Borderland La Frontera The New Mestiza Analysis

In her book “Borderland/La Frontera, The New Mestiza” by Gloria Anzaldua, Gloria talks about what it means to be able to identify, culturally, one’s self. So what does it mean to be able to identify one’s self with a specific culture? What about when the culture you identify yourself with, to other cultures, isn’t legitimate? In her writing, Gloria expresses the struggles of Chicanos trying to find their own identity with language. By showing how she had to use several different styles of English and Spanish growing up, the rejections of both American and Mexican cultures, and by showing how the Chicano language finally came about, Gloria is able to effectively convey this point. Gloria first starts off by showing how, when she was younger,

She starts off by telling us that it was through literature that she first started to realize that the Chicano culture was legitimate. By being able to see other Chicanos being published, it made her feel like people were starting to recognize Chicanos as a separate culture altogether. With Gloria starting to realize this, it influenced the style of her writing as well. She incorporated both English and Spanish all throughout the article. But even with literature, there was still struggle. Gloria writes about when she started teaching high school English to Chicano students and how she got in trouble for trying to include texts by Chicanos. Music is another was that people can have a sense of cultural identity. Gloria also writes about how even the Chicano music portrays the struggles that they have had to endure. Even though there can exist this sense of pride in one’s music, to some Chicanos there was a sense of shame. “In the 50s and 60s, for the slightly educated and agringado Chicanos, there existed a sense of shame at being caught listening to our music”