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I was born and raised in San Diego, which is a borderland between the United States and Mexico. Being Mexican-American, I have had the privilege of going back and forth from the two countries that make up my identity. Unfortunately, this also brings up the issue of which culture I truly belong to. In the United States, I am not really considered an American. In Mexico, I am not really considered a Mexican. What am I then? Gloria Anzaldua touches on this issue in that she represents a mixture of these two cultures, but she does not entirely and truly belong to one.

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Anzaldua repeats the pattern of "To live in the Borderlands" follos\wed by short phrases: each a real element of the borderland experience. It is an oral, colloquial style, simple and effective.

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The border checkpoints symbolize the system of oppression that looms over borderland life. A checkpoint means fear for those traveling illegally between their families and history in Mexico to an ambivalent America of opportunity and discrimination.

"To eat whole-wheat tortillas" is an important line in the poem because many people who are Mexican consider Whole-Wheat tortillas a form of "white-washing" Mexican culture.

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(Artistic Representation)

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borscht: a tart soup made primarily of beetroot
Tex-Mex: A fusion of American and Mexican cuisine, also used as a term to label people of Mexican descent who live in Texas.
la migra: Border patrol officers

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"To live in the Borderlands means to put chile in the borscht,

eat whole wheat tortillas,
speak Tex-Mex with a Brooklyn accent;
be stopped by la migra at the border checkpoints;"

1. Terminology

2. Symbolic Meaning Explanation

3. Artistic Representation

4. Historical insight

5. Personal Connections

6. Style