“Yo no fui, fue Teté” is an attempt to invade the consciousness of those living on this side. The same people who everyday leave a wound in the mind and subconscious of many individuals socially “unfit” in the gender-binary. Thus, excluded from the social discourse as inorganic creatures that for the lack of a proper categorization are so-called “del otro lado.” That border, which divides, us, those of this side and those of the other side, is what the poet is trying to tear down. From an optimistic opening to a hopeless one, it epitomizes the downward direction, the up-down cycle of the inhabitants of nowhere. Analogous to Shakespeare’s “undiscovered country”, el otro lado is a place where nobody wants to live in and yet, we all live in. This mystical and unfathomable place carries no description nether flag. El otro lado lives in the oblivion. …show more content…
It’s a paradox for reconciliation and hate. Hence, the addressees are the Chicanos, the Mexicans, and the Mexican-Americans. To explore the consciousness of her own people, the author chooses a colloquial language. One that is intimate and common to the addressee and addresser. Though the wound left by the rejection is broader than the US-Mexico border, Anzaldúa deliberately wants to create a space reserved for Chicanos that situates the addressee in Mexico. In other words, the reader cannot stop thinking about Mexico, even when the poem is set in US soil.
Anzaldúa by including this poem in Borderlands La Frontera: The New Mestiza transgresses the limit of the borderlands and becomes an escapee, a defector and yet a refuge. She creates a contretemps, between the author and her audience. Defying her culture, her tradition and speaking up for those speechless muted by the social-contract between the Church, her people and the government, Anzaldúa embodies the persona of a