Hanan Saadah
English 1100
Professor Young
2015, September 2nd
What Identity Means to Me
Gloria
Anzaldua stands by her language as the biggest part of her identity.
Her consistent pride in the article, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”
is something I deeply respect. Gloria says “I am my language” and
“Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in
myself” showing how much she holds her native tongue to her heart.
This made think about how I identify myself and what identity means
to me. To me, identity is how I want to be seen and represented as
when I walk into a room; whether it's my style or the way I hold
myself up. I believe that first impression is so important, but that
does not mean you should try to be something you're not. Be exactly
who you are and stand up for it. Identity is what makes you unique;
separates you from everyone else. Your identity is what makes you
special. There cannot be more than one you in this world. If someone
is different, or just seen different to you, it does not mean you can
control them and force them to be someone they are not. This attack
“on one's form of expression with the intent to sensor” is “a
violation of the First Amendment”. It is cruel to try and
Americanize a person and make them “fit in” to what is accepted.
I find this similar to my situation in my town of Wayne, New Jersey
with a majority of white people. When I moved there in 2003, I was
immediately always stared at as the “different” looking girl. I
felt so left out when people would do this to me so I tried to act
completely different than who I actually was. I started to lose
myself, but soon enough I realized what was happening to me. As soon
as I noticed what I had been doing, I reverted back to myself, how I
acted, how I dressed, and how I talked. It didn't take long for some
people to leave me when they didn't like the fact that I was too
different. But, then I discovered new people came into my life who
accepted me for who I was and learned to love how I identified
myself.
Works Cited
Anzaldua, Gloria. How to Tame a Wild Tongue." Teaching Developmental Writing. Ed. Susan Naomi Bernstein. Fourth ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. 245-255. Print.