Anzaldúa Reflective Essay

While reading Anzaldúa’s works, I was moved by the effectiveness of her storytelling of portraying these stories of living by these borders. The influence of language and the impact of speaking different dialects have such a weight on those stuck in the in-between of the language barriers. Borderlands/La Frontera showed the struggle of transitioning from the border and the effects of crossing borders has on those that do. Anzaldúa’s writing has amazing imaginary that leaves lasting impacts on readers. When I reading chapter 5, I was surprised at the lasting effects of language had on those who were able to speak multiple dialects in relation to how they felt about themselves.. They are left among those who feel like they do not like belong in any group they are with and feel ashamed for not being in a part of those groups. As Anzaldúa describes in chapter 5, “…for a people who cannot entirely identify with either standard Spanish nor standard English, what …show more content…
Because of that terrible battle, the United States were left with these negative associations with the Mexican people based off of that battle (6). We put stereotypes on them for being monstrous cowards, but many of them had their homes stolen from them . Anzaldúa referenced the stereotypes based Mexicans after that battle as “cowardly and villainous” (6). There is praise associated with one of the shortest wars in American History, the Mexican-American war, where we claimed victory and secured Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado for our country. But after seizing those states from Mexico, it left a hundred thousand of people homeless (7). These people were evicted from their homes because their country lost a war. Reading about this and thinking about how those people felt showed on how our perception on history and the participants in that history is not the only side to those