Understanding Our Identities in America

                    People don’t realize that we begin learning about the world the moment we are born. We begin to take in information about language and culture from the environment around us. Every thing we’re exposed to adds onto and changes our view on the world. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, Gloria Anzaldúa used her own experiences to get a better understanding of her culture, her language, and the Americanness she grew up with which helped her accept her cultural identities and finally know where she belongs, even if it’s everywhere.
         Right away she uses a metaphor of a dentist picking at her mouth, “cleaning” and “fixing” it, mentioning “doing something about your tongue” twice. This is when the title comes in and she asks herself “How do you tame a wild tongue?” (page 33) The issue though is that her tongue, which is reference to her culture language and mainly her accent, is only wild to society standards because she’s different. This situation is a perfect example of what growing up in America and being of different backgrounds is like,  something many can relate to and not just immigrants but anyone with more than one ethnic backgrounds.“If you want to be American, speak American. If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong” (Page 34). She would get punished for correcting a teacher who pronounced her name wrong, as well as just speaking Spanish at recess. Basically saying that unless she changed, she’d never be American nor will she ever belong. Teachers, neighbors, Etc. they all will try to “americanize” you, practically ridding you of who you are completely. Anzaldua was told not to speak her language and to rid herself of her accent in order to have a better future and she was told this by her own mother as well. “ I want you to speak English. Pa’ hallar bien trabajo tienes que saber hablar el inglés bien. Que vale toda tu educación si todavía hablas el inglés con un “accent””. (Page 34) Her mother, like many parents out there, want the best for their child even if it means leaving her heritage behind because that seems to be the only way to get by in America, by adapting to Americanness. If she appeared as though she was fully American, her life would be easier in the future. The negative influence America had on her view of her own culture seems to be what gave her the perspective of Americaness, from what I’ve read she sees it as what “white” Americans consider “American” and the changes many have to go through to adapt to that.

            As I mentioned before, her mother also wanted her to assimilate into the American culture to better her life. Not being fully American made her life harder, anyone who wasn’t fully American or considered full American knows that. Anzaldua was Chicana, Mexican-American, Tex-Mex, etc. She was of two different cultures in a world where she could only be one. She compared it to sitting on a saddle at the border because she would be looking at either side, turning her head every which way. She grew up with the Mexican culture, the holidays, the food, the beliefs, etc. But she also grew up with the American holidays, the Texas food, the slang, etc. Since vast majority of this living as Tex-Mex weren’t accepted by either side, they made their own culture and their own language. “…a language with terms that are neither español ni inglés, but both. We speak patois, a forked tongue, a variation of two languages.” (Page 36)  The Chicano language is a mix of both English and Spanish, making it very hard to understand if you’re only from one side. Soon it was a mix of both, a mixture that was different depending on the community and the family. Anzaldua may have been able to hold a conversation with her family and neighbors in the Chicano tongue, but if she went to another city and spoke her version of Chicano to another Chicano, they wouldn’t have understood her.

        The issue with being Chicano (Tex-Mex, Mexican American)  is that the culture itself is very mixed. There isn’t one specific language or one specific way of doing things and that’s what made Chicanos different towards one another. Instead of being one culture and standing up to those who wanted to get rid of them, they fought with each other. Her own culture tried to “out Chicano” one another. It’s not an environment many grow up with, and it’s the first I’ve heard of it so it’s hard to relate. I feel like this gave her a different view on culture than most people have. Anzaldua’s understanding of culture involved her knowing a language yet at the same time not knowing it. It involved her being confused about whether she’s Mexican or American as well as what kind of Chicana she is. She sees culture as more than just one country- one language, but as something much more specific and detailed that it applies to all aspects of a group of people.

             Anzaldua wasn’t American, and she wasn’t Mexican either. She was too American to be considered Mexican in the eyes of a Mexican, and too Mexican to be considered American in the eyes of an American. She grew up with different cultures, mixed cultures, different languages, different dialects of the languages, and Americanness. She questioned whether she was one or the other, whether she could call herself Chicana when there isn’t just one kind, whether leaving her heritage behind was the best choice. As she got older, though, her experiences helped her get a better understanding of each of those thing. It helped her realize that yes she is Chicana, yes she is Mexican, yes she is American, yes she is Mestiza, tejanos and raza. It helped her accept her cultural identity and finally know where she belongs, even if it’s everywhere.