2. Is "The Path of the Red and Black Ink" a work of nonfiction or fiction? What, for instance, does the line "I write the myths in me, the myths I am, the myths I want to become" suggest about the work itself? Are there passages in which the genre of "The Path of the Red and Black Ink" seems to change, or in which the author's relationship to something the reader might call "fact" or "reason" dramatically changes? Using the standards for creativity that Anzaldúa offers, what transformation of consciousness (if any) has occurred in those passages?
3. What is a "Borderland"? Anzaldúa writes, "Being a writer feels very much like being a Chicana, or being queer." How does the idea of a "Borderland" describe a variety of psychological states, and positions within a society? What makes living in a "Borderland" a "numinous experience," not a "nightmare"? How is writing--and the author's relationship to her work--"symptomatic of a larger creative process--cultural shifts . . . cultural ambiguity"?
4. Anzaldúa describes the body as a "crossroads," creativity as painful "continuous multiple pregnancies," and her writing desk as an altar composed of ceremonial objects. Overall, what relationship does Anzaldúa construct between Western and tribal cultures? What objects, for instance, can be found on her desk? What is the source of her inspiration? And where (and how) does she find resolution?