Global Literature and the Example of Gloria Anzaldua’s poem, "To live in the Borderlands Means You"

There are many social issues that affect the individuals in the novel Across a Hundred Mountains, such as, social injustice, poverty, homelessness, prostitution, hunger, depression, alcohol and physical abuse, violence and death. The novel begins with the discovery of the unmarked grave of Juana’s father by the U.S. border. This is the fate many

In this poem, Anzaldua makes excellent use of tone to convey the theme. Anzaldua describes an aunt telling her daughter to stand tall in the face of otherization, instead of being crushed by it. The aunt states “And yes [White men] have taken our lands” (Anzaldua 17), but then continues to further state “But they will never take that

Richard Blanco’s diverse background makes him relatable for people of multinational upbringings. His writing thoroughly appealed to me because he did such a good job capturing the emotions of a child coming into a new world. Having experienced that, I wanted to see if I could have that effect on people. I used some of the techniques that Blanco uses, in my poem “New Identity”, to familiarize the reader with what he has been through. Richard Blanco accustoms the reader to his experiences by using figurative language, diverse diction, and allusions.

Poetry is often used as a form of writing to express emotions or tell a story. The poems “LA Nocturne: The Angels”, by Xavier Villaurrutia and “Meditations on the South Valley: Poem IX” by Jimmy Santiago Baca, are two distinctive poems. In Baca’s poem he expresses the disbelief and the sorrow of the death of a boy named Eddie. While, in Villaurrutia’s poem reveals an expression of secret desire men have. Baca and Villaurrutia’s poems, both use repetition, imagery and metaphors in their poems to convey their message.

Although I can’t specifically relate to Gloria Anzaldúa’s struggle between her languages in “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” I can relate to her “kind of dual identity” in which she identifies with neither Anglo-American cultural values nor Mexican cultural values (1566). Being half white, half Chinese, I struggle identifying as either identity, especially because my mom (who is Chinese) never learned Cantonese and largely became Americanized in her childhood. It’s an uncomfortable position to be in when racial and ethnic identity are so significant in America and when I must interact with the world as part of both the majority and the marginalized. Considering my own struggle and the conflict Anzaldúa describes, it became clearer to me the way race relations in American not only marginalize people of color but train our consciousnesses to damage ourselves. Before I turn back to Anzaldúa, a novel I’ve recently read, William Godwin’s Caleb Williams has also been on my mind, particularly in Godwin’s portrayal of how police surveillance transforms us into agents of our own oppression. Although Caleb is a white man, he also experiences a split consciousness as his values and characteristics are whittled away by the paranoia of constant surveillance.

Throughout the history of mankind, change has remained a constant. Men and women continually strive to improve their lives and enact changes that enable them to better their quality of life. Our world’s history is compromised of these efforts by man to enhance society, through political, economic, and social changes, which are further documented through the cultural outputs of a society. The poets Roger Bonair-Agard and Gloria Anzaldua encapsulate the calls for change in a society through their works “how do we spell freedom – the weusi alphabeti method” and “El sonavabitche”, respectively. Though the two poets wrote on vastly different subjects, both authors employed literature as a medium for their call for activism in society and expressed discontent with the dominance of western culture over minority groups. Through their utilization of formal elements including imagery, diction, and narrator, both poets call for action to change the mindset that the imposition that American society holds over other groups of people.

Throughout life, every individual must face obstacles; some more difficult than others. In the story “The Trip” by Laila Lalami, poem “Exile” by Julia Alvarez, and article “Outlaw: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas, there is a main character who has to face many challenges because of the fact that they’re immigrants. In all three texts, it is evident that being an immigrant has many affects on their lives. However, this label and the obstacles that come with it didn’t stop each character from pushing forward.

In the profile article “Jimmy Santiago Baca: Poetry as Lifesaver” author Rob Baker, who also is a creative writing and English teacher proves to not only the readers but also the National Council of Teachers of English the significance of poetry. The authors main point is that poetry saved Jimmy Santiago Baca’s life, he shows us how by explaining the emotions when Baca began to read poetry; he then went on to write poetry and even publish his own works while still in prison, after Baca’s release, he became a dedicated teacher who also works with gang members and teaches workshops.

