Gloria Anzaldua speaks on taming a “wild tongue” that she has due to her Chicano language. She is reminded by society that she is different and the way she speaks is different. Due to this, she and others who speak in the same way are expected to keep quiet. Anzaldua’s experience at the dentist shows what her life is like. The dentist is telling her she has a wild tongue and despite what he does, he can’t keep it controlled. This shows her experience of not being controlled by society. She has a wild tongue because she speaks differently than everyone else, and society wants her and people like her to conform to the language of everyone else. She was being forced to change her own identity by having to lose the language she spoke. The way someone speaks and their primary language is the largest way a person expresses themselves. Taking away the language of a group can lessen their ability to express their lives and experiences. Taking away the ability for people to express themselves can affect generations after them and can also ostracize them from society. They may also be seen as less than everyone else for speaking a different way. The Chicano Spanish can also be seen as “low class” by other Spanish speakers but is actually just a different way of people to express themselves and should not be class related. In the end, people should not have to lose their own language because they are seen as different or less than everyone else.
-Stephanie Wilhite
I agree with your statement that language should not define the class of the individual, but should just be a way for them to express themselves. However, your response doesn’t touch on what the phrase “taming” means specifically in the way that Anzaldua is using it.