Light In The Dark/Luz En Lo Oscuro: Chapter Analysis

571 Words2 Pages

Reading Response #2 Chapter Three The third chapter is quite a different spin from what I read in the previous chapters from author's Gloria. E. Anzaldua's book entitled Light In The Dark/Luz En Lo Oscuro. Chapter three is quite interesting. In this particular chapter on page 48, she reveals her identity as a jotitita (queer Chicana). Anzaldua goes to further states that this "mexicatjena-to enter a museum and look at indigenous objects that were once used by my ancestors"(48 Anzaldua). What is interesting to me is the she ponders on whether or not she finds her historical Indian identity at the museum. In addition, she also questions whether her identity could be found along the ancient artifacts and their as she puts it their mestizaje. I really …show more content…

I am already over my word count. Sorry Professor :) Reading Response #2 Chapter four Chapter four is even more interesting, as a reader, I get the sense the Anzaldua is getting more and more comfortable with revealing her sexual identity to her audience. For example, she states that "her body is sexed; she can't avoid that reality, although it could change through transgendering or transexing"(65 Anzaldua). In interesting to note that, she feels her body is also race; that she cannot help the reality of how people will look at her or their perception of her. Moreover, she feels that the "U.S society is gendered and racialized: it expects certain behavior from women, certain bearings from men, certain comportment from queer mujeres, certain demeanor from queer hombres, certain conduct from disabled, and so on"(65 Anzaldua). I can personally resonate with Anzaldua is trying to convey to her audience. Although I identify as heterosexual Latino male Anzaldua sums it perfectly, in the following quote. "If you're a person of color, those expectations take on more pronounced nuances due to the traumas of racism and colonization"(65

Show More
Related

  • How To Tame A Wild Tongue And How It Feels To Be Colored Me Summary

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    She believes her identity is being taken away because she is looked down upon for speaking Spanish in America. Throughout her essay, she talks about how her First Amendment right was violated because society feels that if you speak American properly in America, you will live a better life. When Anzaldúa says “I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing” (416), she’s stating that regardless of what people continues to think of her, she’ll still remain proud and faithful to her language. When saying, “I will no longer” represents assertiveness. It’s as if she 's taking a stand against everybody that told her that she really isn 't an authentic Hispanic like them because she stands out due to her different background. The word “existing” hints that she will no longer participate in disliking herself because of other people 's opinions. It was evident that she planned to live for herself by loving who she is in spite of past incidents. One of the themes in the passage is embracing who you despite the fact that you may not be like the rest of the people around you. Self-acceptance triumphs other people 's approval. Overcoming obstacles that in past had an effect on you is an achievement anyone would be proud of. When you make it a priority to not let those obstacles to no longer trouble you in the future is even

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Gloria Anzaldúa

    1620 Words  | 4 Pages

    For the third Critique I have decided to look at Gloria Anzaldúa’s “Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza”. “The New Mestiza” theory focuses on the main concepts of what the new “Mestiza” is anyways by using where she lives, her native tongue, and her personal beliefs to define what the new “Mestiza” is. Should Gloria Anzaldúa’s “Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza” be read, discussed, and researched for the Literary Criticism course? Does Anzaldúa’s hold up with today mind set and is Anzaldúa text even necessary? In order to determine the case of Anzaldúa’s “Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza” we must understand what “The New Mestiza” is.

    Read More

  • Gloria Anzaldúa Chapter 4 Summary

    399 Words  | 1 Pages

    While some may find this style of writing confusing and unnecessary, others may find Anzaldúa's ability to invoke readers with Spanish passages refreshing. Anzaldúa switches to Spanish throughout the book with no clear warning or translation. For instance, in The Coatlicue State, Anzaldúa alternates immediately from, "she could not trust her horses because they stood for her core self, her dark Indian self", to "La consentida, la rancherita que es se avergonzaba de su cuerpo tried not to show pain.." (65). Anzaldúa is sure to remind the reader of her Mexican heritage. Incorporating Spanish in the text so naturally demonstrates a sense of Mexican patriotism. She is demonstrating that even after through the identity crisis

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Two Ways To Belong In America By Bharati

