Essay #1

Gabriela Allen

September 10, 2014

Professor Young

ENGL 1100

Essay 1: Identity

           

           

            Identity is an important aspect towards your own life.    McBride and Anzaldua both had shown different examples of the ways identity may be shown.  Both of these authors show the different ways their identity shows how it lets people know where they come from.  The authors show how important identity is towards life.  I agree with McBride and Anzaldua towards the fact that identity is very important.

Identity is your own personal traits that make you the person you are today.  Your identity can come from where you grew up or whom you grew up around.  Your identity is what tells you who you are.  It give you an open mind on how you act the way you do.  Identity includes all of the physical aspects of your life, the way you act, how you may speak, and the way you may react to different situations.  You gain this identity all throughout your life from your parents and peers.  Identity is based off of how you were raised and where you came from.  The area you grew up I also am a big part to what makes up your own personal identity. 

            Anzaldua in her essay, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” shows different aspects of her identity and what she thinks of it.   In her essay she speaks of the different languages and how that is part of someone’s identity.  How you speak usually defines where you came from.  “Wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut off”.  This specific quote from her essay really stuck out to me.  It is saying that you cannot control the way people speak.  They speak their own language and the only way you could stop someone from speaking the language that defines them is if you cut someone tongue out.  Realistically, you would not do that.  Language is an important part of your identity and Anzaldua really proves her point throughout her essay.

James McBride does a good job at describing how important identity is because he shows how curious he is as a child to know where he came from and what makes him, him.     His mother was white and he was not so he was always wondering why he was not white to.  He was always asking questions as to why they weren’t the same color or questions like if her parents were nice and loved her.  He wanted to know all about his elders and why he was made the way he was.  He was interested in finding out his own identity, which is important to a lot of people.

            James McBride and Anzaldua both do a good job of showing how important identity is in many different ways.  I agree with their main point in these essays because your identity is an important thing to know.  It is what makes you who you are.  McBride wanted to know where he came from and Anzaldua did a great job on proving how language was an important part to someone’s identity.  Personal traits are what make up your own identity.