heart"

How to Tame a Wild Heart Revision
Gloria Anzaldúa’s Essay: How to Tame a Wild Tongue drew an interesting analogy comparing the physical organ of her tongue to her language. The first part of her paper speaks of her experience with a dentist and her overly active tongue. However, then Ms. Anzaldúa changes her focus to speaking Spanish. The dichotomy was humorously portrayed. She expressed her firm desire to maintain the use of her inherited language, even though it brought out hostility toward her at times.
In her essay, Ms. Anzaldúa told of the treatment she received at the hands of her teacher. Once, when he heard her complaining about learning English and wanting to be able to use the Chicano language, he told her “If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong.” (78) This was a cruel, vindictive and very offensive comment to be made by anyone, but especially by a teacher. This intolerant behavior has no place in a learning institution. The second part of his quote tells me the teacher’s bigotry goes beyond Ms. Anzaldúa’s language. Ms. Anzaldúa defended the use of her language and went on to explain more about it.
The history of the Chicano language as described by her was fascinating. The many variations and dialects are similar to how English is spoken around the world. My family had quite a bit of difficulty understanding the English being spoken in the Philippines and they had a very difficult time understanding us. Ms. Anzaldúa also described how her language, like many Latin-based languages had a gender in its speech and how this carried over into the culture. Her assertion of male dominated culture marginalizing women in their language was illustrated with her quote; “language is a male discourse.” (79) This may be accurate for many cultures, though not all. Her experiences differ quite a bit from mine.

My own experiences with Hispanic friends and relatives have had very strong female influences. My aunt married into a Latino family that had a dominate matriarch. Her husband’s mother also came from a Hispanic background like Ms. Anzaldúa however; she did not acquiesce to any man. She also spoke two languages. Most of my family is bilingual with one language or another. Ms. Anzaldúa’s comments on the attitude toward her language do bring up some questions.

It would be safe to say no Greek today speaks the same language of Euripides or Plato. No German uses the same way of speaking as the Visigoths. Modern Germans or Greeks are not any less of a people than their ancient ancestors because they use a different language. For that matter; we do not speak English the same way our founding fathers did. Language is fluid and always changing. Ms. Anzaldúa’s desire to hold onto cultural pride is understandable. However, holding on to something like a language foreign to where you are living could be inferred as a way of keeping a people separated. It is not logical to expect society to change to suit Ms. Anzaldúa. There are more than 6800 different languages in the world. (Ethnologe; Languages of the World 1) It is not the responsibility of everyone in the world to speak every language. One could ask if Ms. Anzaldúa can speak Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian or Navaho.
People have the choice to bend to get along in an environment or stand defiant. Whether that person decides to fight for language, religion, politics or anything else, it is they who choose to make it a fight. When we stand and fight the current, the river is not at fault. In my own travels abroad it never occurred to me to expect the indigenous people to be able to speak English. It is my responsibility to learn to communicate in the environment fate or my own choices have placed me. Language is a tool. The function of a language is to communicate a person’s thoughts, needs or wants. If the language a person is using isn’t able to do this, it should be modified or abandoned.