8.3: A Rhetorical Reading Activity

Below is an excerpt from Gloria Anzaldua’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” an autobiographic text that demonstrates how the author finds her identity as Chicana, shaped by multiple language practices and responses.

I remember being caught speaking Spanish at recess—
that was good for three licks on the knuckles
with a sharp ruler. I remember being sent to the corner
of the classoom for “talking back” to the Anglo
teacher when all I was trying to do was tell her how
to pronounce my name. “If you want to be American,
speak ‘American.’ If you don’t like it, go back to
Mexico where you belong.”

“I want you to speak English. Pa’ hallar buen trabajo
tienes que saber hablar el ingles bien. Que vale toda
tu educacion si todavia hablas ingles con un ‘accent,’”
my mother would say, mortified that I spoke English
like a Mexican. At Pan American University, I and all
Chicano students were required to take two speech
classes. Their purpose: to get rid of our accents.

Attacks on one’s form of expression with the intent
to censor are a violation of the First Amendment. El
Anglo con cara de inocente nos arranco la lengua.
Wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut
out.