Maria Marquez
English 101
Essay #1
Essay On “Coming Into Language”
In “Coming Into Language,” Jimmy Santiago Baca describes how he went from being illiterate to learning how to read and write and eventually becoming a poet, while spending most of his days in prison. Terrified of not knowing his schoolwork and asking questions, Baca went through school being illiterate, until he dropped out in the ninth grade. Picture books with people of his nationality were the only type of interest. Listening to prisoners read out loud to each other inspired him to learn his own language. In this writing Baca explains to his readers how becoming a writer helped him trough the tough years as an inmate in prison.
Unable to express what he felt, Baca rebelled and was arrested before he was eighteen. In prison he met inmates who read to each other, and through the writer’s words he was able to imagine he was somewhere else and could be some one else for a moment. Baca stated, “Their language was the magic that could liberate me from myself, transform me into another person, transport me to other places far away”(19). After the readings the inmates went back to their Chicano language, the bilingual words that only they knew. Baca wrote, “Through language I was free. I could respond, escape, indulge; embrace or reject earth or the cosmos”(21). Baca felt comfortable around the inmates, they were people similar to him, the same background and the same upbringing. He began to learn and understand the barrio life, where he was from. I think that is was important for Baca to understand where he was coming from. Learning the language of your own can help you understand who you are and in time can help express yourself in ways other than rebellion. Learning and accepting the Chicano language, Baca wouldn’t have to pretend to be someone else anymore. I think for Baca, learning all that he did while he was in prison helped him in many ways that he needed. My uncle has been in and out of prison most of his life, he chose to read the bible and participate in church activities. I think it did not help him in any way that he needed because he is still to this day in prison. He got out a few months ago but went back in the following month.