“Se Habla Espanol” The essay, “Se Habla Espanol,” was written by Tanya Barrientos. Tanya writes about the hardships she goes through trying to speak the language that she pushed away from because of racial stereotypes. Being stereotyped Tanya did not want anything to do with being a Latina, or speaking the Spanish language. Once she realized how society had changed, Tanya tried to regain the culture she had lost during her childhood. Tanya wants to inspire those of her culture that can relate to what she is going through, while also asking for acceptance within the Latino community.
In the beginning of the article laird starts out by saying “The honey moon is over.” Laird is trying to paint a portrait that she used to love to be an online teacher. She could meet new students from everywhere and post simple assignments and her day would go by smoothly. But now this seasoned online teacher is feeling the stress of her online composition class. In The Classroom Laird gets to see her students and her students get to see her. They can react to the way she is feeling and they can get an answer to a question right there.
The essay “Se Habla Espanol” by writer Tanya Barrientos is a first person narrative describing her life experiences starting from her childhood up through her adult years. Tanya Barrientos is a first generation immigrant, coming from Guatemala at the age of three. In her memoir, Barrientos explains how Americans at that time were not culturally tolerant, and foreigners were expected to “leave their cultural baggage at the border.” As a result, her parents immerse her into the American culture by speaking only English, to ensure her success. However, in doing so she became ashamed of her ethnicity, and failed to identify with her native culture (Roen, Glau, & Maid 2011). .
At an early age she started to realize that the English had taken over her culture. Kincaid conveys her resentment toward England in her essay through tone, anaphora, and figurative language. Tone is a writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject, character, or audience. In Kincaid’s essay “On Seeing England for the First Time”, the tone is one of sarcasm. When Kincaid views the map of England presented to the class by the teacher, she makes a sarcastic comment, “at the time I saw this map - seeing England for the first time - I did not say to myself “Ah, so that’s what it looks like.” Her teacher views the map with awe.
“Se habla Espanol” by Tanya Barrientos (2011) brings readers to a greater understanding of what it is like to struggle with learning a language. She tells what it is like to appear to be fully able to speak fluent Spanish but to be English-speaking only. People judge her by her appearance and name and assume that she can speak Spanish. However, even after six Spanish-speaking classes she still struggles to put together full sentences. Barrientos came to the United States as a young child and upon arriving in the new land she took on the new language, leaving her native language behind.
Our “Mother Tongue” is what gives us identity; it defines who we are, and therefore, people should value their native languages. The effect of western education on the relationship between parents and children is also another theme in the article. The initial bad relationship between Tan and her mother is caused by Tan’s feeling that that her mother is uncivilized and uneducated. This problem is common in the present world where once children have attained western education, they start disrespecting their parents or disassociating with them because they feel ashamed of the parents’ mother tongue influenced English. It is important that people learn to appreciate their parents irrespective of their level of education or their cultural background; after all, we owe our lives to
She does this by using Spanish words that people may not understand and by using an unorganized, random structure to confuse the reader. It is clear that Anzaldua was strongly against assimilating into American culture and becoming Americanized; she wants to keep the Chicano culture alive. Her parents, however, wanted her to do things the American way so that she could pursue the American Dream and make something of herself; therefore her parents often scolded her for speaking Spanish in school. Anzaldua’s ideal reader needs to be able to sympathize with her and to have an open mind. In order to make the reader meet these qualifications, Anzaldua tries to confuse and frustrate the reader by using language that is difficult to understand in the form of excerpts from poems, a muddled structure, and confusing
Today people just make it seem like it’s a normal way of living but that not something that should be normal. What happens if someone is really bother by it but can’t speak out because he or she is scared of what others might do to them? People are to use to the fact that stereotyping and being a little racist to each other is a normal way of living. But then again people raise their kid’s different ways. Like author Judith Ortiz Cofer writes her story “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl named Maria” that “As a Puerto Rican girl living in the Unites States and wanting like most children to “belong,” I resented the stereotype that my Hispanic appearance called forth from many people I met” (366).
Kramer effectively uses powerful dialogue paired with symbolism to depict the polarities in their views. As the movie progresses, one can see Joey’s mother’s (Christina) reaction as she the black man is introduced. Kramer effectively uses silence to demonstrate the shock of her daughter’s choice. Additionally Kramer emphasises her reaction through utilising humour within the dialogue “He think’s you’re gonna faint because he’s a Negro”. This supports Christina’s startled expression employed through her silence creating an effective perspective on
It showed me that, no matter what race or ethnicity, everyone struggles with fitting in. Barrientos went through an identity crisis; she didn’t know if she wanted to be an “all-American girl” or if she wanted to truly connect with her Spanish heritage. I can relate to wanting to fit in. Growing up in a dysfunctional family with a drug-addicted mother, I just wanted to be loved so bad that I was willing to get that love at whatever the cost. I submitted to a pastor – a spiritual mother – who used domination, manipulation, fear tactics, mind control, and psychological/emotional abuse to exploit my need for “motherly love”.