How to Tame a Wild Tongue

“How to Tame a Wild Tongue” is an autobiographical essay by Hispanic American writer and scholar Gloria Anzaldúa. The essay was published in her 1987 collection Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Anzaldúa is perhaps best known as the coeditor, alongside Cherrie Moraga, of the influential collection This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (1981).

The main theme of “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” is the interconnectedness of identity and language. The essay begins with the story of the author as a young girl getting her teeth cleaned. Her unruly tongue increasingly annoys the dentist, who tells her to tame it. She then briefly recounts stories about white English-speaking teachers chastising her for speaking Spanish at recess and about authority figures, including her mother and college professors, mandating that she speak English without an accent. She asserts that these attempts to censor her language and her accent violate her First Amendment rights. The essay is divided into six sections. Throughout, Anzaldúa writes passages in italicized Chicano (Mexican American) Spanish usually followed by an English translation.

Overcoming the Tradition of Silence

Anzaldúa’s refusal to censor her language is particularly controversial because of her gender.