Crossing Cultural Borders
Border Crossing has become an inevitable fact of everyday life, for many Chicanas. This is due to many environmental factors and not just those placed on them by Anglos. Border crossing has become so prevalent, not only because Anglos refusal to accept Chicanas as part of their world, but also because of the restraints of agency put on Chicanas by older more traditional Chicanas. This is a double-edged sword most Chicanas must face everyday. To Anglos, Chicanas are not as good as other Anglos, and too many Chicanos they shouldn't even try to be as good. To counter this Chicanas are faced with crossing borders. Crossing borders leads Chicanas to have many different social identities, and they must learn to embrace the social identities that fit in at any given moment. By doing this Chicanas may be able to one-day break these borders placed upon them in everyday life. Border crossing occurs in many different ways, but it would not happen if Chicanas were unable to accept many different social identities. Having and embracing different social identities is what makes it possible. Being able to even have different social identities is in itself something relatively new to the Chicano people as a whole
I think the understanding of this history that Chicanas grandparents or even great grandparents went through is essential. She was crossing into the Anglo society by dressing, looking, and acting the part. My dad recently told me a story of perhaps the first type of border crossing. " She does not seem to embrace that attitude however. However this might not be the same for every Chicana who is exposed to an upper class society. This was completely opposite of what she saw with her family. This lead to me taking on the qualities of the Anglo American rather than Mexican identities that my older brothers, and in this case Teresa kept. Nevertheless, Teresa was a very strong intelligent Chicana and she saw that if she were to be successful, she would have to work for it. Perhaps if enough Chicanas do cross borders and show enough people what they went through to get there ("communication of that rupture"), and who they are, social change will take place. Many of the older and more traditional Chicanas believe you don't need to have a choice; you should just stay home tend to your kids, and take care of your husband. Also, many of my cousins who were Spanish speaking were much older. Perhaps that will begin to start what Mary Romeo says there are none of, bicultural or multicultural neighborhoods, schools, communities, and families, rather than just bicultural people. " This article shows how destructive accepting a terrible gender identity like this could be. The Smith's pay her tuition in lieu of her mother's salary. These are the practices they should reject ("sorting through inheritance").
Common topics in this essay:
Anglos Chicanos,
Graciela Rodriquez,
Chicanas Chicanos,
Daughter Teresa,
Carmen Teresa's,
Breaking Model,
Mary Romeo,
Anglos Border,
Chicanas Crossing,
Nevertheless Teresa,
border crossing,
social identities,
anglo society,
social change,
crossing borders,
maid's daughter teresa,
cook family,
social settings,
social norms,
social identity,
lead confusion,
crossing border crossing,
|
Acceptance Essays