    552 Words  | 2 Pages

    This essay is about two sisters, Bharati and Mira, who move from India to America to pursue their dreams, achieve their goals, and further their education. Mira wants to continue her Indian heritage and move back to their homeland in India but Bharati wants to create a new lifestyle and experience different cultures in America. Bharati understands that America is full of different cultures that become one American culture but Mira chooses to go against her sister’s beliefs. Mira would much rather live in a gorgeous mosaic rather than a melting pot because her culture would be accepted in a place where diversity is encouraged to benefit a nation. In the essay “The Myth of the Latin Woman”, Judith Ortiz Cofer talks about her life in America as Puerto Rican. She uses her own experiences to describe the difficulties her culture faces when living America. She wanted to fit in with everyone else but couldn’t because of the stereotypes she faced. She believes the challenges that she faced weren’t only because of the fact that she was an immigrant, but also because she was a woman. Cofer would also rather live in a gorgeous mosaic so she could feel more accepted by others around

    Read More

  • Gloria Anzaldua's How To Tame A Wild Tongue

    529 Words  | 2 Pages

    Because of Anzaldua’s distinct and unique language, she was given a sense of pride and perseverance . When Anzaldua discovered a sense of pride for her Spanish culture, she realized she was a part of something bigger: she was a part of a new future where she can accept both American and Spanish cultures. Anzaldua proudly proclaims, “I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my

    Read More

  • The Ways Of Seeing Ortiz Cofer Summary

    1762 Words  | 4 Pages

    This text is fuelled by Ortiz Cofer’s personal narratives. The use of her anecdotes provide a sympathetic view into her own personal experience. Despite the tragic nature of her stories, she does not have an emotional view when discussing it, but rather an objective view. She is not cold, but distant. This allows us to see the subjectivity through an almost impartial view, despite her own intimate experiences. This is displayed when she talks about seeing her mother from a photograph, describing her as “a stunning young woman by Latino standards: long, curly black hair, and round curves in a compact frame.” (Ortiz Cofer # emphasis Amador) By describing her mother from a photograph as opposed to Ortiz Cofer’s actual memories of her, she places distance between this Latino woman and herself. She is not necessarily involved in this narrative, occupying the space of a passive

    Read More

  • My Beloved World By Sonia Sotomayor

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    The backlash that Sotomayor experiences because of her decision to apply to and her acceptance into Princeton reveals how most Puerto Ricans experienced forms of racialization, or racial classification, by Caucasian Americans. Sotomayor experiences the culmination of years of racial discrimination and oppression when her school nurse asks with an “accusatory tone” and a “baleful gaze” how she got a “likely” and the “two top-ranking girls in the school only got a ‘possible’” (Sotomayor 102). She expects Sotomayor to experience “shame” under her gaze because her “perplexed discomfort” in answering her question is “clearly not enough” (102). The nurse demonstrates society’s common expectation for Puerto Rican and other minority students to not be at the same intellectual level as Caucasian Americans.

    Read More

  • Junot Diaz's How To Date A Browngirl, Blackgirl

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    It additionally determines the girl’s behavior, or at minimum exactly what the audience should expect of the girl. Diaz peppers his instructions with advice as to exactly what to expect, such as “A halfie will tell you that her parents met in the movement” , “a local girl may have hips and a thick ass but she won’t be quick about letting you touch” and “A whitegirl might just give it up right then” . Therefore Diaz shows not just stereotypes and their possible for precision, but additionally the degree to which a person’s upbringing and battle can figure out his or her behavior. In doing therefore, Diaz emphasizes the means in which the social forces of competition and course undercut both individuality and objectivity. If our actions are determined by the social impacts put upon united states by our competition and course, where is there space for individuality? If our response to other individuals is determined by competition and social course, are we courting a person or a racial/social archetype? To deal with another individual being as a racial or social archetype instead than as a person is to trade in stereotypes. The narrator’s advice is predicated upon his subjective knowledge of teams (race/class), instead than the consideration of each individual being as a person, possessed of unique responses and desires. He plays at presenting the audience with objective truths (If she is this, she will work this method) however, if a reader appears beyond the respected tone, he or she can see that this advice is undoubtedly predicated upon the narrator’s subjective knowledge of these racial and social teams. This observation is additional evidenced by Diaz’s addition of a minute where the narrator’s advice falters and breaks down in the face of a woman whose actions move beyond the world

    Read More

  • Gloria Anzaldua's How To Tame A Wild Tongue

    1554 Words  | 4 Pages

    America is truly an exemplary example of a melting pot of cultures, and in “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, Gloria Anzaldua tells her personal story of the challenges she faced while adapting to a society split between two distinct cultures: American and Spanish Chicano culture. While growing up, the American half of her society dictated her academics, as she was required to leave behind her native Spanish language and replace it with American English language in an effort to achieve success and respect from her peers in school. The Chicano half of her surroundings governed her home life, forming the basis of her personal identity, as she grew up in South Texas as part of a Chicano family. This struggle to identify herself within two distinct cultures

