LANGUAGE AND IDENTITYBy: Jennifer Rodriguez

COMPARING LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY

Language and identity compare because the language we use to express ourselves also expresses our identities. Different authors use language as a way to express their identity and the three that most caught my attention this quarter is Helen Keller’s The Day Language Came into My Life Amy Tan’s Mother Tongue and Grace Hsiang’s “FOB’s vs. Twinkies”: The New Discrimination Is Intraracial. All of these authors’ stories talk about language and how it has help shape their world and how it has helped them become the person they are today. Helen Keller being born blind and deaf when introduced to language finally felt like she had a place in this world. Amy Tan an English writer came from a home that spoke only broken English and she explains how her life was affected by this. Lastly Grace Hsiang discusses how language can separate you from different groups, even if you’re from the same race. I feel as though I compare to every single one of these authors because of some experiences I’ve encountered throughout my life and I know the effect language has on my identity and I must say it’s a good impact because if it weren’t for language I don’t know where I’d be today.

Helen Keller on the left is siting with Anne Sullivan being taught about language and on the right is a video of how she communicates using her own language.

Language as a guide

When I was younger my first language was Spanish but I picked up English pretty quickly in preschool and the way I was picking up English so quickly is by reading. My Professor, Professor Taylor, one day in class said “I don’t remember a time where I wasn’t able to read” I to do not remember a time where I couldn’t read, I always remember my young self with a book in hand. Reading opened up my mind and made me laugh at the pictures and the rhymes and just the story itself. The first book I remember reading was The Foot book by Doctor Seuss and obviously it’s a children’s fiction book so most of the stuff I read I could never see in real life or ask my parents what it was or look up on the internet to picture it better, all I had were Seuss’s words and my imagination. Helen Keller, a woman born blind and deaf, had no way to see water or color or hear the sound of her name being called or different languages being said around her. She had to imagine what everything look like she had to feel textures and shapes and smell food and grass and try to envision what the world looks like and there was no way someone could put pictures in her head, they could just help her learn language so that she can describe everything herself “Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten--a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me.”(pg. 73-74) I couldn’t imagine a life where I didn’t know how to speak or see or hear but I’d like to think that if something misfortunate like that were to happen to me I’d find a new way to use language because without it I don’t know who I would be. Before language came into Keller’s life she felt as though her life had no meaning, but afterwards “It would have been difficult to find a child happier than I was as I lay in my crib at the close of that eventful day and lived over the joys it had brought me, and for the first time longed for a new day to come.” (pg. 74)

Mexican flag because that is where my mom is from and my moms “Broken” English and my mother tongue is Spanglish

Both my parents are Latino, my mom is Mexican and my dad is Puerto Rican. My dad was born here so he is fluent in English, my mom on the other hand was born in Mexico and came to California when she was in here 20’s. English has become a part of my mother’s world, everywhere she goes she uses it, but some people don’t appreciate the fact that she tries. My mother’s English is “Broken” and I have witnessed firsthand the way she is treated by people compared to someone from here. If I walk into a store with my dad and he asks “Excuse me where is the toothpaste?” the employee replies happily “Aisle 3” when I go to the store with my mom and she asks “Excuse me where is the toothpaste?” the employee looks uncomfortable and then has the nerve to say “I’m sorry I don’t speak Spanish.” I am appalled at the response my mother is given I’m standing there like first of all she just asked you in English and second why did we even you ask you, you don’t seem like you know what’s going on anyways. It drives me crazy when people act that way my mom may mix up a few words but to me her English is completely understandable. In Mother Tongue by Amy Tan she explains how her mother’s English is “Broken” but to her it’s completely understandable. Tan ran into similar experiences that I have faced and continue to do so when I am out in public with my mother “And I had plenty of empirical evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.” (pg. 172) I will admit I use to be embarrassed by my mom’s English but now I take such pride in it. She has learned so much and she tries really hard and I wish people saw that side of her. Tan says “I wanted to capture what language ability tests can never reveal about her: her intent, her passion, her imagery, and the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.”(pg. 175) that is exactly how I feel about my mother, she is so smart and a beautiful person and I intend to show as many people who doubt her wrong. Just because her English isn’t perfect doesn’t make her identity dumb or just categorize her as some Mexican. Her trying to speak fluent English, the way she speaks, her determination to be heard and understood, that is her identity. A strong awesome woman.

