¶ … Language of Silence Maxine Hong-Kingston describes the difficulties of growing up a Chinese-American girl with her powerful essay entitled, "The Language of Silence." The author begins the essay with an anecdote about her mother cutting her frenulum, her tongue, so that she might be able to speak better. Ironically, this act had the opposite effect: the young girl used silence to cope with her fears and anxieties about straddling two cultures. Hong-Kingston's essay is filled with stories like this one, in which the young Chinese-American girl struggles with her identity as being both Chinese and a girl. The central metaphor for the essay is silence, silence that can be both power and pain. The notion of finding her voice becomes the central symbol of the essay, because Hong-Kingston realizes that her voice equals self-expression. In order to navigate between her two cultural roles, Hong-Kingston builds up a barrier between her and the world, presumably to protect herself. The paradox the author describes in "The Language of Silence" is...
Although her mother supposedly snipped her frenulum to ease the girl's communication, the act only further her sense of isolation. Hong-Kingston felt connected neither to her Chinese heritage nor to her adopted American heritage because none of the other Chinese girls had their tongues cut, not even her sisters. Thus, this is one act that was supposed to facilitate her movement between cultures only served to separate Hong-Kingston from both her Chinese and American identities.
In this same sense, though, Hannibal the Cannibal and Clarice of the Cannibalized Psyche are magnetically-attracted (although most unlikely, or so it seems at first but that soon enough makes perfect sense) soul mates. [Yes, even human monsters that could and would eat us alive have souls.]. And it is this cannibal in a cage that slowly makes it possible for the true Clarice who is still locked-down inside her
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Keeping Native American Language Alive: How to Save Them and Why This is a paper that deals with preserving the Native American Language. There are eight references used for this paper. The Native American Language is rapidly disappearing and there are numerous people and groups, including the United States government, working to revive and preserve this important part of American culture. The language differs from tribe to tribe and it's interesting to
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