Baldwin’s argument is that language is a powerful tool that can be used to benefit people and identify their true identity. However, he also claims that it is dangerous in terms of making someone feel disconnected from the world around them. Kamal Belmihoub and Lucas Corcoran add on to Badlwins arguments by touching upon the idea of translanguaging which essentially allows a community to speak a language in their own terms to communicate better. Belmihoub and Corcoran explain how the “avail-ability of the internet has allowed speakers of many languages to draw upon their diverse linguistic repertoire to communicate…” (Page 63). This of course goes back to Baldwin’s idea of a community connecting with each other through language. Anzaldua’s How to Tame a Wild Tongue also explores this idea of having a unique language when she explains the unique terms of Chicano Spanish.
A new idea that Straub described was reading the text under a certain context. This would allow me to have a deeper connection with the writing as I would make better suggestions with reason. Also, this would help me understand the writer’s “particular interests and aims” (Page 35). I wish my past teacher had followed Straub’s advice on realizing that the paper they are editing is mine and no rewrites should be done to change the essay. I’ve had teachers remove paragraphs just because my ideas didn’t meet their standards which is understandable but perhaps some ideas could be salvaged from those few paragraphs.