Rhetorical Analysis of Gloria Anzaldúa's 'How to Tame a Warm Tongue'

“How to Tame a Warm Tongue” (1987) is a memoir about Gloria Anzaldúa’s internal identity struggles as a Chicana and speaking Chicano Spanish, which is a mix of English and Spanish. She faced many challenges in her youth about her identity as a Chicana and her language being seen as “a mutilation of Spanish” (Anzaldúa 137). Anzaldúa cites several perspectives about how Chicanos and Chicanas view themselves and the yearning to be proud to be a Chicano, and to not be seen as an abomination of speaking of a language that was created and evolved through history. This work gives an insight about other languages that people may not be aware of its existence and the hidden struggles immigrants and their descendants go through.

I do not have the same struggles as the author did involving language, however, I can relate to her initial identity struggles. As a second generation Vietnamese-American, my family made my education as the first priority I was pressured into learning English much faster, but as a result I grew up with a lack of knowledge about my Vietnamese heritage. I was not fluent in reading, speaking, or writing my native language, but I understood enough to communicate with my family. It was a struggle for me as my likes and dislikes such as food and music leaned towards to the American culture I was constantly exposed to in comparison to my Vietnamese culture that I grew up with and this made feel like I did not fit in as if I was a puzzle piece that does not quite fit. With my American friends they would be confused my Asian habits and vice versa with my family about my American mannerisms, but despite my struggles I never once felt ashamed about who I am, just like the author I am proud of my identity.

Anzaldúa is bringing attention for her culture and language, Chicano. In the past she was shamed for speaking Chicano Spanish, it was seen as a “a bastard language.” (Anzaldúa 141), then, she tells the history behind the language. The language was born from the people’s desire to find something to connect with. People who did not feel like they can comfortably identify as a Mexican or Anglo, “for a people who cannot entirely identify with either standard (formal, Castillian) Spanish nor standard English, what recourse is left to them but to create their own language?” (Anzaldúa 138). She describes the rules and difference between standard Spanish and Chicano Spanish, such as using archaic forms of the letter j, leaving out initial syllables, adding syllables, borrow words from English, and consists of Tex-Mex slang “cookiar for cook, watcher for watch, parkiar for park, and rapiar for rape,” (Anzaldúa 140). It is not simply a dialect it became its own language for the Chicanos. Her audience is her fellow Chicanos and Chicanas, to find pride within themselves and be proud of who they are, “We know how to survive. When other races have given up their tongue, we’ve kept ours” (Anzaldúa 146).

Works Cited

1. Anzaldúa, Gloria. “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.” Connections: Guide to First-Year at Clayton State University, by Mary R. Lamb and Patricia A. Smith, Ninth ed., Clayton State Department of First-Year Writing, 2019, pp. 136–146.