How to Tame a Wild Tongue

The mix of languages and the fragmentary character of the text puts special demands on the reader, because the reader cannot fully comprehend the entire text. It forces the reader to go from English to Spanish, and pick out the few Spanish words that are similar to English. The readers experience is equivalent to what Anzakdua calls the “borderland,” because the reader has to constantly switch back and forth between dialects and cultural associations. The different cultural aspects of each dialect are also presented to the reader through the Spanish language. The nature of encounters across cultures in multicultural America reveals to me the struggles people face living in lands near the borders. They are faced with the challenged of cultural and language barriers.

Although Anzaldua has combined seven separate sections of writings, they all represent a unified theme. Anzaldua expresses the challenges and struggles that face people living near borders, especially the language barriers between English and Spanish. She illustrates the shame and rejection of identifying with different Spanish dialects. Yet the message that she is trying to make is that although different Spanish dialects have been ridiculed, they will thrive, and continue to be spoken.