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Gloria Anzaldua's 'The Hybrid Of Displacement'

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The Hybrid of displacement
The poem chosen that mostly represents the confusion of assimilation and the sense of uniqueness is Gloria Anzaldua’s: “To live on the Borderlands means you…” because it describes the inner and outer displacement in both a negative and positive light, versus having an understanding of her own identity and embracing hybridity. She has all of her emotions out in the open and sheds a light on the struggles she has faced and others may have too. It iswritten in English and certain phrases or words with which she wanted to make a statement are in Spanish. Terms like “gabacha – a Chicano term for white women”, or “rajetas – literally ‘split’, that is, having betrayed your word”, give the poem a sincerity and straightforwardness …show more content…

We are more than just one thing, race, culture, or family: “are neither hispana india negra epsanola ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata, half-breed...not knowing which side to turn to, run from.” It shows the tension ethnic people have inside them because they learned to choose between being an American, or stay true to their culture, heritage, and nationalities. There is also a notion of no one being pure or just one thing completely, she stresses the unity and mixtures all races have faced either willingly or forcefully. The reference ‘run from’ comes fromconfusion and mistrust. It deepens further in the second stanza where she says “the india in you, betrayed for 500 years, is no longer speaking to you.”. History is part of a process people go through when trying to understand their heritage and identity. So, it seems as if she is referring to what was done to the native Americans. Therefore, no longer just being native American but half and half or associating with more than one race, and the native part in her is upset about the mistreatment and hatred she has faced and will no longer speak because the guilty party is also a part of her. This tension and conflicting opposites inside of this one person is what makes her who she is. Manifesting this belief is in the last sentence of stanza two, “denying the Anglo inside you is

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