These are some important points in these two stories, Loving in the War Years: lo que nunca paso por sus labios and Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza.

       The book, Loving in the War Years: lo que nunca paso por sus labios, was written by Cherrie Moraga. She was born in California in 1952. This story is about a teenager named Cherrie Moraga. She had a teenaged brother. One day her brother came home from school with some friends. He demanded her some lemonade for him and his friends. She was angry, she didn’t say anything. She told herself, “Get it yourself pig” (427). Maybe her mother could accept his behavior, and she probably wouldn’t say anything about it. Those were the times when women obeyed their husbands. Moraga thought it was stupid that men could tell women what to do. She thought it wasn’t fair for women. Moraga’s brother dated white girls. She didn’t like his brothers’ friends, but she had some crushes on his dates. Moraga was angry with her father because while her mother was very sick in the hospital, her father was dating another woman. Moraga missed her mother a lot. Finally, her mother was out of the hospital. Moraga was proud to be a Chicana, woman, and lesbian.

       Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza is a book written by Gloria Anzaldua. She was born in Texas in 1942. This story is about a young lady named Gloria Anzaldua; she was proud to be a Chicana, feminist woman, and a lesbian. She described in her story that it’s important to keep a family tradition. When she tried to speak Spanish in school, she was punished with three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler. She thought Chicano’s Spanish was a deficient mutilation of Spanish. Anzaldua spoke eight “Languages.” Standard English, Working-class and slang English, Standard Spanish, Standard Mexican Spanish, North Mexican Spanish dialect, Chicano Spanish, Tex-Mex, and Pachuco. She spoke these “Languages” when she was around the people who spoke these “Languages”, and Anzaldua said that while she had to speak English or Spanish, she would rather speak Spanglish. She was amazed by John Rechy’s book, City of Night. She couldn’t believe that a Chicano could write and could get published. According to Anzaldua, another way to “Internalize identification” was food and certain smells. The terms Mexican, Mestizo, Chicano, Raza, and Tejano defined by Anzaldua, “As a culture, we call ourselves Spanish” (455).

       These books have some important messages. The writers showed the messages with their stories about tradition, culture, and language. These writers wrote proudly about being a feminist woman, Chicana, and lesbian.