How to Tame a Wild Tongue

In How to Tame a Wild Tongue, the writer describes her background in a dual culture society.  She recalls personal experiences as a child, having multiple required speech classes and being targeted because of the way she spoke. She was treated like Speaking Spanish in America made her less than those who spoke English. Anzaldua claims, "If you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language...I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself."  She struggles with the passion she has for her language and her feelings of not being able to embrace it. Anzaldua describes, “Being Mexican is a state of soul – not a state of mind.”  This thought comes after a lifetime of enduring two cultures’ demands. Realizing a sense of pride from her Latino culture opened a doorway of opportunity into her academic culture.  Knowing she has evolved and is a part of a new future she accepts both cultures’ positives and negatives and uses them to inspire her writings.