In Borderlands, the speaker struggles with fitting into a specific category of race, leaving her feeling unaccepted by any of the five cultures she is made up of. In stanza one, Gloria explains how she may be “ hispana, india, negra, espanola, [and] mulatto” but still is not accepted into any of societies categorizations of race. This expresses how Anz can personally identify herself with her mixed races, but the members of the specific races can not. Gloria also struggled with being pushed into one category, opening the door to suppression of one's voice. In line 8, Gloria describes how “people walk through you, the wind steal your voice” when one can’t be identified with a specific race/culture. This concept connects into the discrimination
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As stated in line 7, Ritchie Valens was a “left handed boy playing a right handed guitar” symbolizing the adversities that he had to face in order to change the stereotypical appearance of a musician. Hepworth depicts the temptations of cultural adaptations that Valens faced yet rejected because of the pride he had for his ethnicity. America wanted to pass Valens off as another stereotype but he was “never ashamed of who [he] was” even when it meant singing “all Spanish lyrics at a time when speaking Spanish came with a wooden paddle” because that was his identity and it wasn't going to change for the pleasure of America. Valen’s struggles consisted of the temptation and uncontrollability of cultural adaption. Hepworth describes Valend fought to keep his ethnicity present but cultural adaption was in certain ways inevitable for Valens. In line 28, this concept is exhibited after Valens passed thus leaving his identity and ethnicity in America’s power which is “still trying to shape [him] into Hollywood,” describing how America still wants to adopt him into particularly white culture in order to fit in with the
As stated in line 7, Ritchie Valens was a “left handed boy playing a right handed guitar” symbolizing the adversities that he had to face in order to change the stereotypical appearance of a musician. Hepworth depicts the temptations of cultural adaptations that Valens faced yet rejected because of the pride he had for his ethnicity. America wanted to pass Valens off as another stereotype but he was “never ashamed of who [he] was” even when it meant singing “all Spanish lyrics at a time when speaking Spanish came with a wooden paddle” because that was his identity and it wasn't going to change for the pleasure of America. Valen’s struggles consisted of the temptation and uncontrollability of cultural adaption. Hepworth describes Valend fought to keep his ethnicity present but cultural adaption was in certain ways inevitable for Valens. In line 28, this concept is exhibited after Valens passed thus leaving his identity and ethnicity in America’s power which is “still trying to shape [him] into Hollywood,” describing how America still wants to adopt him into particularly white culture in order to fit in with the