Nicolette Van Duysen
September 2, 2014
English 1100
Response to “How to Tame a Wild
Tongue”
What Makes You, You
Did
you ever wonder what really makes you who you are? In the passage “How to Tame
a Wild Tongue,” by Gloria Anzaldua, she explains how your language is what
makes up your identity. In her work she gives the reader insight to her
language and how it is significant to her in describing who she is. As a reader
to her work I would agree that your language makes up a piece of who you are.
It’s how you speak, read, understand things and shows a little bit of your
culture; however, it is only part of who you are. Even though language gives
you a form of self, it is just a smaller portion of the list of things that
identifies you. However, my town creates my identity because, it taught me
everything growing up shaping my personality and who I am today; in my opinion,
where you are from ties everything together about your identity and makes up
the largest part of what makes you, you.
Evidently, for Anzaldua
in her piece, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she used language as a form of
identity and how to express herself; however, for me it is my town. That is,
identity is supposed to be the thing that expresses who you are inside and out.
Identity is something that describes you the best. It does not have to be
through a sentence or an item, it can be a place as well. If you are able to
look at something and say, “Everything right here describes who I am,” that is
your identity. My town made me the person I am today and creates my identity. I grew up in
Freehold nearly my whole life, and know it inside and out. For instance, I had
various memories there that I will have with me for the rest of my life and
along with them comes with life lessons. I cherish countless amounts of
memories I’ve had in Freehold: the good, which make me show my love and
appreciation for what I have, and the bad that has stemmed where my morals lie
today and how guarded I am as a person.
Each place, which is similar to certain landmarks in Freehold, always
makes me have my town in the back of my mind. Whether each person’s experience
was good or bad, the town that you grew up in made every individual into the
person they are today.
Furthermore,
relating to Anzaldua’s multiple languages, in my town we say words that other
towns outside of our area may have never heard of before. For example, we say
words like “shive”, which means if you say you are going to do something and
then do not do it you are a “shive” or “just shived”. There are various words
other than this one that if you were to say anywhere else people would just
look at you funny; since it has become a part of my personality and everyday
language I still say these words. This is similar to when she used the word
“Pachuco.” Pachuco is the language that she only spoke with her friends and
used slang that most people did not understand. Anzaldua was able to understand
this slang because she grew up saying these words with her friends, while other
people not from her area would not understand her slang. This is the slang that
she was talking about that she had only used with her friends. My town says
words that you will not be able to find in the dictionary or by searching them
on Google, because they do not exist in the English language; however, if
anyone in Freehold uses these words, we would understand what the other person
meant on instinct.
In
addition, as Anzaldua continues to use language describing her identity, I
believe your town forms your identity as well. In other words, where you grew
up shapes you into everything you have become as you get older. For instance,
even the language that you speak that Anzaldua is so passionate about, comes
from where you were raised and how you have been taught by the people around
you. Anzaldua states in the text, “… I am my language. Until I can take pride
in my language, I cannot take pride in myself.” I feel the same way about where
you grew up. If you cannot take pride in
that, and realize where you were raised built you in your years, then you need
to do a reevaluation on who you think you are. My town is my rock because that
is where I grew up, and everything I learned and will continue learning in my
years is stemmed off of it. It is every childhood memory, every first anything,
every food place that sticks with you through your life and cannot compare to
anything else. For example, personally I do not like pizza, but for me the only
pizza I will eat is from a place in my town called Feds. I love the gelato
place next to it called Café 360, where there would be couches everywhere that
I can just hangout with my friends with. By doing that for so long it became
one of my favorite things to do, and a relaxation to me. Just to sit down on
some benches with friends, listening to cars go by and having small conversation became one of
my favorite things by being accustomed to doing it so much growing up. Nothing
would ever replace the aroma that filled the air of various scents of different
foods such as pizza, and cheesesteaks from all the diners being right next to
each other, with that distinct musty scent in the air from all the traffic
crowding the area. It was not the best smell, but I knew it was home. The
reason why places in your town cannot compare to anything else, is because that
is part of your identity and what made you, you. Your town has done the
significant job of making you who you are, as life goes on you will always go
through changes, but you will never change the person you are inside and have
become. That is, where you grew up makes you into the person you are today.
That
being said, my town is one of the most essential things that create my
identity. However, going by Anzaldua’s perspective she claims that her language
is her identity. The town you are from creates your character. On the other
hand, language is a big part of your identity, but it is just an example of the
things that come with where you grew up (the greater picture). In other words, you could speak a different
language and be the exact same person at heart, but if I had grew up somewhere
else, I would not be the same person that I am today. In my opinion, the
statement in the previous sentence holds true for everyone as well. All that
you have become is from right in that couple mile distance that you knew every
square inch of your whole life.
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