Borderlands/La Frontera Gloria Anzaldua

Gloria Anzaldua presents her story in Borderlands/La Frontera. She is a lesbian Chicana trying to find her place, and be accepted, while traveling around the borderlands in Mexico and the United States. Anzaldua states, "borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them. A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary," (25). Through her description of borders and borderlands, the author explains them with her own experiences and ideas, such as the Aztecs, the serpent, and the Coatlicue state.

In the book there are two poems that connect to one another, that also describe the borderlands and what they can obtain/contain. "Somos una gente" translates to: "There are so many borders that divide people, but for every border there is also a bridge." (107).  This poem explains that although the borders divide people, like Anzaldua states earlier in her definition, there is also a connector that brings the two sides together. Therefore, the two sides of a border can learn to live together and accept one another to live peacefully. In addition, there is a possibility of assimilating and becoming a new culture in the borderlands. This poem connects very well to the ongoing theme of acceptance of the author in new lands and borderlands.

The other poem that relates is "To live in the Borderlands means you." This poem goes on to describe the different experiences you would have living in the borderlands, and it contains how to survive and what you fight for, such as "To live in the Borderlands means to put chile in the borscht, eat whole weat tortillas, speak Tex-Mex with a Brooklyn accent; be stopped by la migra at the border checkpoints; Living in the Borderlands means you fight hard to resist the gold elixir beckoning from the bottle, the pull of the gun barrel, the rope crushing the hollow of your throat;" (216). I particularly thought these two stanzas brought out what it really meant to live in the borderlands, and how it relates to the United States. You are considered Mexican at border checkpoints, as Anzaldua claims, however you speak with a Brooklyn accent when using Spanish. In relation to "Somos una gente," this poem's last stanza states, "To survive the Borderlands you must live sin fronteras be a crossroads." (217). As with the previous poem, this means that when you do live between cultures you are a connector and a "crossroads" or "bridge" between them. These poems, one short, one long, propose the same theme of being an acceptor of both sides of the borderlands. One that lives in them does not have to choose one culture, as they can be part of both and a bridge of the two sides.

Gloria Anzaldua presents many difficulties of living in the Borderlands in her book, however she presents some ways one can overcome them. In the two poems, "Somos una gente" and "To live in the Borderlands means you," Anzaldua shows that by being a connector and bridge between two sides of the borderlands you can be accepted and live peacefully. The borderlands are a difficult place, but you can defeat the hardness by meeting at the crossroads.