In Anzaldúa’s La Prieta, Gloria Anzaldúa identifies as a woman, as gay, and as feminist but not as white. This is due to the fact that she holds a bias towards Chicano culture. Rather than identifying as white, she asks herself what she does not identify as. In asking herself this question she recognizes, but does not elaborate the dialect that is missing, thus weakening her argument of “bridging out.” If she was to explore the subject, then the concept of “bridging out” becomes a contradiction. Therefore, this helps understand why Anzaldúa is afraid of writing this essay. The mix of identities that Anzaldúa identifies with takes a part of her and who she is. She can establish a connection with women, gay, and feminists because she shares a …show more content…
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 …show more content…
Anzaldúa mentions, “I have been terrified of writing this essay because I will have to own up to the fact that I do not exclude whites from the list of people I love, two of them happen to be gay male” (Anzaldúa, 1981, 206). In this quote, Anzaldúa recognizes that there are white gay males or white lesbian women that she can connect with but does not identify as them. She only recognizes a feeling of love towards them and accepts that there is a contradiction in being a bridge. Anzaldúa is terrified in writing this essay because she will have to assert the fact that she does not totally exclude whites from playing a part in her life. Thus, she creates an enormous contradiction in her argument of being a bridge and extending out to each other because she does not identify as white but does recognize her responsibility towards
After reading Alsultany’s “Los Intersticios: Recasting Moving Selves,” I realized that there are many misconceptions among those who have single or mixed racial background. For individuals who have more than one races, it may seem that they are at an advantage since they have luxury to take side with which ever race they choose. However, it actually results in a constant aggravation when one is constantly questioned about their race. Alsultany was asked by her classmate about her racial background. It was apparent that her classmate confirmed in her mind that Alsultany was different from her since she didn’t supposedly fit the description of a typical American, despite mentioning that she was born and raised in the U.S. This further strengthened
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
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.
Anzaldua grew up in the United States but spoke mostly Spanish, however, her essay discusses how the elements of language began to define her identity and culture. She was living in an English speaking environment, but was not White. She describes the difficulty of straddling the delicate changing language of Chicano Spanish. Chicano Spanish can even differ from state to state; these variations as well as and the whole Chicano language, is considered a lesser form of Spanish, which is where Anzaldua has a problem. The language a person speaks is a part...
Torres, Hector Avalos. 2007. Conversations with Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Writers. U.S.: University of New Mexico press, 315-324.
McIntosh’s idea of whiteness as a subconscious race that carries its own advantages can enlighten why Anzaldua feels like she needs multiple languages to identify who she is as a person. Because of this standard that has been so widely accepted throughout society, people coming to the US experience a feeling of needing to belong, of needing to become the typical white family. Anzaldua and her fellow Chicanos’ experience of being “required to take two speech classes.to get rid of [their] accents” supports McIntosh’s idea. When students go to school and they have some trait that isn’t “American,” they are often required to put in extra effort to either change or get rid of that trait, whether it be an accent or belief.
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
The contrast between the Mexican world versus the Anglo world has led Anzaldua to a new form of self and consciousness in which she calls the “New Mestiza” (one that recognizes and understands her duality of race). Anzaldua lives in a constant place of duality where she is on the opposite end of a border that is home to those that are considered “the queer, the troublesome, the mongrel and the mulato” (25). It is the inevitable and grueling clash of two very distinct cultures that produces the fear of the “unknown”; ultimately resulting in alienation and social hierarchy. Anzaldua, as an undocumented woman, is at the bottom of the hierarchy. Not only is she a woman that is openly queer, she is also carrying the burden of being “undocumented”. Women of the borderlands are forced to carry two degrading labels: their gender that makes them seem nothing more than a body and their “legal” status in this world. Many of these women only have two options due to their lack of English speaking abilities: either leave their homeland – or submit themselves to the constant objectification and oppression. According to Anzaldua, Mestizo culture was created by men because many of its traditions encourage women to become “subservient to males” (39). Although Coatlicue is a powerful Aztec figure, in a male-dominated society, she was still seen
Montoya, Margret E. "Masks and Identify," and "Masks and Resistance," in The Latino/a Condition: A Critical Reader New York: New York University Press, 1998.
To live beyond the threshold of identity, to do so in the name of a peace that has not yet occurred but that is infinitely possible- this is exhilarating, necessary, and within reach” (117). Through Amu Fakhry’s laughter at Willow’s father’s galibayya or relatives attempting to speak foreign languages, America and Egypt bonded to become a combination of cultures that Willow can finally recognize as home. In multiple ways, Willow and Omar’s marriage has come to symbolize that “immutable integrity” in itself. Without titles like “Egyptian” or “American”, humans are capable of loving other cultures regardless of the media’s warped portrayals of other nations. Willow’s inspired style and tone demonstrate how astonishingly incorrect the media is. Not all Middle Easterners are barbaric just as not all Americans are intolerant and Wilson passionately finds simply living as a human rather than a human classified by geography and culture as “exhilarating, necessary, and within reach” because she has. Willow’s marriage to Omar is not merely about love, but also “’immutable integrity’” because after living in a world of fighting, hatred, and exclusion, Willow’s family and Omar’s family fall in love with a peace and mix of cultures that rise above the rules of Arab, American, eastern, and Western that is possible
In June Jordan’s creative novel “Report from the Bahamans,” Jordan express many personal times where she becomes aware of things like race, class and gender and how those things sometimes are an ultimate connection for people. She explains many scenarios she goes through during her vacation and back at home that helps her come to realization on what really is the strangest connection. Also in this novel we get to realize Jordan’s views on them as she constructs and deconstructs them into her personal life and realizes the concept of connecting with them herself.
Not far into her essay, Lugo-Lugo writes “I was a woman of color.” On its own, this statement can be powerful; she is writing to end prejudice in the college setting while boldly expressing that she is the one facing the discrimination. She uses repetition with this phrase throughout her writing; found in the very next section of her essay is “I am a woman. A woman who is of color. Woman of color who is a Puerto Rican.” Statements like these are repeatedly made throughout the article, thus painting a very clear picture of who is the
“Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself. Until I can accept as legitimate Chicano Texas Spanish, Tex-Mex, and all other language I speak, I cannot accept the legitimacy of myself” (Anzaldua 502).
Violent in the sense that one cannot fully express themselves in the cultures they identify with in society without the opposition promoting forceful adaptation of English. Both the American Society and the Mexican Society in her story wish for her to speak both English and Castilian properly. Anzaldua disregards her society’s expectations and found comfort speaking “Chicano Spanish” a language that adapts both American and Mexican cultures.Speaking English in our society today helps create countless opportunities and financial stability. With a positive societal view of the value behind the English language devalues a person’s native
“Yet the struggle of identities continues, the struggle of borders is our reality still. One day the inner struggle will cease and a true integration take place.” This was written by a strong, lesbian, Chicana feminist named Gloria Anzaldua. She is extremely assertive about her identity due to the miscellaneous background she came from since she was born in South Texas, because her parents were immigrants. As a result, she wrote this autobiography, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” to express not only how diversity affects determining one’s personal identity, but also the significance of one’s language. Hence, she involves identity as the focal point of the writing to enhance the reader of the cumulative problems brought by language discrimination.