Analysis Of How To Tame A Wild Tongue

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In today’s world, multicultural or multi-ethnicity is an identity that most people have problems with defining. It is expected that a person who is multicultural, identifies with only one of the cultures rather than both. Also there is an expectation that those who live in a country of one of their cultures has suppress any other ones. Race and ethnicity are two identities that easily confused. Race is a social construct on the physical appearance of a person. While ethnicity can not be defined because the definition has so many meanings. During a conference, it was discussed that It could revolve around culture, but also it could revolve around how the person feels internally. So being multi-ethnicity adds on to the pressure to define who …show more content…
She starts the story with a metaphorical story about a doctor trying to control a tongue. There is a saying called “hold your tongue” meaning to remain silent. Anzaldua uses the doctor in the story to express the compression to conform to the way other people want in that way. As she continues her story she goes into details about the different cultures that are actually in the Mexican culture. Anzaldua is part of the chicanos colonization, a group who speaks Spanish but also includes English in their language. Many people in the “dominant” culture and even those of the Mexican decent, judge the way that the chicanos speak. It is perceived as being wrong. She says that her “ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity-- I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself”(46). She connects her identity with her language. Since that language includes both her Mexican and American culture, she accepts both sides of her …show more content…
Some people perceive that my race is black and my ethnicity is Jamaican or just caribbean, but black can also become a culture. My grandmom and her ancestors were all born and grew up in Jamaica. My father though was born in America, and adapted both the Jamaican culture and the black. Jamaican culture is a combination of cultures coming together. For example hispanics, latinos, and some Africans. The motto is “one of many”. The black culture is also like this, but it mostly the African culture. There are some items that are part of the black culture, but are not part of the Jamaican culture and vice versa. How I navigate through these identities is that I let people know that I have a background of Jamaican decent, but I also am still black. When I need to express my one culture in a situation then do so. I more so experience these two ethnicities in different surroundings. While I am at home, it is expected that I will respect and show homage to the Jamaican roots. For example, when I get home I have to make sure that I call my immediate family members and tell them about my day. They all have a Jamaican “twist” involved in it. When I am outside of my home, I feed more into the black culture for many reasons. The first item that people notice about me is the color of skin so I usually do not just blantly talk about my background. This multiplicity causes me to read text with a more open mind toward