Borderlands

Gloria Anzaldua is a Chicana lesbian and activist who lived near the the border of Texas and Mexico. She starts by describing the border as unnatural and dangerous, especially for those who live in the surrounding lands. She says that when those of color cross the border, they are shot or tortured while those who are white are left unharmed. Anzaldua constantly interchanges between English and Spanish which despite confusing the reader, shows that she has and affinity to both sides of the border.

Anzaldua describes how by the late 1800's American corporations were using Mexican land for commercial purposes. As a result the peso lost value compared to the dollar and the Mexicans not employed by these corporations were out of work and starving. Therefore Mexicans began immigrating to the US. She goes on further to describe the linguistic barriers that separated her and other Chicanos. While she spoke mainly Chicano and Spanish she had to learn English as a result of the pressure society placed on Chicanos. However there is clear bias when Anzaldua makes that claim. One of example of this is how she believes that the university she attended forced her to speak in English in order to prevent her from speaking in Spanish.

What truly confused me was how Anzaldua criticized both the US and Spanish societies. She expressed contempt at how the whites stole her people's land and starved them which in turn forced them to immigrate at great peril. She expresses as sense that she doesn't belong in her society because of how men are dominant. What is truly ironic is that Anzaldua tries to be accepted into a culture but she distinguishes herself by describing herself as a Mesitza, a mix of two cultures. She is also a female, homosexual, activist which sets her apart even more.

I feel the poem "Don't Give In, Chicanita", pg. 224, gives insight towards Anzaldua's feelings towards the gringos and the chicanos. It appears as if she is talking to someone younger. She tells this person to have pride in his/her ancestry claiming that it is ancient. She descended before the time of the whites when Texas was still Mexico.  She says her previous lineage of female ancestors (herself, her mother, grandmother and so on) is strong. She then goes on to condemn the whites for taking their land saying how they will eventually kill one another. She compares herself and her people to a snake and horned toad, perhaps referencing the story of the snake that impregnated a woman. She however says how they may still be starving, referencing the time when the Mexicans starved because they were out of the work because of the American corporations. Towards the end, she mentions a revolution approaching at some point whether it be in a few years or a few centuries. She could be speaking of the New Mestiza, the idea that there will be a new age of Mestiza that will be more accepting of unique individuals so that others would not have to be isolated in the manner that Anzaldua was.

Freud Psycho-Analaysis

As I read an "Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis", I thought to myself that Sigmund Freud's findings were intruiging and controversial to say the least. Freud documents his findings as he studies the minds of patients and their relationships to doctors.  Based on what he says, I view Freud as a radical whose ideas are unorthadox. However I must say that for the most part I agree with Freud and his discoveries. In his book he goes over parapraxes, dreams, and neuroses. One underlying aspect that Freud tries to convey is that every psychological action has some deeper meaning or intention.

Freud describes dreams as a phenomenon in which knowledge displayed as a distorted image to the individual. He says that dreams are an expression of the dreamer's unconcsious desires. However, these desires are often so disturbing to the dreamer that the mind of the individual will censor or distort these unconcious desires into harmless symbols or images that cannot be as easily comprehended. This is why dreams are so unfamiliar to so many. Sometimes when the mind cannot properly censor these desires the individual will continue to view them as a nightmare. Dreams typically express ones wishes being fufilled and/or fears. Dreams, according to Freud, are completely sexual in nature. He states that any rod or stick like shape resembles a penis while a opening of some sort resembles a vagina. I agreee with Freuds views on dreams for the most part. I believe that dreams more often then not have some sort of deeper meaning to them and that they are an attempt to display to the dreamer what he fears and desires. However I am hesitant to say that all dreams are based from sexual impulses.

Freud was convinced that sexual desires are the major influence upon humans and their actions. He says sexual desires begins from childhood. Apparently the first sense of sexual pleasure that the child receives is when he is breast fed from his mother. The child then tries to replicate this sense of arousal by sucking his thumb. A major time in a child's sexual life is when he makes the transition from sucking to rubbing (masturbation). I believe that one begins to experience sexual impulses from puberty when his sexual organs are fully developed and capable of intercourse with another. I believe that the purpose of breast feeding is for the child's well being and health rather then the fufill sexual impulses.

I was very interested in what Freud describes as the Oedeipus Complex. the Oedipus Complex is based from the story of the Greek king Oedipus who killed his father in order to be with his mother. However when he came to a realization of what he did he went crazy and blinded himself. The complex refers to a childs desire to be with his mother and resentment towards the father because of his relationship towards his mother. I find it rather appalling that one would have a supposed natural tendency towards incest. However, it seems to great of a coincidience that there is Greek legend based on the very phenomenon.

Overall Freud's findings affected me the most because of the way I look at my dreams. Whenever I dream, I ask myself when I wake up if that dream represented something or if there was a sexual connection of some sort.