The “Broken” English Language

I couldn’t find a intraracial video on Mexicans but on the right is an example of intraracial discrimination amoung African americans. On the left is a picture that I can compare to a lot about being a “Mexican white washed” girl

Stereotyping happens everywhere but in my life it happens every single day when someone sees me. Any Latino mistakes me for white but white people never mistake me for being white its very confusing. I don’t look like a “typical” Mexican apparently to many people. Even when people find out I’m Mexican they categorize me as “white washed Mexican” Grace Hsiang explains discrimination within our own ethnic groups and the two different groups you see within ethnic groups nowadays. The first group is the one that sticks to their culture and are very exclusive to others who aren’t as traditional as they are in their customs. The second group is the “White washed” group, this group consists of people from the same ethnic background who tend to follow a more American path and set aside traditions and customs. I remember when I was growing up my cousins wouldn’t accept me because they said I belonged with the “White washed” group and they were being dead serious like none of us go along. I never saw why I couldn’t do Mexican and American traditions and customs, have a taste in both worlds well three if you count my Puerto Rican side but they were a little more accepting than my Mexican side, “Many of us very much want to belong to our parents’ community, but we cannot completely embody one culture when we are living in another.”(pg343) I love Mexican traditions and customs but some of them are a little strange to me just like I love American tradition and customs but some of them are strange to me to. I can’t just pick one and ditch the other but of course if I was forced to id choose my Mexican side and my family over anything. Living here we are given the opportunity to expand our tradition and customs and share them and learn different ones, there’s no limit! It’s simple we just all need to accept one another and accept the fact that there is change all around us and there’s nothing wrong with that. Whether I speak English all the time or Spanish all the time doesn’t make it my identity, what makes my identity is my love of new ideas and people I love umping from Spanish to English and surprising people when they find out I’m Mexican and speak fluent Spanish as well as English. I love hanging out with my extremely Mexican cousins and my extremely white friends because I’m pretty much right in between those. It is possible to live in more than one cultural world, “We can avoid this internal discrimination simply by recognizing that we are of two culture—and that in itself creates a new culture that should be fully celebrated.”(pg. 344)

Our identities

My identity and language are one. I use language every day to represent my identity, the way I speak and write and act sums up who I am. I am not a limited person I am proud of who I am and of my family and what we have and will accomplish together. I see the world through reader’s eyes and language helps me take it all in and break it down and uncover what lies there. I love picturing the world and giving descriptive explanations of what I have seen or look forward to seeing in the near future. When I talk to my mom or anyone really whose Mexican/ Latino I use “Simple English” (tan pg. 175) because that is my “Mother Tongue” it is comes out easily and comfortably. I may not fit in completely with my cousins or family but I try and continue to try to live in both Mexican and American lifestyles to show people that there is no need to limit ourselves. We live in a world where the possibilities are endless and we can meet all kinds of people and learn all kinds of stuff and practice new traditions yet keep the ones our family has taught us. Open mindedness is essential and when you have the opportunity to have it all why wouldn’t you?

My Identity

Language and identity play a huge role in my life. One simply cannot exist without the other, at least in my opinion it can’t. Language helps shape my world it allows me to dream bigger and picture more and allows my imagination to run wild. Language did the same for Helen Keller and for that reason I feel like I can compare to her The Day Language Came into My Life. She couldn’t see or hear but she can imagine and dream now that she has language to guide her. Not all language is perfect either, that doesn’t make us less to superior to others and it doesn’t affect our identities. In Amy Tans Mother Tongue she explains the “Broken” English language and in my opinion that language is beautiful and unique. Seeing a person try and hearing what they have to say and the words they use and the way they pronounce it is beautiful and the fact that they are trying makes their identity. My mother was a strong example of this because of her “Broken” English but her identity is being strong and smart and a great person who I am proud of even if everyone else doesn’t understand her I always will. Lastly we have Grace Hsiang in “FOBs” vs “Twinkies: The New Discrimination is Intraracial which I can compare to since for a long time I was rejected by my cousins who were really into Mexican traditions and categorized as “white washed”. We are all from the same ethnic group, there’s no need to outcast others because we all are the same just with different opinions.

Conclusion

SIX WORD MEMOIR

Change will come, just be patient.

Bibliography

Deigana, Tom. MIracle Worker: Hellen Keller and Annie Sullivan. Digital image. Irish America. Irish American LLC, Feb.-Mar. 2010. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://irishamerica.com/2010/02/miracle-worker-helen-keller-annie-sullivan/>.

Flag of Mexico. Digital image. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Mexico>.

Gan, Quan. Reading of "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan. Digital image. Quan Gan (Rita). Blogger, 7 Apr. 2013. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://ganquanrita.blogspot.com/2013/04/reading-of-mother-tongue-by-amy-tan.html>

"Helen Keller & Anne Sullivan (1928 Newsreel Footage with Open Captions and Audio Description)." YouTube. YouTube, 2 Nov. 2009. Web. 06 Mar. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdTUSignq7Y>.

"Intraracial Discrimination." YouTube. YouTube, 7 Aug. 2014. Web. 06 Mar. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijmZT8mHIhY>.

Monster. Spanglish Dictionary. Digital image. KLAQ. N.p., 9 Sept. 2013. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://klaq.com/spanglish-word-of-the-day-context/>.