Chicano suppresion

The physical border between Mexico and the United States acts as much as a vivid divide as the metaphorical social boarder between these two clashing cultures. This unnatural blend is an everydaystruggle that has affected the past onto the present, and both Rodolfo Corky Gonsalez and Gloria Anzaldúa both have a saddening certainty that it will continue to affect future generations as well.Through their writing both authors speak of the pain they are forced to endure due to the presence of the border culture. Though they touch on some of the same struggles and frustrations, in TheHomeland, Aztlán Anzaldúa focuses more on the effects of the border with a tone indicating slight acceptance of the sad reality. In I am Joaquin Gonsalez writes more passionately with a voice of pride andprotest breaking down the world of confusion and speaking for all of his people, both good and bad, giving his poem strong distinction from Anzaldúa's.
"Lost in a world of confusion, caught up in thewhirlwind of a gringo society, confused by the rules, scorned by the attitudes, suppressed by manipulation, and destroyed by modern society." (pg. 1, Gonzales) These words are the heart the messageof I am Joaquin. Throughout this poem the speaker took on many personas, some bandits and some heroes, sending the message that his heritage and his people, for good and bad, made up parts of who hewas and why this land should belong to him. I believe that his "world of confusion" symbolizes that both the Anglos and the Chicanos were confused. The "gold-hungry" Anglos were confused because theywere convinced that taking land and disregarding the Mexican culture was acceptable. The Anglos striped chicano citizens from their farmlands and from their home, changed their language, frownedupon their way of life, and totally disregarded their culture. They most certainly were confused, as they continued to act with the illogical mindset of a greedy child's saying "finders keepers,...