Stranger in the Village

Baldwin wrote the essay during a writing retreat in a small village in Switzerland. In it, he wrote about what it was like to be a black man in a foreign land. The feelings of isolation and lack of acceptance he experienced provided him with insight about the European ignorance of the African Race and race relations in the United States before the Civil Rights era. I found this to be a really easy read. Nice and short, to the point and I think he speaks very clearly and states his observation and the point he is trying to make.

Wild Tongue

Anzaldua’s, How to Tame a Wild Tongue was obviously much easier to read than Entering into the Serpent. What I found interesting was her emphasis on how important language was to her culture. She talks about her experience of dealing with a teacher who was upset with her when she would speak in Spanish sometimes. She really seems to reflect about the power struggle that there is to find a happy medium for two cultures to co-exist. I did find myself having issues with this essay though. People want to move to this country so they can live a better life, yet some people want to say we discriminate against them and we don’t allow them or try to understand their heritage. I got an idea, go with the flow, and learn English. Learn to write it, read it and understand it. I’m not saying you can’t use whatever language or traditions you may hold, but if you are going to live here, learn how to communicate with the populous.

Enter the Serpent

I think Anzaldua makes her point very clearly about the difficulties of language barriers when she has parts of Spanish throughout her writing. However, I didn’t like the essay. I started to get annoyed because I couldn’t understand. When parts aren’t even in English I didn’t even try. She had whole poems in Spanish and I wasn’t going to even attempt them because the last time I took Spanish was in junior high school. I do have to say though that I think my struggle was to understand her point. Instead of trying to explain something to her readers, she made them feel it which seems to be more effective.I do like how she uses the example of the Mother of God and how she is known across three different cultures, but each has their own interpretation of her, and Anzaldua goes on to explain what she means in each. This to me just shows that there are-of course- different languages, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t identify with each other on some level.

Henry Adams

In the Education of Henry Adams he talks mainly about how his childhood educational experience was a waste and he learned the important things in life by self educating through friendships, experiences and reading. He talks about his privileged background and how he decided that was not what he wanted. He basically wanted to do things on his own, experience things on his own and not use his family name to make a name for himself. In a way, I can understand. I really don’t like school, can’t stand it. Even though I know it’s important and I take something away from it every day, I have always felt a need to do and experience things on my own. I don’t like to be taught, I like to learn on my own and teach myself. Even though this was not a very fun read, it was fairly easy and I was able to make it through it because in a way I can relate.

Balinese Cock Fighting

I would have to say this was the best out of the four essays. I say this because I found it somewhat easy to read while I also actually enjoyed some of what was written. I was very intrigued to learn some of the things about Balinese culture that I never knew before. When Geertz shows the comparison of the cock and its owner it really opened my eyes to the sense of pride the men take in there cocks. I was also surprised and a little disturbed to read about defecation and eating being regarded as disgusting only because it shows slight similarities to animal behavior, and that incest is basically better than bestiality. While neither are okay by most peoples books, its interesting to see that there is a better choice of the two.