To live in the Borderlands means you, written by Gloria Anzaldua, is a great example of love for culture and people. This poem belongs to the contemporary literature, and it is often discussed. Gloria Anzaldua is a peculiar writer and, as she describes herself, “grew up between two cultures,” which is why she is exposed to a doubleness in her life (Gamze 222). The To live in the Borderlands means you poem raises questions about the racial division of the people. This issue is urgent and relevant to our society. Gloria Anzaldua does not want to make excuses for the way she is, but she is proud of her culture and race, and she does not want to change anything. Thanks to this poem, she describes her history and her culture. It is known that Gloria Anzaldua is a Chicana from Texas. It should be noted that she uses symbolism and special word choice in order to interest and impress the reader with the poem.
Gloria Anzaldua is proud of her heritage, but at the same time, the poem contains some echoes of anger because some people do not want to understand the culture. These lines bring us to the verse: “To live in the Borderlands means you are neither hispana india negra espanola ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata, half-breed caught in the crossfire between camps while carrying all five races on your back not knowing which side to turn to, run from” (Anzaldua). She describes people who live in the borderlands as a combination of all five races. “To live in the Borderlands means knowing that the india in you, betrayed for Soo years, is no longer speaking to you, that mexicanas call you rajetas, that denying the Anglo inside you is as bad as having denied the Indian or Black” (Anzaldua).
This poem is very strong and relevant because it gives us a new perspective on ourselves. A person has a lot of cultures in himself; a person should respect and understand his origins, because they are with him through all his life. As Gloria Anzaldua puts it: “people walk through you, the wind steals your voice, you’re a burra, buey, scapegoat, forerunner of a new race, half and half-both woman and man, neithera new gender” (Anzaldua).
The author explains that many races could live together and in such a way they create their own culture. Anzaldua uses the symbol of food as the unity of the cultures. “To live in the Borderlands means to put chile in the borscht, eat whole wheat tortillas, speak Tex-Mex with a Brooklyn accent; be stopped by la migra at the border checkpoints; Living in the Borderlands means you fight hard to resist the gold elixir beckoning from the bottle, the pull of the gun barrel, the rope crushing the hollow of your throat” (Anzaldua). Borsht, tortillas and chile are the products of different cultures, but they become one and the same unit in the Borderlands.
The author uses a special word choice in the poem to emphasize the issue of the verse. She uses the blending of Spanish and English. For example: “Cuando vives en la frontera people walk through you, the wind steals your voice, you’re a burra, buey, scapegoat, forerunner of a new race, half and half-both woman and man, neithera new gender” (Anzaldua). “Cuando vives en la frontera” means when you live in the borderlands; “buey” means donkey.
In conclusion, as informed by To live in the Borderlands means you analysis, many cultures and races living together organize a new culture. It concerns our contemporary life, because migration is widespread nowadays. People should respect and honor the history and culture of each race.
Works Cited
Anzaldua, Gloria. To live in the Borderlands means you. Copyright Frontiers Publishing: ProQuest Information and Learning Company. 1996.
Gamze, AR. “The Analysis of Gloria E. AnzaldĂşa’s Borderlands/La Frontera.” Sosyal ve BeĹźeri Bilimler AraĹźtırmaları Dergisi, vol. 22, no. 49, 2021, 221-231.