Eng story questions (need in 17 hours )

To Live in the Borderlands Means You (page 1175)

To live in the Borderlands means you  are neither hispana india negra española  ni gabacha, °  eres mestiza, mulata,° half-breed  caught in the crossfire between camps  5while carrying all five races on your back  not knowing which side to turn to, run from;  To live in the Borderlands means knowing  that the india in you, betrayed for 500 years,  is no longer speaking to you,  10that mexicanas call you rajetas, °   that denying the Anglo inside you  is as bad as having denied the Indian or Black; 

Cuando vives en la frontera °   people walk through you, the wind steals your voice,  15you’re a burra, buey, °  scapegoat,  forerunner of a new race,  half and half—both woman and man, neither—  a new gender; 

To live in the Borderlands means to  20put chile in the borscht,  eat whole wheat tortillas,  speak Tex-Mex with a Brooklyn accent;  be stopped by la migra °  at the border checkpoints; 

Living in the Borderlands means you fight hard to  25resist the gold elixer beckoning from the bottle,  the pull of the gun barrel,  the rope crushing the hollow of your throat; 

In the Borderlands  you are the battleground  30where enemies are kin to each other;  you are at home, a stranger,  the border disputes have been settled  the volley of shots have shattered the truce  you are wounded, lost in action  35dead, fighting back; 

To live in the Borderlands means  the mill with the razor white teeth wants to shred off  your olive-red skin, crush out the kernel, your heart  40pound you pinch you roll you out  smelling like white bread but dead; 

To survive the Borderlands  you must live sin fronteras °   be a crossroads.

2–3  neither . . .  mulata  neither Hispanic Indian black Spanish woman nor white you are mixed, a mixed breed.

3    gabacha  a Chicano term for a white woman.

10   rajetas  literally, “split,” that is, having betrayed your word (author’s note).

13   Cuando . . . frontera  when you live in the borderlands.

15    burra, buey  donkey, oxen (author’s note).

23   la migra  immigration officials. 

42 sin fronteras without borders.

[1987]