In the first chapter of Anzaldua’s novel, she describes her homeland and what it means to live by the border. “Borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them. A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge” (25). The purpose of this boundary was for the whites and “those who align themselves with whites” to feel safe and secured from the “half-breed” or multicultural people of the south (26). This separation creates this belief that one side is superior to the other. When retelling the history of Mexico’s colonization, Anzaldua recognizes how, “the Gringo, locked into the fiction of white superiority, seized complete political power, stripping Indians and Mexicans of their land while their feet were still rooted in it” (29). The Natives and the Mexicans had control over the area way before the Europeans came but now their land was being taken away. After losing the war to the United States, Mexico was compelled to give roughly half of its territory to them; the area that is currently Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. “Separated from Mexico, the Native Mexican-Texan no longer looked toward Mexico as home; the Southwest became our homeland once more” (29). Once the area was controlled by the U.S., the vast majority of its occupants looked with disarray as they could never again consider Mexico as their home. This new border that the

In Gloria Anzaldua’s letter “Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to 3rd World Women Writers” she delivers her message of being a third world woman writer and how there is a constant struggle between conforming to gain a voice in the world of writing and staying true to your culture. She pulls pieces from her own life experiences and works from other looked over women writers of color to make her point and connect to her audience letting them know she is part of their plight to be heard. In my rewrite of the essay “A Letter in “tongues”” I changed the delivery from a letter to a free verse poem condense Anzaldua 's message from Writing Women of color to just discriminated women writers just in general. They both focused use of pathos and ethos but mine leans more towards ethos pointing out that the dominant ideology of english writing being the only way to be heard as a writer that it is denying the voice of writing women of color and that is ethically wrong not what has happened to herself to invoke feeling.

The Language of Dreams by Belle Yang features the role of memory, language and story-telling in human lives, especially those displayed and complicated by the movement and the blending of culture (pp 697) whereas, Death of Josseline by Margaret Regan encourages a reconsideration of how the immigration issue is discussed in the media (pp704). Both the article describes about change in one’s life because of immigration.

Literature is the window to realizing the negatives of society and how destructive certain norms can be. Readers are brought into a completely different story than their own, but by using similar issues in today’s world, the readers can actually learn from the story and its overall message. All writers write for a purpose, whether it’s for a new meaning to life, to live a different life than our own, or to impact others on an emotional level by teaching them to see the importance of the little things. As a reader, you search for pieces of literature that interest you whether you find the story like your own, or wish you lived the life in the story. By using issues in today’s within their works, authors are able to grab the reader's attention long enough for them to get across what they wanted to get across. Often in many works of literature, writers use societal issues as their basis for the work’s themes and symbols. By doing so, this allows the reader to question the morality behind social norms and how impactful certain ideals can be in people’s lives.

The call for feminism marks the beginning of an extensive journey with the quest to inspire women and to advocate women right in a male governed the world. Gloria Anzaldúa and Maxine Kingston both scrutinize feminism in the framework of “Borderland: La Frontera: The New Mestiza” and “The Women Warrior” encouraging women to occupy a strong position in the post-colonial male led civilization. The author both traces the journey of women struggle to achieve rewarding role within the structure shaped by men. The alliance of different voice from disregarded women gestures a strong theme that inspires Maxine Hong Kingston and Gloria Anzaldua to write enthusiastically within the feminist topic to dispute the patriarchal society.

What I'm going to talk about is four major themes from the book, Borderlands La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa. The four major themes I chose to talk about are first, how you shouldn’t be ashamed of yourself, then how Anzaldúa shows deviant behavior throughout the book, also, how she found herself through poetry, and lastly, America’s melting pot.

The poem “They’ll say she must be from another country,” by Imtiaz Dharker explores the challenges of a woman in her everyday life. She feels that she doesn’t belong in the country she is living in, because people can notice how different she is from everyone else. She makes it easy for people to understand why she feels alienated but, at the same time feels proud of who she is. Dharker conveys her message through the many examples of alienation given throughout her poem.