Self-Identity On The Crossroads: Exploring Chicana-Lesbian Identity In Cherrie Moraga’S Giving Up The Ghost

Cherrie Moraga’s Giving Up the Ghost explores the broad spectrum of oppression; racism, sexism, homophobia, patriarchy, nationalism and sexual exploitation, which come together on crossroads to display the reality and identity of Chicana-lesbians. Moraga attempts to construct and portray the identity of her characters by use of language; thus, analyzing the essence of language used by the characters and its portrayal upon the audience as a performance, readers can understand how Chicana-lesbians represent the minority within the minorities in the society. By evaluating Moraga’s use of Language Mixing (LM), we can discover how the juxtaposition of two languages shows a linguistic hierarchy, a power structure and resistance towards this power. In light of the language used, studying the performance of this language on a simple set with minimal technical equipment, readers can observe the fragmented ’self’ of individuals in the 21st century. De-constructing the language and speculating the cultural identity of the marginalized Chicana-lesbians illuminates the need for self-fashioning, ultimately, bringing forth comparative analysis of transcultural performance in different ethnic groups