Lea Ramsdell began
with the phrase, “Language is identity and identity is political.”
This was the assumption she formed after researching three
autobiographical writings from Richard Rodriguez, Ariel Dorfman, and
Gloria Anzaldua. After reading the chosen works by all three, she
realized that the described language heritage was brought together by
their family and each ethnic history. She asserted that the chosen
language choice for each writer was a political act for which they
were using for self empowerment. For each writer, the language they
identified best with is what they chose to write, therefore a means
to inform anyone who reads their works that this is who they are
regardless if you agree or not.
For Richard
Rodriguez, he chose to write in English as a means for what he
expects would bring him success in America. Out of the three writers,
he is the one that is farthest removed from his original Spanish
speaking culture. In his writing, he described his origins as a happy
memory with his Spanish language and total immersion into that
culture. The change for him came when school officials informed his
parents that if he did not master English, his education would be
shortchanged. This caused his parents to encourage English, rarely
speaking their native Spanish, which caused for some sadness for the
comforting language and culture he had known his whole life. This
sadness went away when after a few weeks of not speaking Spanish, he
had volunteered an answer in class, which to his surprise created a
sense of him finally belonging in that environment, which was told to
him and his family would indeed be the best for his future. This was
the cause for his writings in English.
Ariel Dorfman whose
maternal grandparents fled the Ukraine in the early twentieth century
settled in Argentina, where his mother eventually forgot their native
Yiddish for Spanish. His paternal grandmother was multilingual for
which she spoke Russian, German, and French fluently and worked as a
translator; although his father never forgot his native Russian and
was able to grasp and recall the Spanish he learned as a child.
Dorfman has been influenced by multiple languages as a child and came
to the realization if it were not for Spanish, his parent would not
have been able to communicate when they met, for his mother of a
Jewish background and his father Russian. He was a displaced European
in South America. He heard English for the first time while he was
hospitalized briefly for a few weeks in New York. It was then when he
came to the conclusion that you speak the native language of where
you are. This realization caused him to not want to speak Spanish
while they were in New York, and he did not have the desire until he
was a teenager when his family relocated to another South American
country. This enforced his believe that it is only proper that you
speak the language of where you are for acceptance, therefore his
love and developed respect for Spanish, although knowing English is
the preferred language .
Gloria Anzaldua is
vastly different from both the previous writers. She never hesitates
to take pride in both her language and heritage. She expressly never
diverts from her means to invoke a message to anyone who reads her
works, that she is not one to conform. She finds a home with her
Chicano style and writes in a mixed hybrid of both English and
Spanish which can be termed as Spanglish. She maintains
compartmentalization of a language will only limit from the variety
of expression only hybrid languages have to offer. She believes it
gives language legitimacy, and does not agree with academia dictating
what her expressed language should be, and her message is that she
will not surrender to pressures by a dominant group to use a language
that suits them.
The works by the
three authors read by Ramsdell, all highlighted how critical a role
of language is. The purpose not only to express themselves in their
true fashion, but to identify their political stance of various forms
of displacement, yet avenues of communication for which they each
identify with and are free to choose in the language which resonates
with their self-hood.
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