Baldwin And “Little Miracles, Kept Promises”

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Baldwin and “Little Miracles, Kept Promises” In James Baldwin's essay, "If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?" he discusses language and how it affects the self. Baldwin discusses how “language reveals the speaker” (Baldwin 262). His idea of language can be used to analyze the different letters that make up Sandra Cisneros', "Little Miracles, Kept Promises." This text is a collection of letters that are written by people from Texas and Mexico, and they are all asking for some sort of help. Through the use of Baldwin and Cisneros' texts, it can be shown that language reveals the speaker. One major topic Baldwin discusses is the idea that different languages create barriers between different people’s interpretations. This idea can be supported by Baldwin when he says, “Blacks came to the United States chained to each other, but from different tribes: Neither could speak the other’s language” (Baldwin 264). Baldwin is claiming that if two people speak two different languages, they cannot communicate effectively and will not be able to understand each other. This can show different aspects of oneself such as cultural backgrounds. In “Little Miracles, Kept Promises,” some of the letters are written in Spanish. However someone that cannot read Spanish will not be able to read this letter, creating a barrier in communication. Ms. Barbary Ybanez from San Antonio, Texas writes about her wishes to find the perfect man. Her wants and desires are made very clear by her descriptions of what she is looking for. She writes, “Can you send me a man man. I mean someone who’s not ashamed to be seen cooking, or cleaning, or looking after himself. In other words, a man who acts like an adult” (Cisneros 270). Ybanez is showing that she will not accept something less than what she wants. This ties into Baldwin’s statement that “language, also, far more dubiously,
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