Amy Tan's How To Tame A Wild Tongue

Most people may have some form of language barrier, no matter what background they came from. Difference are what define the world around us. Whether a soft contrast of two colors or a comparison of nations, the diversity shapes our identities. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldúa and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, both have similar subject as they both discussed how different forms of the same language are recognized in society. They emphasize the fact that a person can unconsciously develop different ideas through a language and categorizes an individual by the way they speak. How can identity be molded by language? Language is part of one’s identity.
Both articles reflect how the language an individual speak is linked with their identity. Anzaldúa and Tan’s article both displayed a strong aid for their claim that many languages one’s speaks has a major impact on the way they interact with the society. They both demonstrate the essence of language, using their own experiences. They both talked about how they grew up surrounded with limited
American values are frequently forced upon students or workers. There are few times, where people look down on people who do not accept the American Way of Life. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Anzaldúa wrote, “So if you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language” (Anzaldúa 445). Linguistic identity can be difficult for a bilingual person, being somewhere in-between two different culture is confusing and sometimes uncomfortable. A person can’t simply identify with one or the other because each culture has impacted an individual’s life. Being a bilingual also creates boundaries and limitations because the feeling of being disconnected from the language and culture a person is