What Identity Means to Me

Alexa Nagy

English 1100

Professor Young

2 September 2015

What Identity Means to Me

            The term Identity means many things to me. Identity is what you and others perceive you as. Identity comes with many factors such as gender, race, religion, appearance, culture, profession and origin. I believe that these factors all contribute to our identity and these make us all unique in our own ways. However, I believe identity’s can differ between how you see yourself as, how strangers see you as, and how friends and family see you as. I believe that strangers can detect one’s identity by the factors above by just looking at someone. However, our friends and family know us personally so they know how we act, and what are personalities are that contribute to our identity. If I were to determine my identity, I could describe myself as an 18-year-old white female. I am 5”4 and I have brown hair and hazel eyes. I am catholic and I was born and raised in New Jersey. I am half Italian and Half Hungarian. However, just looking at me it would be hard to describe my profession. I work in a  day-care so my "uniform" is hard to recognize because I wear my casual clothing. Therefore, identity comes with many different factors that initially show the basics of who were are.

3 Quotes From "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

Alexa Nagy
ENGW 1100
Professor Young
31 August 2015

Three quotes from "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

1. "Who is to say that robbing a people of its language is less violent than war?"-Ray Gwyn Smith.

This quote written by Ray Gwyn Smith sparked my interest because it connected so well to Anzaldua's theme of "How to Tame a Wild Tongue". It interested me because the writer is using war and robbing a language to connect how they are both equally violent. The writer may have used the war as an example to show people who did not have to give up their language how difficult it must be.

2. "And our tongues have become dry the wilderness has dried out our tongues and we have forgotten speech." -Irena Klepfisz

 This quote said by Irena Klepfisz, interested me in many ways. It is very upsetting to know that people have to leave behind their languages and what they were taught. In result of that, many languages have died out, because they were forced to conform to a different way of speaking.

3. "Stubborn, persevering, impenetrable as stone, yet possessing a malleability that renders us unbreakable, we the mestizas and mestizos will remain." -Gloria Anzaldua 

This quote shows to me how strong and proud Anzaldua and her people are to be who they are. She describes them as stubborn, persevering, and impenetrable as stone because it shows how passionate she is about who she is and will do anything to keep their culture from dying out. The mestizas and mestizos are truly inspiring.

                                     

Work Cited

Anzaldua, Gloria "How to Tame a Wild Tongue." Teaching Developmental Writing.Ed. Susan Naomi Bernstein. Fourth ed. New York : Bedworth/St. Martin's, 2013. 245-255. Print 

Reading Response Questions to "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

Alexa Nagy

ENGW 1100

Professor Young

31 August 2015

Reading Response Questions to "How to Tame a Wild Tongue

1. The opening scene of Anzaldua in the dentist's chair connects to the overall point of the essay and title in many ways. For example, as she is sitting in the chair her tongue keeps pushing out the wads of cotton and pushing back the drills (the long thin needles). As a result of this, the doctor says, "I've never seen anything as strong or as stubborn." This example relates to the whole message of "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" because just like in the doctors chair, everyone is trying to tame her tongue and the way she uses it as she speaks. As her tongue is described as "strong and stubborn" it relates to how strong her accent is and that it is hard to change the way she talks. She has a thick Mexican English accent as her mother tells her and her American teachers do not see her Mexican accent is correct. Hence, she is required in taking two speech classes to get rid of it. 
2. Anzaldua uses Spanish many times throughout her writing. I believe that she uses Spanish in her prompt to show us her culture, connect the audience to her emotions in her language, and to show the difference between the Chicano Spanish versus the Standard Spanish taught in schools.
3. There are many inferences that can be made from referring to one identity as standard versus nonstandard. Chicano Spanish is a variation as both English and Spanish. It is often looked at as a "mutation" of Spanish. It is used in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, which have regional variations. It is easy to know the difference between the two because they do not use some Standard words and they borrow English words. Unlike Chicano Spanish, Standard Spanish is used more commonly as it is a "dominant" language. Also, on top of that students are learning Spanish in school districts in the standard form.
4.  There is a necessity of speaking and writing in Academic English because it shows that one can fully adapt to the American culture. I do not think it is necessary because unlike natural born citizens who are accustomed to the lifestyle, others have to change because they were born in another country. A foreigner should not be ridiculed into changing their accent because it does not sound "American", there accent is their identity and shows their origin.
5. As Anzaldua describes the different variations of Spanish and Identities, there are different types of English. Some different types of english are Standard English, broken English, British English, slang, etc. Additionally, people have accents which also contribute to their origin and their identity.I use Standard English and slang. My grandparents have broken English because they came from Hungary.
6. Similar to to Pachuco, my friends and I used a secret language to communicate when we were younger. It was something "cool" to experience with your friends because it was "hidden" and no one could know except the people in the group. 
7. If I am speaking to my friends or parents I typically use slang or Standard English. However, If I talk to a professor I use Standard English because it shows professionalism.
8. I believe that the term, "I am my language" means that a language is where someone came from. It shows where they grew up by how they pronounce words and what they were accustomed to.
9. The introduction and the conclusion connect in many ways. Although they are "stubborn" and they are told to tame their wild tongue they will not like other races that have given up theirs. They are passionate about their language and will not give up on it or let it die out. They believe it is just as important as any other language, it is what they were taught and who they are.
10. The language you speak can be a big of your identity in my opinion. It is a proud thing to show how you speak and how you speak it, it is who we all are and contributes to what we have learned and who we are today. 
11. Identity is a big role to me because it shows your origin, how you grew up and what people see you as. We should all be proud to have our own languages. I believe that Anzaldua thinks it is important to have an identity. For example, she states how Ethnic identity is her twin skin to linguistic identity and that she is her language. Also, she explains how although some races have given up, she and her people will make it their mission to be patient as the Mestizas and Mestizos remain. 

Alexa Nagy

ENGW 1100

Professor Young

24 August 2015

Getting to Know Me

1. I do not currently play a sport but my Freshmen year of high school I did Winter Track.

2.In my free time I enjoy drawing, running, shopping, and hanging out with my boyfriend/friends.

3.Some of my closest friends call me Lex.

4.When I write I usually sit on my computer and let all the words come to me naturally, outlines do not really work for me.

5.I would describe my writing as good in high school but usually needs fixing to be where I want it at. I need to work on delivering the message more clear and simple. My teachers would help me revise the essays multiple times before handing it in so I could make it the best I could. I learned grammar and structure rules in high school. Additionally, I learned the five paragraph essay structure.

6.My favorite music would have to be pop and my favorite artist is The Fray.

7.I usually use Snap Chat and Instagram everyday and twitter and Facebook less frequently.

8.It is important for me to learn how to make my essays and writing more clear and adding better vocabulary to make my essays pop.

9.If I were to rate myself as a writer I would pick B. I would pick B because I am usually grammatically correct and can deliver adequate responses and deliver my message. However, I need to work on making my essays flow nicely and become more simple and straight to the point.