“IMAGINARY LINES”: CROSSING BORDERS IN LESLIE MARMON SILKO’S ALMANAC OF THE DEAD AND GARDENS IN THE DUNES

Abstract

Applying Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands Theory to Leslie Marmon Silko’s novels Almanac of the Dead and Gardens in the Dunes shows how Silko’s inclusion of borders and border crossings in her writing highlights the history of oppression in the United States, and the lingering effects of colonialism that marginalized peoples still face today. With border crossings in her novels, Silko also honors indigenous survival and resistance. Despite the constant dislocation and unnatural borders that are imposed upon them throughout history, Native Americans continue to challenge and cross them as a way to survive by resistance; always honoring their traditional cultures and relationships with the ancestral lands they love.