Tlilli Tlapalli: The Path of the Red and Black Ink by Gloria Anzaldua

Tlilli Tlapalli: The Path of the Red and Black Ink by Gloria Anzaldua

Before you Read: I have seen many interviews of actors or singers that I truly admire and I always have found myself respecting them more. I look at these actors and musicians and notice through their interviews that they are people just like everyone else its just they go about life in a completely different way. Most of them I find myself respecting more because they follow there dreams and work hard to accomplish them. These famous people aren’t any different than anyone else it is just that they believe in themselves and hold to a greater purpose while most just go through life.

Summary: In her article Tlilli Tlapalli :the path of the red and black ink, Gloria Anzaldua discusses her tribal culture compared to western culture. She talks about her times of ritual and performance and how it differs from western culture for instance in how we see objects and symbols as “dead” things. She argues how inn her tribal culture these artifacts or piece are just like people in that they have needs like being fed (getting ritual performances). She argues how in western culture these objects are psychological in that they run their energy between the object and the witness. Then she discusses a little bit about her culture and how they perform. She discusses the singer and their duties as well as being in the Shamanic State and what all it entails. She argues that you need to use your energy and how your how body is part of the acts you perform. She discusses writing and using red ink; how she holds it and it brings her pain or how she can feel herself stomach words, phrases and so forth just like she feels herself writing with her fingers. She argues for the anxiety that is involved in writing and how in order to be a writer you have to embrace this as well as the aggravation of writing. She also discusses how you must know how to communicate with images and words and do it well. She argues for the importance of making writing more than just a thing or system but instead enact all of yourself and your spirit/body.

Synthesis: I think that both of these articles are good to read and bring relation to each other. They go in line with each other in the discussion of writing and embodying yourself with it. They also both go into relation with Delpits article in that they discuss western culture and how it has formed itself and the views within it. These articles explore how the western culture has had no regard for outside communities or even just simply forms of writing.

Questions for Journaling and Discussion:

1.     I am not sure why she choose to exclude this information from the article. I felt that I was missing a piece of the pie and it was almost frustrating but I think at the same time it was effective. I think that it was effective because it aloud for the audience to think on their own and explore the idea. Also now the audience wasn’t focusing on the concepts related just to her community but all communities that are possible. I think it was a good idea because it prevented closed-minded thoughts and judgment for the entire article.

2.     I think that if you believe in yourself and your abilities then your possibilities are endless. I think that it is very important to believe in yourself because this is how you push yourself forward. If you don’t believe in yourself then your holding yourself back from really do all that you can. I think that it negatively affects your writing also because when you fail to believe in yourself and your writing you fail to expand your thoughts and work. When you fail to do this then you lock your thoughts and possibilities with writing into a box in which you cannot escape.

Applying and Exploring:

1.     I think that it would be les effective if she wrote the piece in a academic format because she wouldn’t be able to use these different forms of convey your ideas and topics. Also this takes away from having a personal touch in her writing in which teh audience can experience through the writing. I also think that the way she write it made the piece more interesting and fun to read and I fear that if it was a strictly academic format it would take away from all of this as well.

2.     I think that the idea is simple to agree with as I am sure you have heard before a picture is worth a thousand words. I feel that writing can effectively make a point and get something across however images and non-verbal communication make up 90% of interaction. I think that images are the best source because they are so naturally appealing to the human eye and we can’t help but observe and think about everything we see whether a picture or a action. Images are much better at presenting and explaining things because they are faster, more effective and most importantly appealing and meaningful to humans naturally.

Opinion on Article: I think that these articles were interesting to read and explore within. I gained many new perspectives and It was fun and interesting to learn about a different culture and how they see things compared to western culture. Also it gave me a lot of new ways to use writing or think about writing even though it may take time and practice as they are so different than western forms such as feeling writing from within. I am glad I got to read these articles because of my interest they drew into but more importantly the new cultures I got to examine and gain some information and perspective for.