Intra- and Intergroup Division of the Contemporary Mexcican-American Working-Class

Seminar paper from the year 2022 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies, grade: 2,0, University of Paderborn (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Working-Class Literature in the United States, language: English, abstract: This paper examines the intra- and intergroup struggles of Mexican-American proletarians through the poetry of Gloria Anzaldúa and Lorna Dee Cervantes. By analyzing their works, it highlights ongoing prejudices and disadvantages faced by the Mexican-American working class and how these issues persist in the 21st century. I argue that the intra- and intergroup division of the Mexican-American proletarians described in Anzaldúa's To Live in the Borderlands from 1987 and Dee Cervantes' A Chicano Poem from 2013, mirrors itself in the 21st Century in so far that Mexican-American proletarians face strong prejudices and disadvantages, which every one of them perceives and handles in different ways. Against this backdrop, Anzaldúa- and Dee Cervantes' poems will be analysed separately in terms of intra- and intergroup division. The essay begins by exploring the intra-group division of the Mexican-American working-class and then continues with the inter-group division of Mexican-American proletarians with other Americans. Finally, the conclusion mediates all arguments and gives an outlook on possible further research.