From Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New
Mestiza by Gloria E. Anzaldúa and the poem “From Fast
speaking woman” by Anne Waldman share similar themes. Both of these
works illustrate the idea of oppression through their writing. The book From
Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza illustrates oppression through
the use of first-person narrative. The author discusses how she created the
stories and reveals herself through her writing. One of the examples of
oppression is portray by the idea of internal-oppression.
The text states: “Writing produces
anxiety…Being a writer feels very much like being a Chicana, or being queer--a
lot of squirming, coming up against all sorts of walls…nothing defined or
definite, boundless (Anzaldúa 189).In this passage, the author expresses her feelings towards
her writing process. The interruption occurs as she attempts to interpret and
make images through her writing. The internal oppression that the author has
created caused her to undergo the feeling of anxiety. The author provides the description
of what it feels to be writer. She compared the feeling of being a writer similar
to being a Chicana (female Mexican-Americans in the United States) or a queer (sexual
and gender minorities). Society treats these groups different from the treatment
given to majority groups especially males. As compared in her writing, the oppression
that these groups faced is similar to the types of “wall” or struggles that are
against them, which is boundless and undefined. Perhaps, the author felt that
her writing is held back because of gender and race.
Similar
to Anzaldúa’s book, Waldman expresses the idea of oppression through the term, women
oppression. The poem is written through the use of first person narrative which
was inspired by the record texts of Maria Sabina, who was a Mazatec shaman.
This poem can be considered a poem that influences the social life of women.
She has included all the type of women in society in the form of a chant. Society
believed that women were inferior to men, which resulted in the neglect of women’s
economic and political rights. The text states: “because I don’t have spit/ because I don’t
have rubbish/because I don’t have dust/because I don’t have that which is air/
because I am air” (Waldman 171). These lines illustrate the oppression that was placed
on women by society. The author expresses the idea of women being thought of as
useless by comparing them to air. However, this is different from what I
believe. I believe that air is important as it is important to our respiration
system and they are boundless. This is similar to women in term of what they
can be and could do. The author illustrates the important points through the
use of repetition of “I’m…, I am… and I have been...”The author uses this to
build a climax and created a strong emotion. The repetition also helps to
encourage women to become a winner and free themselves.
1 comment:
I like when you state that these two poets have an oppression similarity. I really get the oppression feel when i read Anzaldúa reading. I felt like she gave the more oppression vibe with her writing. Her writing comes with so much background.
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