"This voluntary (yet forced) alienation makes for psychological conflict, a kind of dual identity--we don't identity with the Anglo-American cultural vales and we don't totally identify with the
Mexican cultural values. We are a synergy of two cultures with various degrees of Mexicanness
or Angloness. I have so internalized the borderland conflict that sometimes I feel like one cancels out the other and we are zero, nothing, no one."43,How to Tame a Wild Tongue,Gloria Anzaldua. The conflict she feel is very real because, Gloria Anzaldua believes that she must make a choice and then begin to live one life, either being an American or Mexican. She also believes that one life cancels the other, so that she feels zero or nothing at all. She presently lives her life between the two worlds but she also admits that she is more American than Mexican. You feel the racial pride.
"To signify we are neither Mexican nor American, but more the noun "American" than the adjective "Mexican" (and when copping out). 43,How to Tame a Wild Tongue, Gloria Anzaldua. Here again we are back to zero but, she does admit that she is more American than Mexican so I assume that she speaks English more than Spanish. More than once the reference is made to "copping out" which may mean that most of the time her decision is to do nothing. I don't believe that a choice between the two worlds must be made. She can keep both identities. She can speak Spanish in American while embracing her culture. This sharing of cultures can be the standard for all Spanish Speaking Americans.
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I agree with you Henrietta on the fact that she shouldn't have to choose between worlds, she should be able to live as both. If she is lucky enough to be able to speak both she should speak both in each of their own settings. I can't say I feel her pain nor can I say I understand it because I am only fluent in English because my culture is American, but I can see where she is coming from. The feeling as if both cancel each other out leaving her as nothing or "zero" is a very justified way to feel.
ReplyDeleteI also picked the quote from the first paragraph because it really stuck out to me. For me, I look up to individuals that know more than one language. I am only fluent in one language, so I believe that those like the author of "How to Tame A Wild Tongue" should be proud to represent both of their languages. It really is hard to hear that the author feels uneasy or at the level of a zero in her life.
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