My name is Lillian, I am posting for Leah and Tate.
During our time in seminar from Tuesday, the class began with an overview of one quote from each of the texts, Paul’s letter entitled “Romans”, Sor Juana’s “La repuesta”, and Gloria Anzaldua’s “Speaking in Tongues”. We first looked at:
Who were these letters written to?
Who is the intended audience?
Is there a connection to in Lacan is this text?
How does the “I” play out in each of these texts?
Starting with how the class ended, we talked about “Speaking in Tongues” the discussion began with the title of Gloria Anzaldua’s letter. The class went back and forth about the cultural connotations and social understandings of what speaking in tongues means. Many associated it with a christian religious practice of communicating with the divine or rather the divine speaking through an individual. Nonetheless there is a dual meaning within the context of title, as both a physical and emotional one. The physical being the tongue itself and the emotional being the actual act of speaking in tongues for Gloria Anzaldua. Speaking in tongues in her letter is not necessarily religious one, but rather she saying, how the white man would consider a woman of color publishing, or writing.
Another very interesting topic discussed in class was the relationship between women and food, a recurring subject seen on both The Answer by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz and Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to 3rd World Women Writers by Gloria Anzaldúa. Both authors mention food in their letters as a way to the describe their bodily temptations in contrast to their out-of-body experiences, which focus on the soul and on the self. Both Anzaldúa and Sor Juana portray food as a forbidden source (recalling to Adam and Eve), hence entitling women to submit to temptations when they deserve it. Anzaldúa first mentions an apple danish to emphasize that connection with adam and eve and the forbidden fruit, preparing the readers to question the actions done by the inclination of knowing, “Eating is my main distraction. Getting up to eat an apple danish. That I’ve been off sugar for three years is not a deterrent nor that I have to put on a coat, find the keys and go out into the San Francisco fog to get it (Anzaldúa, 170).” For these authors, this inclination towards the body instead of that of the “I” or the self is a representation of how men have subjectively belittled women to the point where they do not have an entity of their own, instead they have to be seen only in relation to men. It is the experiences that enrich them with knowledge and life experience that counts as a representation of the soul and the self. Both authors, Sor Juana and Anzaldúa, challenge the stereotypical image of women by overriding the intelligence, command and mastery that men are born with. It is their passion that controls their bodily temptations, making a clear connection between the reality of society and life (body) and the inner thoughts of the mind concerning the fanaticism they find in knowledge.
Bibliography:
Anzaldúa, Gloria. Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to Third World Women Writers. Pg. 170