Skip to Main Content

Lesson 13

We will analyze Gloria Anzaldúa’s essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” and determine how her word choice and imagery contribute to her attempts to legitimize her community’s evolution of language.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I use a variety of strategies (e.g., context clues, word study, and vocabulary resources) to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, phrases, and figurative expressions?

  • Can I express an accurate understanding of the central ideas of texts?

  • Can I recognize and interpret language and sentence structures to deepen my understanding of texts?

  • Can I identify the claims, reasoning, and evidence used to develop arguments and explanations?

  • Can I evaluate the effects of literary devices and rhetoric in texts?

  • Can I use connections among details, elements, and effects to make logical deductions about an author’s perspective, purpose, and meaning in texts?

  • Can I recognize points of connection among texts, textual elements, and perspectives to make logical, objective comparisons?

Texts

Core

  • Unit Reader
    • “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” excerpt from Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Aunt Lute Books. Reproduced with permission from the estate of Gloria Anzaldúa., 1987

Materials

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Write

We will return to Anzaldúa’s “How To Tame A Wild Tongue” in order to determine her central message.

In the introduction to the essay, the editor notes that keeping her tongue "wild…is Anzaldúa’s way of asserting her identity." Considering this, respond to the following question in your Learning Log:

  1. How do you feel this was accomplished in her essay? Support your response with textual evidence.

Activity 2: Read – Write – Discuss

We will continue our analysis of Anzaldúa’s essay by answering text-dependent questions.

Step 1

In your Learning Log, respond to the following questions, using the annotations you made while reading Anzaldúa’s essay to aid in your response:

  1. How would you describe the relationship Anzaldúa communicates between language and community?

  2. How does Anzaldúa’s blending of languages in her writing impact meaning? If you do not understand what she is saying when she speaks in another language, do you need to? Do you feel she wishes for her reader to translate these sections into English?

  3. Consider the connotations Anzaldúa employs when discussing "American English." How would she define that particular language?

  4. Anzaldúa suggests that to rid oneself of one’s accent correlates to a removal of one’s culture. Do you agree with this assertion?

  5. What is the "tradition of silence" to which Anzaldúa refers? Does this still exist? If so, describe its influence.

  6. Describe how Anzaldúa uses the identification of variants of a larger language to represent factions of a larger community. What is the relationship between those factions? Note any perceived hierarchical structure.

  7. Describe Anzaldúa’s journey as an individual and connect it to her evolution in language usage. What is the argued connection between identity and language? Cite evidence from the text to support your conclusion.

  8. Why is it important to see your "self" and your language reflected back at you through larger forms of media (songs, books, movies)? Describe your own experiences with this phenomenon.

  9. Return to the list you made of words that allude to violence. What is their effect? How do they contribute to the overall tone of Anzaldúa’s essay?

Step 2

Share your responses with a partner, taking time to discuss differences in your thought processes, especially in areas where those differences may impact your understanding of the larger meaning of the text.

Activity 3: Read – Write

We will consider how Anzaldúa’s text and her overall argument connect thematically with other texts read in this unit.

Nearing the end of her essay, Anzaldúa says, "we do not mean a national identity, but a racial one." Considering how this idea has been expressed in other texts you have read in this unit, respond to the following question in your Learning Log:

  1. How would you classify other authors’ stances on this notion? Carefully consider the arguments made by previous authors when crafting your response.

Share your response with the whole class during discussion.

Activity 4: Write

We will reflect on what we have read and determine which stylistic strategies from each text we might use to help us express the features of our own communities in our Culminating Task.

Step 1

Recall the texts you have read in this section. Review your notes and annotations for each text and respond to the following question in your Learning Log:

  1. Which author spoke most passionately about their community? How and why?

Step 2

Choose one of the texts and respond to the following question:

  1. What stylistic or rhetorical devices did the author use that made his or her piece effective?

Write down your answer in the “Writer’s Rhetorical Toolbox” section of your Learning Log.

Step 3

Choose one of the following tasks to complete:

  • analyze why the stylistic or rhetorical device you chose is effective

  • try to write your own sentence using the same device

Share your responses with a partner.