0000010589 00000 n This image makes us feel immediately the speakers pain.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'benjaminbarber_org-leader-1','ezslot_13',110,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-benjaminbarber_org-leader-1-0'); But then, we see how the speaker tries to understand what is happening: I was six years old, and I did not know then what death was. He is of mixed race, having a Chicana mother and Apache Indian father. us: [emailprotected]. Jimmy Santiago Baca, "I Am Offering This Poem" from Immigrants in Our Own Land and Selected Early Poems. Poverty has molded Bacas life like a clay potter, and as a result, he is the author he is today. When he began to read, he remarked that he didnt know where poetry ended and prose began. During his time in prison, he gained interest in written language because he heard other prisoners read. One night in my third month in the county jail, I was mopping the floor in front of the booking desk. Dont It was published in the collection, Immigrants in Our Own Land and Selected Early Poems (1990). With shocking speed I found myself handcuffed to a chain gang of inmates and bused to a holding facility to await trial. Jimmy Santiago Baca however discusses what . He realized it was time to make a change to benefit himself in the same way I chose to become more outgoing. One night my eye was caught by a familiar-looking word on the spine of a book. I always had thought reading a waste of time, that nothing could be gained by it. However, when he began he could not stop. I stumblingly repeated the authors name as I fell asleep, saying it over and over in the dark: Words-worth, Words-worth. This is quite the opposite of the previously mentioned metaphor since he mentions a negative aspect of writing. Santiago, in The Old Man and the Sea. "Coming into Language" an excerpt from Doing Time: 25 Years of Prison Writing by Jimmy Santiago Baca "Learning to Read" from The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X & Alex Haley "India's Literacy Miracle" from Building Academic Literacy: An Anthology for Reading Apprenticeship , edited by Audrey Fielding and Ruth Schoenbach To get a custom and plagiarism-free essay This is where Benitezs message on education starts to form and the audience is faced with conflicting sides of education or staying to support. In the essay, "Coming Into Language," Jimmy Santiago Baca, discusses the topic of literacy. However, what seems to be a bit tricky is how to identify an individual who undergoes such transition of a complete assimilation. This image makes us feel that, despite the pain of death, life is still beautiful and worth living. The word was the ember and the forest was my life. 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In Gloria Anzaldas the short story, How to Tame a Wild Tongue, she describes her upbringing and growing up in a dual culture society split in two. Nobody has really gone out there on a different musical journey. . Prior to reading and writing, Baca had no way of expressing himself and would most likely have kept his feelings bottled up. Furthermore, Jimmy Bacas intended audience for Coming Into Language were most likely uneducated, Hispanic males. Baca tried to avoid reading as much as possible, he even said he found it to be a waste of time, (Baca). Through language I was free. He was convicted on drug charges in 1973 and spent five years in prison. Throughout the reading, Anzalda constantly switched between the Spanish and English language. Jimmy Santiago Baca discovered writing was his emotional outlet in the midst of life's challenges. First came reading (from an anthology stolen from a jail guard): "It was late when I returned to my cell. (T/F) Baca completed his education. His goal with this statement is to bring forth sympathy through carefully selecting words such as, free, escape, indulge, and embrace. These are all words that represent discovering and expressing yourself, which is something all readers can and want to relate to. "Coming Into Language" spoke about the many hardships Baca faced in his life. When the judge hit me with a million-dollar bail, I emptied my pockets on his booking desk: twenty-six cents. In addition, inspiration is also lacking, so there . Prior to reading and writing, Baca had no way of expressing himself and would most likely have kept his feelings bottled up. All rights reserved. Using figurative language helps your reader understand and relate to experiences that they've never had. On the cover were black-and-white photos: Padre Hidalgo exhorting Mexican peasants to revolt against the Spanish dictators; Anglo vigilantes hanging two Mexicans from a tree; a young Mexican woman with rifle and ammunition belts crisscrossing her breast; Csar Chvez and field workers marching for fair wages; Chicano railroad workers laying creosote ties; Chicanas laboring at machines in textile factories; Chicanas picketing and hoisting boycott signs. This poem is full of images that make us feel the speakers fear, but also his courage to face it. Jimmy Santiago Baca is an American poet and writer known for his works that explore themes of identity, social justice, and the human experience. This example of irony helps to portray the solitude and boredom Baca had faced and how literature helped to overcome his troubles. Im fine! Coming into language n weekend graveyard shifts at St. Joseph's Hospital I worked the emergency room, mopping up pools of blood and carting plastic bags stuffed with arms, legs, and hands to the outdoor incinerator. Baca explains what life has put him through because of his minority status along with the inability to read, write, and speak the English language well. Reader or learner. I am hurt now but I will come back! But there was nothing else. 0000010611 00000 n work of documentary "realism," "authenticity," and "impulse" (4-5) that has come to define the widely held perception that Nuyorican writing is gritty, experiential, and representational a transparent lens on barrio life. Only by action, by moving out into the world and confronting and challenging the obstacles, could one learn anything worth knowing. The prison administrators tried several tactics to get me to work. The poem explores the childs frustration and confusion as he tries to make sense of a new language. Correct writing styles (it is advised to use correct citations) The island grew, with each page, into a continent inhabited by people I knew and mapped with the life I lived. The captain flicked off the tape recorder. Coming Into Language: Analysis of Jimmy Santiago Bacas Poetry. He was illiterate when he arrived at the Arizona State Prison. Though Baca says language makes him feel free, he is referring specifically to writing and excludes all other forms of language expression. Another being her Spanish Chicano culture, certain expectations and different regulations are required of her starting at a very young age, and throughout her life growing up in a Mexican-American family. Chicano poet, novelist and screenwriter Jimmy Santiago Baca's vivid autobiographical writings reflect the mixed cultural influences of his Southwestern upbri. Until then, I had felt as if I had been born into a raging ocean where I swam relentlessly, flailing my arms in hope of rescue, of reaching a shoreline I never sighted. Common Core State Standards Text Exemplars, [Yesterday, the sunshine made the air glow]. Cited: Baca, Jimmy S. "Coming into Language." Writing as Revision. Jimmy Santiago Baca makes the immigration crisis painfully personal in this new interpretation of the Epic Poem. As long I could remember literacy as has been an important value for me in my life because from very young age I got express my true self without being judged by the outside. Suddenly, through language, through writing, my grief and my joy could be shared with anyone who would listen. Its about expressing yourself that includes your opinions and feelings. You may use it as a guide or sample for Baca made a very wise choice in using pathos to engage his readers.Metaphors are a very prevalent rhetorical device used in this text. There are eight points that are important on chapter 8. For six months, after the next monthly prison board review, they sent cons to my cell to hassle me. Midair a cactus blossom would appear, a snake-flame in blinding dance around it, stunning me like a guards fist striking my neck from behind. Want to receive an original paper on this topic? Jimmy Santiago Baca eventually found his voice through writing and he became a successful poet. But I honed my image-making talents in that sensory-deprived solitude. Baca uses very simple, easy to understand vocabulary in his writing, which makes it less challenging to someone who was not taught to read at a high level. The only evidence against me was that my girlfriend had been at the scene of the crime with my drivers license in her purse. In the story, A Place Where the Sea Remembers by Sandra Benitez, every character faces major difficulties of some sort. plagiarism-free paper. 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