The Lines That Continue To Separate Us Analysis

Useless to Mother Earth

Metal, brick and glass walls are usually created to separate two or more places; however, the purpose as to why they are truly built has been in question for thousands of years. In “The Lines That Continue to Separate Us,” David Newman explains that borders can either be places in which people develop dislike towards one another due to the fear of the unknown on the other side of the border, or they can be places in which the society can eventually learn to interact and collaborate with one another. He states that while borders can be profitable to a country, they can also create a divergence between the people living on each side of the wall. Gloria Anzaldúa also supports this claim in “The Homeland, Aztlán/ El Otro Mexico,” where she highlights the separation that borderlands create within societies. According to Anzaldúa, the greed of power creates injustice in many nations,

especially the ones inhabited by minorities. In “The Lines That Continue to Separate Us,” Newman justifies how physical and mental borders, the division of power, and social distinctions create barriers between different societies. This is reinforced by Gloria Anzaldúa’s “The Homeland, Aztlán/ El Otro Mexico,” in which the same concepts of social barriers are introduced, ultimately solidifying the estrangement that borderlands can create between two cultures.
“The Lines That Continue to Separate Us” describes mental borders as being illusory blockades; while there might not be a physical wall separating two countries from one another, the preexisting mental borders already lingering within the minds of the society create a defined separation between cultures and languages. Newman explains that borders are “as much perceived in our mental maps and images as they visible manifestations of concrete walls and barbed-wire fences” (Newman, 146). This accentuates that both types of borders are constantly present in people’s awareness just as much as they are buried in the soil between two nations. Just like placing a physical border between two countries does not automatically create a mental one between the people living there, the same goes for the opposite. Removing a physical border does not also ensure the removal of a mental one. “The Homeland, Aztlán/ El Otro Mexico” describes the suffering that both types of borderlands, both physical and mental, cause between local families. To Anzaldúa, borders are walls filled with injury and hostility.
While describing the borderland placed in her homeland, she declares that the “skin of the earth is seamless. The sea cannot be fenced, el mar does not stop at the borders” (Alvarado, Cully, 392). She says this to portray the lack of power that borders have in creating barriers between the land and the ocean. Borders are useless to Mother Earth. To Mother Earth, borders cause no restriction. The land and the ocean were not meant to be separated by a mere wall created by humans. Because of this, the people living on the land, the natives, were also not meant be disconnected from one another by other humans. In contrast from Mother Earth, mental borders create an impediment on people to share cultures, traditions and languages. These imaginary or psychological borders block the open-mindedness of humankind and create a blockade which prevents people from creating connections and interrelating with one another. In addition to depicting the relationship between physical and mental borders, Anzaldúa also conceptualizes the importance of power.
Ultimately, whoever has the power within a country has the authority to control the people’s religion, culture and language. As Anzaldúa describes it, “the only ‘legitimate’ inhabitants are those in power, the whites and those who align themselves with the whites” (Alvarado, Cully, 392). Before Americans first conquered Mexican lands, those lands belonged to the Mexican residents. After having defeated the Mexican army, Americans stripped the land from its current inhabitants and gained the power to control who was considered an alien and who was not. Adding on to this, Newman specifies that “these same élites determine the extent to which such borders are close or open and the ease with which they can be traversed” (Newman, 148). Corrupt or biased power can create restricting barriers. These restricting barriers give permission for dominant leaders to separate or exclude these newly-labeled aliens not only from their family and friends, but also their language, culture and principles. Borders create social distinctions between people, whether it is based on education, ethnicity, religion or even talents; both Anzaldúa and Newman argue these points by discussing the social and metaphorical labels that borderlands create upon individuals.
These social distinctions and labels influence the society into categorizing each other into strict groups.

As explained by “The Homeland, Aztlán/ El Otro Mexico,” “borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish the us from them” (Alvarado, Cully 392). These group categorizations are the foundation of what trigger the society into creating a divergence from one another. Social affiliations are intoxicated by preexisting stereotypes and labels forced upon different individuals. David Newman also creates guilt and realization towards the public by admitting that “we are all cognisant of the fact that borders create (or reflect) difference” (Newman, 147). Walls, made up of either brick or metal or glass, symbolize privacy, and restriction. This restriction creates stern differences between communities that are oblivious or unfamiliar with one another; correspondingly, these differences create fear and concern. The differentiation between the savage versus the civilized and the wealthy versus the poverty-stricken influences

stereotypes.
These stereotypes create an invisible wall that blocks people from viewing individuals as something other than that specific stereotype. Whether this stereotype is being poor, wealthy, selfish, or even corrupt, this invisible wall is the foundation for dislike between different cultures and races. According to both authors, one does not simply create borders to invite outsiders and share a common culture; people build borders to construct an obvious dissimilarity between those with power and those susceptible to it.
Both Newman and Anzaldúa clarify the purpose of borderlands by explaining the outcomes these walls create within different cultures. Just like closing a border does not ensure harmony, opening one does not ensure reconciliation. Barriers are buried in the society’s point of view just as much as they are buried between the soils of distinct nations. It is often argued that noble security will bring great prosperity and joy to a nation; however, Newman argues that “good fences do not automatically create good neighbours. Were there good neighbours in the first place, it possible that fences would not be needed at all” (Newman, 150). Newman targets the concerns of his audience by arguing that borders won’t necessarily fix worldwide problems. Although barriers can provide some type of security, the removal or placement of borders is entirely dependent on those with great power. Power creates opportunity just as much as weakness creates closure, and to Mother Earth, power is unknown.

Works Cited Page

Alvarado, Beth, and Barbara Cully. "The Homeland, Aztlán/ El Otro Mexico." Writing as Revision. Gloria Anzaldúa. New York: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2010. 390-395. Print
Newman, David. "The Lines That Continue to Separate Us: Borders in Our 'Borderless' World." Progress in Human Geography 30.2 (2006): 145-152. Web