The Border Logics of Adolescent Development in Cherríe Moraga's Giving up the Ghost

Abstract

Through the character of Corky/Marisa, Cherríe Moraga in Giving Up the Ghost offers a rare instance in which a Chicana adolescent queer is placed front and center, notably as a model of liberation. In this article, I argue that Ghost demonstrates lives forced to play out a “border logics”—which draws specific attention to the idea that Chicanos/Mexican Americans often must function within and between two or more frames of reference. By exploring the inner shadows of Corky/Marisa, Moraga offers a critical dialogue about the local and transnational histories lying within the complex grid that constitutes the U.S.-Mexican borderlands. In the light of the decades since its first publication in 1986, the point to be made is that Moraga's play continues to acquire critical social meaning precisely because Moraga utilized the stage not as a place for forgetting, but for remembering, for drawing attention to the continuing erasure of Chicana/o cultural landscapes and presences by policy makers, popular culture, and the public at large.