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Alaina Lake
ENGL 1050
Professor Harris

-Ramsby

October 8, 2016
Essay #1
Part One
When it comes to people, no matter what color their skin, no matter where
they are from, no matter what language they speak, no matter how young or old, I
believe that all people should have the right to be treated like human beings. All
people should have the right to put forth effort to progress and to better their lives.
All people should have the right to devote themselves to something that they
personally believe will bring them to a higher level than what they started on when
they were born. So when it comes to Othering I believe that people of minority
groups should be treated like human beings as well. That being said, I also believe
that along with the right to better themselves, people (including those in minority
groups) should also have the responsibility to better themselves.
In our class readings we have read several excerpts of authors talking about
their (or their ancestors) experiences of learning and trying to feel comfortable in
minority groups. Most of the time, minority groups develop when a group of people
come to another country. This does not mean that all minorities are immigrants. I
simply mean to say that that is how they started. Coming from a different country is
not easy. Many people leave their countries because of religion or violence. Some
people are forced to migrate in order to survive. Whatever their reasoning, I highly

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doubt that the process was easy and most the time, immigrants know that there are
risks that will come with moving to a new country. A new land, new people, and
most often a new language would not be easy to get used to and in some cases will
feel uncomfortable for the rest of ones life.
Frederick Douglass describes some of the hardships that slaves, as a
members of a minority group that was forced to come to America, went through in
his speech What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?. He tearfully explains that I
hear the doleful wail of fettered humanity, on the way to the slave-markets, where
the victims are to be sold like horses, sheep, and swine (Douglass, qtd in George
and Trimbur 469). When Douglass gave his speech, he was fighting for the right and
the opportunity to progress like human beings, instead of being treated like animals.
He wasnt fighting for an easy life to be handed to him on a silver platter, he was
fighting for the opportunity to better himself. He wanted equal opportunity. He
mentions that it is forbidden to teach a slave to read or write (Douglass, qtd in
George and Trimbur 466). I do not think that this is a clear reflection of our country
now. I also think that slavery was on the extreme side of the spectrum. This is not
how every minority group that came to America was treated.
In Mary Gordons More Than Just a Shrine: Paying Homage to The Ghosts of
Ellis Island she talks about the hardships that immigrants went through as they
passed through Ellis Island (qtd in George and Trimbur 433-434). As she explains
medical examinations she states that Those immigrants suspected of some
physical disability had initials chalked on their coats (Gordon, qtd in George and
Trimbur 434). Since I have read this excerpt, I have wondered many times what
these immigrants lives were like after they left Ellis Island. Were they still treated

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harshly? Were they treated different than residents that had moved to the country
much earlier? Were they able to better themselves? Gordon explains her encounter
with a Russian man who says that she is somebody who comes from the boiling pot
of America (Gordon, qtd in George and Trimbur 432). Being a part of the boiling pot
of America likely meant that although her parents and ancestors came from
different countries, she was no longer a minority and she was seen, even by a
foreigner, as American. Mary Gordon was born in 1949. Because Ellis Island was
operating between 1892 and 1924, this would make Gordon 2-4 generations from
her ancestors that passed through Ellis Island. If a foreigner can recognize Gordon
as American just 2-4 generations after her ancestors hardships as immigrants, it
seems that she and her family has learned to become comfortable in the place that
they call home. It doesnt seem that they were treated poorly after passing through
Ellis Island and it seems as if her family was able to better themselves after
immigrating to America.
However, this does not mean that all minorities are treated like human beings
after their families have lived here for 30-40 years. Gloria Anzaldua describes some
of the struggles of growing up on the borderlands of America in her excerpt titled
How to Tame a Wild Tongue she states that one of her teachers had told her that
If you want to be American, speak American, if you dont like it, go back to Mexico
where you belong (Anzaldua, qtd in George and Trimbur 521). Comments like this
can discourage someone from progressing and make them feel like they are not
welcome.
Comments and language play a part for first generation immigrants that have
recently come to America as well. In Lewis Walkers week 4 post, he describes an

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encounter that he had with a Japanese local. Lewis admits that he did what many
people of our country make the mistake of doing. When people hear other people
talking with an accent and poor English, they make the assumption that they are
unintelligent. He specifically points out that the woman he was talking to asks How
am I supposed to learn if you speak to me like a kid? Being treated like a child
because of your imperfect accent or English can make it harder for you to progress
and to better yourself. I believe that this is the case because generally if the people
around you dont think you can do something, then it makes it harder for you to
think that you can do something.
Life has its rough moments for everyone, but being happy is a choice even if
you are a part of a minority groups. The right to rise up and progress is there, even
for minorities. I find it very interesting that people in minority groups in America
complain. They complain about Americas past. They complain about what the
future will be like for them and their families. However, I often wonder why there are
so many different groups of people from other countries who would love to come to
America, even if it meant that they would be a minority. In some cases, they will
sacrifice anything and everything that they have to get the opportunity to come to
our land because of the opportunity that is here. Barack Obama acknowledges that
opportunity is here when he states in his A More Perfect Union speech that I will
never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible (qtd in
George and Trimbur 477). In no other country would he have the opportunity to run
for president and make the difference that he has made in America.
When this country first started, it did not treat everybody that was here as if
they were human beings. Native Americans were literally kicked off of their land and

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slaves were brought in to farm it. Some might also argue, in a sense, that our
country still does not treat everybody as if they were human, but, despite
discouraging comments, I would have to disagree and say that our country has
made so much progress as far as treating people like human beings. I believe that
this country has provided more necessities and opportunity for minority groups than
even the countries that these minorities have come from. If someone comes to our
country and refuses to learn, progress, and put forth effort, I do not think that it is
fair for them to say that, as a minority, they were treated unequal. When someone
is given opportunity, it matters not that it is there, but what they do with it will
make all the difference in the world. If you dont work your way through your life,
you will have nothing to show for your life and it will be nobodys fault but your own.
This goes for all races, genders, and minorities in any way.

