Franklin De Los Santos Case

Franklin De Los Santos

Prof. Terra Stevenson

English 28, Section 4923

October 15, 2014

In America, or any other country in the world for that matter, people shouldn't judge or look down upon non-native speakers, or people with non-American accents. The rebellious actions in "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" by Gloria Anzaldua(pg. 15), "Tongue Tied" by Maxine Hong Kingston(pg. 10), and "Graduation" by Maya Angelou(pg. 74), all bring awareness to the American people about the suppressed, the ones that we wrongfully consider outliers in our society. Both authors transmit this message through their writing. Making sure we are aware of it. But we all know it is intrinsically wrong.

We have two characters forced to exclude something native to them for the sake of fitting into society but refused to do so for the greater good. It is impossible to force out ones origins, no matter what. It is an emotional connection to our beginnings we all have deep inside us that prevents this, as clearly expressed throughout the two stories. You can lead the horse to water, but you can't make it drink (Cambridge idioms dictionary, 2nd Ed.). As the character says, "Wild tongues can't be tamed, they can only be cut out" (How to tame a Wild Tongue, p. 7), I can't even begin to describe how powerful this statement is. It tells me how integrated her language is in her heart. She is basically saying that America has to deal with it. It's a significant statement. Language is who we are, it's our identity. It's heritage. It can't be changed.

In "Tongue tied", the character goes through dramatic life scenes that are normally expected as an adult. All due to judgment, judgment that crushes the confidence it takes for a person to feel comfortable enough to fit in, especially to speak up. Here in America, it is important to just speak up and say what you want to say. But it is also important to do it naturally and confidently. Like in, Graduation, the way you look or the way you speak doesn't signify where or which group you belong to. Without speech one has nothing. To think that language dictates what group we belong to is not true. Maxine rebelled against his own and joined the blacks, and image that to all of us may seem odd. But he felt comfortable there, clearly showing us that just because your accent or language doesn't match that of others doesn't mean you don't belong or cannot be part of that group. Both characters show that there aren't really any obstacles in joining other ethnicities or group, language is not a barrier. It's all just an illusion created by society, but in reality it is not necessary to exclude yourself from certain groups or hide your identity. Anzaldua rebelliously creates her own secret language called Pachuco. She is proud of her heritage and to show us how important it is to her she even uses it in her work.

In "How to Tame a Wild Tongue", the teacher seems to belittle the