Richard Rodriguez’s “Public and Private Language,” Amy Tan’s “The Language of Discretion,” and Itabari Njeri’s “What’s in a Name? ” each described language, ethnicity, and identity respectively. In “Public and Private Language,” Richard tells a story of a Spanish-speaking child who gained various positive benefits and advantages by speaking more English. However, they grew apart as his family began to speak less Spanish with one another. In this essay, the power of language greatly influenced his public and private individuality.
English, which he considers to be his public language, allowed him to improve his speaking ability in school. For this reason, he began to use less and less Spanish at home. “The Language of Discretion” shows how ethnicity plays a huge role in Amy’s life. She talks about how being a bilingual individual in an English-dominant country can be challenging. For instance, it can change how one interacts with one another socially and it can lead to misunderstandings. Ethnicity plays a huge role in her story. As a Chinese-American, she had to deal with various stereotypes.
What’s in a Name” tells a story of Itabari who changed her name. As a result, her life changed as well. Through her essay, she described how a simple things such as a name is connected to her identity. Identity, which is how one define oneself, can be strongly represented in her paper. The listed articles above portrays how language, ethnicity, and identity are all tied to one another. Language, which can be shown in “Public and Private Language,” describes how one’s own speech depends greatly on their ethnicity.
Ethnicity, which can be a form of identity, can be read about in Amy’s “The Language of Discretion. Finally, identity, which can be immensely influenced by one’s language, is shown in “What’s in a Name? ” Each of the topics are what make up an individual. Ethnicity and Language are related to each other. Since ethnicity affects what language one uses, Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez both talk about how their nationality and their native language influence their life. “The Language of Discretion” states, “English speakers point out that Chinese is extremely difficult because it relies on variations in tone barely discernible the human ear.
This explains how the Chinese language can be very difficult to say and understand. As stated in Richard’s essay, “What they seem not to recognize is that, as a socially disadvantaged child, I considered Spanish to be a private language. ” Since he does not practice speaking English at home, he has trouble speaking publicly in school. Both ethnicity and language affect each other. Identity affects what language one uses. Because Richard had to practice speaking more English, his private identity slowly began to disappear whereas his public identity began to drastically grow.
Rather than having the slave name she was given, Itabari changed it into an African name. She wanted to become more closer to her African heritage and changed who she wanted to be. In Richard’s article, he said, “They do not seem to realize that there are two ways a person is individualized. So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality.
Although he is becoming more outspoken in class, due to being more Americanized, his family and he became less close. According to Njeri’s story, “I used to be reluctant to tell people my slave name unless I surmissed that they wouldn’t impose their cultural values on me and refuse to use my African name. I don’t care anymore. When I changed my name, I changed my life, and I’ve been Itabari for more years now than I was Jill. ” This shows how she wanted to have a name that has some sort of meaning to her than her slave name.
No matter what ethnicity or nationality an individual consider themselves to be, their language is always going to be a part of their identity. One’s identity includes one’s ethnicity. An individual’s ethnicity does not necessarily have to make up their identity; however, ethnicity does influence who they are. Both Amy Tan and Itabari Njeri told stories that contain how their nationality influence on how they perceive themselves. Amy’s story states that “Chinese people are so ‘discreet and modest. ” This shows how the stereotype given to Chinese people in general influenced how she think about herself.
In’What’s in a Name,” Itabari said, “In other words, will we be the only people, in a society moving toward cultural pluralism, viewed to have no history and no culture? Will we just be a color with a new name: African-American? ” This explains how she questions the way she thinks about her nationality. Each topic cannot ___without influencing the other. Character, dialect, and ethnic background are few of the _qualities? characteristics? _that make up who an individual is or becomes to be. The three articles perfectly shows how the three are all connected and linked in one way or another.