Part Two
The text that I have selected to write about is Gloria Anzalduas How to Tame
a Wild Tongue. This excerpt comes from her book called Borderlands/La Frontera
that was published in 1987.
I do not know Spanish so I do not quite understand everything that Anzaldua
wrote in this text. However, I found it very intriguing that she uses who she is to
write her book. She isnt writing so that I, or other people for that matter, can
completely understand her. She is writing to make a point and I believe her point
was very well heard, probably more so to someone like me who does not know
Spanish.

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Anzaldua uses Ethos by telling of her own experiences. Throughout her text
she says that the way she speaks comes from the environment that she grew up in.
She grew up between communities who lived and spoke differently. She lives
through what she is talking about. The way that she has presented her writing
makes the reader think that there probably isnt a more qualified person to talk on
this subject. Also, the way that she puts a piece of a different language throughout
different sentences and paragraphs establishes Ethos as well.
Anzaldua uses Pathos when she states that for some of us, language is a
homeland closer than the Southwest (Anzaldua, qtd in George and Trimbur 522).
Home means different things to different people, but for most home is where they
belong. It is a safe haven and a resting place. The fact that Anzaldua compares
language to her homeland means that this is something that is coming from her
heart. This will successfully touch the heart of readers as well, even if they grow up
on the opposite side of the spectrum than Anzaldua because home is something
that most everybody knows. Pathos is something that I look for in most articles that
I read. It helps the reader relate to the writer even when they have nothing in
common. When an article can successfully illustrate emotion whether it is hurt,
anger, or love, it is something that most people have felt before and can relate to
on some level. I think that Anzalduas article does just that.
As Anzaldua writes, it almost seems that she implies that her wild tongue
cannot be tamed. She mentions that she was in awe when she started reading
Chicano books and realized that something like that could get published (Anzaldua,
qtd in George and Trimbur 525). She was proud that her language was accepted by
more than just her and the ones close to her. Like I brought out earlier, her language

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is her home. It is part of who she is and is also something that she embraces. It is
her childhood. It is her life. I do not think that she wants to give up her language. I
do not think that she wants her tongue tamed.

Works Cited
Anzaldua, Gloria. How to Tame a Wild Tongue. Reading Culture. By Diana George
and John Trimbur.

2012. 8th Edition. 521-528. Print.

Douglass, Frederick. What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Reading Culture. By
Diana George and John Trimbur. 2012. 8th Edition. 460-475. Print.

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Gordon, Mary. More Than Just a Shrine: Paying Homage to the Ghosts of Ellis
Island Reading Culture. By Diana George and John Trimbur. 2012. 8th Edition. 431435. Print.
Obama, Barack. A More Perfect Union. Reading Culture. By Diana George and John
Trimbur. 2012. 8th

Edition. 476-484. Print.

List FIVE revisions that you plan to make as you revise your next draft.
You should draw from your peers comments, as well as changes you would
like to make now that you have submitted the first draft.
Step 1- describe the revision made, why you made it, and what effect you
wanted to create by making it

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Step 2- Copy and paste the original into you revision sheet, (as below)
Step 3- Write your revision.
Essay 1 revision plan
1) I learned from my peer reviews that I asked questions that seemed to
be space fillers. I also noticed that one of my questions didnt relate too
well with my thesis so I simply took the question out and replaced it with a
sentence that tied in more.
Original: That being said everybody is not equal. Worldly people are trying
to push for equality in every single situation when in reality equality was
Satans plan and frankly equality is impossible. Are people born equal? Is a
baby that is born in a third world country with AIDS equal to a healthy baby
that is born in a well-developed country?
Revised: That being said, I also believe that along with the right to better
themselves, people (including those in minority groups) should also have the
responsibility to better themselves.
2) I changed another question to be my answer to that particular question.
Original: Why would she want to give it up? Why would she want it tamed?
Revised: I do not think that she wants to give up her language. I do not think
that she wants her tongue tamed.
3) My peer review mentioned that some of my in-text citations for my MLA
format was correct.
I was not adding the authors last name to my in-text citation. I was only
adding the page numbers of where they were found.
4) One of my peer reviews mentioned that my essay was a hard read
because I didnt transition well. Therefore, I added a transition sentences
where my reviewer said that I needed it most, in between my paragraphs
describing Frederick Douglasss hardships and Mary Gordons hardships:
I think that slavery was on the extreme side of the spectrum. This is not how
every minority group that came to America was treated.
5) I felt like I needed to add more support for my thesis from our class
readings. I added these two quotes:
He tearfully explains that I hear the doleful wail of fettered humanity, on the
way to the slave-markets, where the victims are to be sold like horses, sheep, and
swine (Douglass 469).
As she explains medical examinations she states that Those immigrants
suspected of some physical disability had initials chalked on their coats (Gordon
434).

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In addition to the above changes, I made several more changes that I felt
like made my essay transition better and made it more complete.