Friday, March 30, 2012
By Saturday, April 7th at midnight
This time, let's discuss "Bilingual/Bilingue" by Rhina Espaillt on page 429 of your textbook. Consider meaning, and how you arrived at it. Speaker and tone are important in this one, I think. How is this poem about the speaker as well as the one addressed? What is the tone?
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I believe that the meaning of this poem is that the father does not want his daughter to lose the Spanish language. He is proud that he has a Spanish background and wants to make sure his daughter still practice it. Line 7, "'English outside this door, Spanish inside,'he said'", shows that he wants her to keep speaking Spanish. Line 3, "words might cut in two his daughter's heart/(el corazon) and lock the alien part", shows that he doesn't want her Spanish language to be lost. The alien part is the Spanish language. I noticed that instead of using the word "to" as usual, she used the word "two" to symbolize how the dad was afraid of her distinguishing the two languages in her life and therefore being able to get rid of one. I also noticed that the english word "heart" is on one line and then the spanish word "el corazon" is on the other line, also to show the separation of the two languages that the father is afraid about.
ReplyDeleteIn the end though, I think he is the one afraid to lose the Spanish language. Line 17, " he stood outside mis versos, half in fear/ of words he loved buy wanted not to hear.", showed me that he is very interested in the English language, but since Spanish is such a big part of who he was and is, he might be afraid learning English would kind of be betraying his culture. The daughter on the other hand, isn't afraid to be bilingual and she keeps learning English on her own time. line 12, "I hoarded secret syllables I read/ until my tongue (mi lengua)learned to run /where his stumbled."
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this poem.
I agree with Jasmine. I can relate to this poem extremelly well. My mom only speaks spanish, and because I was only learning english at school, she made me read books and write essays in spanish so that I could keep my spanish fresh. After 20 years of her living in El Paso, she is finally fluent in English and is bilingual like myself. But she still has that fear of me forgetting spanish, and has the same rule in our house like the father did, "'English outside this door, Spanish inside..."
ReplyDeleteI can see both point of views. I am not afraid to be bilingual, in fact, I thank my mom so much for having raised me this way. And then there's my mom's point of view like the father's, afraid to lose themselves in the English language, and the new cultural changes that may come along with it. But sure enought, both my mom and the father have done an excellent job.
Being afraid to lose the Spanish language is understandable, but being brave to learn english and try being bilingual takes a lot of courage. I know that because learning English in the 5th grade was a big challenge for myself. But just like the daughter, "I hoarded secret syllables I read/ until my tongue (mi lengua)learned to run /where his stumbled," and I pushed myself to learn good English.
It is also a beautiful thing to conserve both the Spanish and English language along with its culture in one person. In my opinion one becomes more open minded and knowledgeable. I think this is a beautiful poem, for I know many people find themselves in this situation, and I loved being able to connect with it.
I love how this poem has the spanish translation right after some of the key words of the poem. I am new to El Paso and I have noticed how a lot of people who speak both languages fluently will say words in Spanish in the middle of an English sentence. I feel that the speaker purposely did this to show that regardless of her learning English, Spanish will always be apart of her culture.
ReplyDeleteThis poem continually touches on the idea of what it means to speak a language from the heart. The father's gusto for his native language, Spanish, presents a problem for the speaker. She wants to learn and wants to be encourage and supported for her efforts in intellectual growth. He impose his prideful manner onto his kin which in turn leaves her in turmoil. "he stood outside mis versos, half in fear/ of words he loved but wanted not to hear." She is left with guilt for pursuing the English language and ultimately the English culture. It is as if the father fears change and it may not even be about the language but about trust, fear of his child growing up only to leave.
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