Complex Bodies

In Gloria Anzldua's: From the Borderlands /La Frontera: The New Mestiza the focus of the work pertains to the many varying, conflicting cultures existing in a single body, detrimental to one's body, mind and others. Anzldua brilliantly coveys her perplexities as an American/Mexican/Indian/lesbian/feminist woman in between cultures as she demonstrates these hardships in her abrupt language switch from English to Spanish, prose to poetry, etc. Attempting to refocus her confused perspective and to halt the collisions within her, she dissects the cause for major [war invoking] differences between humans.
"The answer to the problem between the white race and the colored, between males and females, lies in healing the slip that originates in the very foundation of out lives, our culture, our language, our thoughts. A massive uprooting of dualistic thinking in the individual and collective consciousness is the beginning of a long struggle, but one that could, in our best hopes, bring us to end rape, of violence, of war"(Anzldua 6).
As humans we are stuck in a world of competing and conflicting difference that interferes in our daily lives, thoughts, actions, beliefs and so forth. To be American does not signify one concrete nationality, but engenders and reveals multiple cultures struggling to maintain wholeness in a broken head-strong society. To be American, is to be Mexican or Irish, or Italian-maybe all, as well Jewish/Catholic, homosexual, trilingual, as well African. How does this work, how does one maintain the ideals/traditions/beliefs/and cultural acceptances of another while dealing with every other aspect of their heritage. Anzaldua mentions the limited acceptance of cultural difference between cultures-but it differs when that cultural difference manifests itself in one body. For example: a Catholic woman cannot consider herself Catholic if she also claims homosexuality. Anzaldua reconstructs the many different images of herself into one picture by trying to identify the 'self' the core center of her being, and by doing this she is able to maintain the controlling differences between cultures.
Gloria Anzaldua brought to face the many problems that exist in a single person and how that person strives to adapt to a dominate culture. The struggles and wars in this world are created by people confused on the inside interacting with other humans internally and externally striving to make sense of an unclear existence.