Gloria Anzalda Borderlands Essay

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“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function,” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, but a survival trait for those who live in the Borderlands. Gloria Anzalda's account of her life growing up near the U.S./Mexico border and taming her cultural multiplicity in “Borderlands” advises her readers of the consequences of disparaging traditional ideologies. Anzalda’s concept of the “consciousness of the Borderlands” validates those of a unique identity that cannot be repressed into a single archetype and encourages the amalgamation of both. This consciousness celebrates one's fluidity and contradictions, allowing them to embrace their complex and challenging …show more content…

This consciousness ends up cultivating individuals who understand the complex identities of others because of the inherent multiplicities of one's own identity. The people of the borderlands are witness to the repercussions of heritage marginalization, barriers, and cultural limitations, along with the ever-present pressing for conformity. This heightened awareness of the borderland consciousness encourages individuals to evolve their perspective of identity, belonging, and cultural politics. By bringing light to these issues, she loosens the binds cast on mestiza by misguided and traditional views of heritage and proclaims her own freedom. It is empowering for the mestiza, or someone of several cultures, to guide their own misapprehending beliefs of culture and to have the knowledge to resist the black-and-white thinking that undermines the complex societal structure of …show more content…

Anzalda offers a “new mestiza consciousness” to combat the pain of the borderlands–a consciousness, unwilling to suppress people into a single identity that isn’t fit, that welcomes the convergence of diverse and unique cultures within individuals, something that is ever-present in borderlands. She continues this preponement by mentioning that “the future depends on the breaking down of paradigms.creating a new mythos.” Anzalda reasons that in order to heal the wounds of the borderland, individuals must choose to create new paradigms to honor their complex heritage and turn away from the traditional thinking we are used to surrounding culture. The celebration of one's multiplicity challenges the painful beliefs raised by inhabiting the borderlands– that one's identity is a single and conventional unit, and what falls out of line should be pruned. This evolved perspective of identity, new mestiza consciousness, embraces the fluidity and contradictions that wed to one's

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