Borderland La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldua
We just finished reading Borderlands by Gloria Anzaldua
and in the book she talks about the struggles of being Chicano. In a broader
sense she is talking about being stuck between two worlds, or two beings.
Anzaldua is stuck between Mexico and Texas because of her heritage and where
she is physically in regards to the border. Having the Mexican, the Native
American, Anglo and Texas in her she feels like she does not fully belong to
any group so she puts herself in a new group of Chicanos, the new Mestizas. Now
Anzaldua I believe is so lucky that she has access to so many different cultures
and is structured by so many different ways of life but I don’t think she has
the feeling of being lucky.
Anzaldua talks a lot about serpents. Serpents/snakes seem
to be a continuous theme in a lot of our texts. In Gilgamesh the serpent has
eternal life, and that’s why it sheds its skin. In Borderlands Anzaldua brings
up how mothers would warn their daughters of walking to the outhouse at night
in fear of serpents, but the serpents represented penises. Yet later she
compares the serpent’s mouth to the vagina of a woman. I find this highly
interesting because Anzaldua says since she was bitten by a snake she has been
forever snake-like. Since the snake has been compared to both male and female
genitalia it goes back to reinforce her point of duality. Anzaldua herself is
continuously stuck between Woman and man. She contemplates the conscious versus
unconscious. Anzaldua also is Chicana and Mestiza as well.
The issue brought up in class that really interested me
was Anzaldua’s topic on pg. 89-90 of the
Native American mask being brought into western museums to be put on display
and how the piece out of context dies. I was shocked by this argument because
the argument Anzaldua makes is a complete argument against the writing of her
book. Anzaldua talks about her culture to share with the world for people to
read, but with her preceding argument that means her book dies when read by
someone other than a Chicana. I think the beauty of art is the taking out of
context. Taking something out of its context is a way to learn and no more
about the world we live. Some argue that humans shouldn’t have the right to
know everything. There was a discussion in class that really got me worked up
saying that some things belong to a specific culture and the use of those
things is offensive to its people. The argument was made that the world has
many bridges and it’s ok to walk to the middle and look but just admire what you
see. This argument is why racism exists today. Cultures try too hard to be
exclusive. Certain things that belong to one culture are looked at as offensive
if another culture borrows it.
I
think Anzaldua with all her groupings of people creates more bridges and is a
main reason why racism exists today. I think Mosaics is meant to show us
varying cultures and show us similarities in the mind and thoughts of varying
peoples to show how similar we all are. Anzaldua has the best intentions of
shedding light on stigmas and mind-sets that must be changed and I was a huge
fan by the end of this book. I love learning about new cultures and Anzaldua
stretches out her hand to let us learn about hers.
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