Gloria Anzaldua Case

These writing references to borders repeat a pattern that is held throughout their core structures which is as Gloria Anzaldua says, "Borders are set up... to distinguish us from them." The Canadian-US Border is a real landmark on the terrain and has been the subject of a dispute that has lasted for years. Anzaldua mentions in her statement, "us" and "them" so to further push these two countries even further away from one another as connected and unified. This border dispute has been pushed so much so that Thomas King decided to document it in a short story, "Borders", where a mother tries to visit her daughter in America from Canada. However the US border guard fails to understand that she is a native to Canada and therefore she cannot identify a certain place where she is from, but an area of land which the tribe possesses which is called Blackfoot. It ends with the mother creating so much interest by the media of both Canada and America that the guard eventually lets her through into the states. The stupidity of the security is that you have to know where someone has come from to allow them through. Guillermo Verdecchia wrote an autobiographical play, "Fronteras Americanas", of his story as an Argentinian-Canadian and his travels from Canada to Argentina. It is about one person, who represents the author, and his struggle to bring together two cultures and create a home but the cultures are so vastly different from one another. Verdecchia also makes it humorous to the audience to create a sense of an appeal to end this madness of frontiers and agree with each other with a sense of unity and togetherness.

The United States of America and Canada first started quarrelling with each other was the American Revolutionary War when American colonists took the land that was set aside by the Canadians for the First Nations. Since that moment Canada and the United States of America have been fighting each other. The Border was created in 1783 by the Treaty of Paris which would help form the American colonies into their separate states which are still found today. Many variations of the Treaty of Paris can be found like The Treaty of Oregon, and the Webster-Ashburton Treaty in 1842, but the border remained virtually the same. But in the borders themselves military and security have increased dramatically as both countries fear that the other could be planning something against their own country.

In Guillermo Verdecchia's play "Fronteras Americanas" in the spring of 1999, Verdecchia plays the play as self-defensive towards the Canadian side even though in the history of Canada, most Canadians have themselves negotiated a border. "Fronteras Americanas" interrogates the "Latin" experience in North America and Canada, exploding stereotypes constructed by the media to humour, and questioning the way self-identity may be constructed in response to the dominant "Saxon" culture of the States. Verdecchia wanted to bring the countries closer together with this play, so much so that he introduced the play in 1993 in the Tarragon Theatre's Extra Space in Toronto with the words, "Here we are. All together. At long last" However when considering these borders, in considering a new vision of Canada, we begin to break away from some borders, while acknowledging the possibilities others have to offer. Only when we acknowledge that fact, we might all then be able to say with Verdecchia: "Here we are. All together. At long last". Mayte Gomez makes an interesting statement in his journal about "Fronteras Americanas" that the play is "effectively moving the personal border, proposing that it affects all of Canada." If it indeed affects all of Canada then Gomez is producing a flaw in Verdecchia's plan to unite the border and exploit its weaknesses. The flaw is that the play unites Canada above the United States of America, thus producing an unstable relationship and favouritism in the play towards one country, namely Canada. Although Verdecchia is Canadian, the play was supposed to be about bringing the two countries together.

"Fronteras Americanas" explores stereotypes with only one actor alternating between two characters. By requiring every actor to play multiple characters in these