Gloria Anzaldúa's *Borderlands/La Frontera* and identity oppression

Borderlands Reaction

Gloria Anzaldua authored a very capable and rich work in the form of Borderlands/La Frontera. A lot of what is said is both controversial and revealing. Indeed, she was a stranger in her own skin and in her own situation in many situations and several different ways. First off, a woman that is lesbian, Indian and Chicano is surely a rarity and this was compounded further, no doubt, by the oppressive and ham-handed tactics employed by teachers and school administrators that banned (or at least limited) her use of Chicano literature. Ms. Anzaldua cites other people and sources to buttress her points as well. While some may see her as a rabble rouser and a dustup starter, she had a right to speak her voice even in the face of consequences that were not all that positive.

Analysis

The assignment asks the author of this report to point to specific quotes. There are many that relate to Chicano pride and Anzaldua's unwillingness to be stifled or cornered. However, the racial aspect not the only thing that cornered and tortured her and basically required her to watch her message at least a bit. Indeed, the quote on page 81 about women where she quotes Melanie Kaye as saying "like women everywhere, we speak in code." Indeed, there would be no need to code and hide messages to each other if there is/was no oppression present. Speaking of her being beat down by school administrators, this is established early and often, also in chapter five, when she says "he claimed I was supposed to teach 'American' and English literature." This fight started when she taught high school and it continued in some for all the way through her Ph.D.

The first chapter of the book makes it clear that the isolation and alienation started early and often as she was referred to as a "queer" because of her sexuality and a "half-breed" because of her mixed racial/ethnic heritage. As noted in the fifth chapter, the very first Chicano book that Gloria read was about a gay man. The first chapter of the book, however, makes the main point of the book and that is that borders take on many forms. Borders like the one that divides Mexico and the United States are a type of border but Gloria also points to psychological borders, sexual borders and other types of borders. Even the actual border of USA/Mexico is more than just a physical divide to her. Indeed, she says it marks a bleeding line between the first world and the third world. One can point just to the way that is written as there are stark switches, many of which mid-sentence, between English and Spanish and back again. She is indeed someone who feels herself a stranger but she is unapologetic about roiling against that and generally, but not always, refuses to retreat. When she does, it is in a calculated manner, like the slipping of Chicano short stories to her students even after she was told not to do so.

Conclusion