    Read More

  • Zora Neale Hrston Essay On Discrimination

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    Like many Chicanos, she developed a strong sense of cultural belonging. This is primarily due to discrimination amongst neighboring Mexicans, whites, and anyone in between. Latinos and latinas would attack her, saying “...cultural traitor, you’re speaking the oppressor’s language, you’re ruining the Spanish language” (Anzaldua 412). It was this ethnic struggle that drove her to latch onto her cultural background so strongly. In the personal narrative “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua, Anzaldua states “When other races have given up their tongue, we’ve kept ours. We know what it is to live under the hammer blow of the dominant norteamericano culture” (Anzaldua 419) when referring to the resilience of her native people. She states this in response to other cultural groups having abandoned their language, meanwhile they retained theirs. The Chicanos are aware of the harsh standards of North American society. By saying “When other races have given up their tongue, we’ve kept ours,” she means that even when other ethnicities have been pushed to eliminate their languages, her ethnicity stayed strong; they refused to cave in. Likewise, when Anzaldua states “We know what it is to live under the hammer blow of the dominant norteamericano culture,” she draws pride from her culture’s ability to fend off even the most suffocating adversities. In this way, Anzaldua conveys

    Read More

  • Gloria Anzaldúa Light In The Dark Chapter 1 Summary

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first chapter of Light in the Dark by Gloria Anzaldúa, I was not only struck by the context of the first chapter but the way that Anzaldúa presented it. As someone born in the mid 90s, my experience of September 11, 2001 is a very distant memory now. Her epistemology of that event answered some questions that I always had and some that I didn’t even know that I should be asking. I look at the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon through a different lens now. For many years I didn’t understand that it was an act of terrorism and it wasn’t until reading Anzaldúa’s epistemology that I know it wasn’t only a one-sided attack. “Saying evil was done to us, our government claims the moral high ground and role of the victim. But we

    Read More

  • Summary Of Night By Jaime Cortez

    254 Words  | 1 Pages

    This 2004 novel written by LGBT rights activist Jaime Cortez was based on the transgender life of a Cuban man known as Adela Vasquez. For me, this graphic novel was very enlightening, interesting and demonstrated a great deal of courage. As a young woman who comes from a Hispanic background, I am fully aware that expressing your sexuality is a very touchy and sensitive subject for several. In numerous occasions, people who identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender face numerous acts of discrimination and shame. From time to time, they are disowned from their families and end up becoming homeless with no support from them.

    Read More

  • Gloria Anzaldúa Bias

    691 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anzaldúa mentions, “It is difficult for me to break free of the Chicano cultural bias into which I was born and raised, and the cultural bias of the Anglo culture that I was brainwashed into adopting” (Anzaldúa, 1981, 207). In this quote, Anzaldúa reaffirms the fact that she has difficulty leaving her Chicano cultural bias for internal reasons and the cultural bias of Anglo culture for psychological reasons. Based on this quote, Anzaldúa does not identify as white because she believes that the cultural bias of the Anglo culture was mentally instill in her since childhood. Anzaldúa holds a feeling of pride in breaking free from her Chicano cultural bias and she does not identify as white because she was brainwashed into adopting Anglo cultural biases such as adopting their language, and customs. Hence, Anzaldúa’s lack of identification makes it difficult or impossible to create a connection with white

    Read More

  • Anzaluda's Loss Of Identity

    685 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anzaluda’s mixture of Spanish and Indian culture pulls her in different directions and away from her primary culture. This metaphorical whirlwind causes a loss of identity, and it forces her assimilate to Caucasian culture in order to be accepted in society. When a person has biological parents of different races and ethnicities, that child experiences life as a racially-mixed individual. Essentially, the child is straddling the racial, cultural social and economic divide between two worlds. He or she child does not actually have a mental or sometimes physical safe space to which they can feel that they belong. Even in the company of their own “people,” these children feel a constant sense of otherness. When a person lacks a single, firmly established identity, they run the risk of becoming lost in the chasms between worlds. In a sense, this means that these people are devoid of an actual a place that they can feel strongly rooted in and call home.

    Read More

  • Cultural Consciousness

    507 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the readings we had relates to the same concept of not identifying who the Latinos really are. This reading is called, “For Young Latino Readers, an Image is Missing” by Motoko Rich. In this article, Rich is showing how no one relates to the real life problems they are going through as Latinos and they are stereotyped for something they are not. The balance of trying to contradict a double identity is hard to be found when people believe things that are not true.

    Read More

More about Light In The Dark/Luz En Lo Oscuro: Chapter Analysis

Open Document