In the age of the Gold Rush, the West served as a place of promised riches, and a melting pot of cultural backgrounds. With these promises, we find, more often than not, racial aggression toward though who were not of Anglo-European or American descent. This is found especially in those who are considered mixed, meaning the combination of two races genetically. Most often, this would be someone who is of Anglo and Latino or African descent. These individuals faced not only the hardships of being a person of color but a person of color in the “middle”. This disallowed them from claiming the cultural backgrounds of either race and left them to decipher their own place in society. In the poem “To Live in the Borderlands means you” by Gloria Anzaldua, she explores the conformities of racially mixed individuals in the West and their hardships. Similarly, in “Thousand Pieces of Gold” by Ruthanne Lum McCunn, readers follow the journey of Lalu, a Chinese immigrant who is given the task of assimilating with the Anglo culture of the West. Both women point out the inherent differences between what it means to be white in the West versus being a person of color. Therefore, the West was a time of monetary expansion and opportunity for those of Anglo descent; while at the same time an opportunity for the oppression of people of color.
Anzaldua writes her poem from the perspective of a multi-racial woman who carries the weight of her race while attempting to find comfort in her identity during the Gold Rush. This, obviously, is not a possibility for her due to her racial background and the prominent Anglo presence and culture of the time period. Throughout the poem, Anzaldula writes with tones of aggression and animosity toward the white individuals who have taken over the borderlands. Internally, she is “carrying all five races on your back/not knowing which side to turn to, run from” (Anzaldua 4-5). Meaning, the West was not a place of comfort, but rather a place of conformity for people of color. There was no offer of individuality for those who represented other races. Instead, there was an expectation to conceal those parts of self that hinted at diversity or anything other than an Anglo-American reality. It goes without saying that this does not include the physical characteristics an individual cannot conceal. This specific part of being a person of color only furthered the dealings of oppression and racism in the West. It left people of color, including those who are mixed, unable to feel represented or welcomed by society as a whole. In Anzaldua’s own words, not know what “side” to take part in. Alongside this, we see the agenda of the Anglo-American individuals who sought to “shred off/your olive-red skin, crush out the kernel, your heart/pound you pinch you roll you out/smelling like white bread but dead” (Anzaldua 36-39). This speaks to the expected and forced assimilation of people of color during the Gold Rush. If not to assimilate, then one would be considered “at home, a stranger” (Anzaldua 30), due to the overwhelming presence of Anglo-American individuals and lifestyle. The aggressive nature of Anzaldua’s description of assimilation points toward the reality of mixed and minority individuals. There was not a welcoming presence for them, or an easy route to assimilate. It included acts of violence, hate, and even killing those who rejected Anglo culture. Anzaldua writes this poem in order to resonate with people of color and the unjustified experiences they face, whether it be during the Gold Rush or the present day.
Looking at McCunns work, we see a similar situation for Lalu and her transition into the West as an immigrant and person of color. Lalu faced this transition in one of the most common ways many women of color gained entry to the U.S., through sexual labor. In her experiences as a prostitute, she was expected to assimilate in a way that made her obedient, quiet, and lacking an identity that connected to her culture. Instead, she had to be moldable to those around her, particularly those she was being bought and sold by. In her time at the Shanghai brothel house, Madam gives Lalu the advice to “Look at that bamboo. It’s strong, but it bends in the wind, just as you must learn to do” (McCunn 87). This advice transcends throughout Lalu’s experiences as a sex laborer and slave, and even into her freedom. When she is brought to the U.S., she becomes a drop in the ocean of hundreds of Anglo-American individuals. In the town she stays in, she is the only Chinese American immigrant and woman present. This causes her to have to “bend” as the Madam said in order to both please and assimilate to those around her. Her bending is reflected in her experiences of being referred to as a “china doll” or fetishized for her race. Also, in her relationship with Charlie where she forgoes the acknowledgment that she is Chinese. It isn’t until Lalu attempted to purchase land and fear for her safety that she began to truly realize and understand how distinct her race and culture are from those around her. Before this, Lalu lived her life between the line of her culture and the eurocentric reality surrounding her. In her emergence to this realization, Lala presents the example of a monkey and a tightrope that “walk carefully back and forth between the two sides. At each end, he stop a little bit, but he cannot stay, and so he walk again until he so tired, he fall… sometimes I feel like that monkey” (McCunn 179). This can be seen as a similarity to what Anzaldua expresses in her poem about the murky territory one lives in when being a person of color. One cannot identify with one group of people or the other, but transfer between the two. For Lalu, she experienced this her entire time in the U.S. and specifically her time with Charlie and the others in Warren. There was never any true acknowledgment of her race by them, but it followed her internally. When it came to her safety or the accessibility she had to money and land, it fell back on her racial identity. Considering this factor, she was able to “walk the rope” and escape this reality in her social relationships with Charlie and the others. At the end of the day, Lalu faced a complex relationship with her identity and race throughout the novel. While she was able to assimilate for the most part, she never left behind the awareness of her race or the place she had in a eurocentric society.
In both of these works, we trace the confining boundaries and conflicts that racial minorities faced throughout their time in the West. For Lalu, one may say that she was better off in her situation due to the smaller racial complexities she had as an individual. This then makes the experiences that Anzaldua that much worse due to her mixing of multiple racial identities. Regardless of the extent thought, both of these women faced tremendous battles and oppression with a society that did not accept them for who they were, yet could not change. To broaden this subject, one may ask why we do not learn more about these women and the history of people of color in general historically. Whether it be for our mainly eurocentric teachings of history, or for the continued oppression of voices of those who do not fit the Caucasian agenda. Therefore, it is of heightened importance that one either self-educates or seeks to talk courses that bring light to racially diverse individuals.
