Hybridity

Anzuldua states that “all identities are hybrid, formed over time through the interaction of multiple cultures.” Thus, calling for a united and isolated culture can “only do harm” in a world of hybridity (2096). It seems to me that Anzuldua is in favor of a “hybrid progeny, a mutable, more malleable species with a rich gene pool” (2099). Although I agree with Anzuldua in her attempt to emasculate the hegemony of race, I cannot help but think of all the people who would think that a hybrid, mixed race is monstrous and hideous. This brings to mind Frankenstein’s Creature who is an embodiment of a hybrid race, as he is made from the concoction of deceased bodies. Being a mix of many people, the Creature is deemed hideous and terrifying, and by being rejected by the white hegemonic society, seeks to harm the world of his maker. The fact that the Creature carries many gene pools in his body makes him strong and powerful, able to endure physical hardships. The discrepancy in Frankenstein’s attitude toward the Creature before the latter is alive and after; by first seeing as beautiful and then considering him hideous; and overall his contradictory feelings about the Creature, echoes what Anzaldua says about the reaction hybridity evokes : “the ambivalence from the clash of voices results in insecurity and indecisiveness” (2099). The Creature like the “mestiza” “[has] no country as [his] homeland cast [him] out; yet all countries are [his]” (2101). Similar to the struggle within the different Latino races and between the Latino’s and the Whites in which “the struggles has always been inner, and is played in the outer terrain” (2106), there is a struggle both within Frankenstein and the Creature as well as between themselves. It seems that the lack of awareness towards the Creature is the source of most his troubles; almost everyone he encounters misunderstands him because they are repulsed by his looks which they judge to be evil. Anzuldua believes that awareness must come before inner changes: “nothing changes in the real world unless it happens first in the images of our heads” (2106).