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Honored and Reviled: La Malinche. [1]
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Date: 2022-10-18
Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour.
Does anyone else here remember iVillage? Back in days of old when knights were bold and Facebook not invented, it was a really popular place for women to hang out online. As soon as we got a (huge, slow, clunky) computer and got hooked up to the (erratic, slow, ties-up-your-phone-line) Internet, it was something I enjoyed. It was like Facebook, before Facebook got overrun by trolls both foreign and domestic, conspiracy theory nutjobs, and people trying to get you to buy stuff you really don't need. I kinda miss it sometimes.
Anyway, on one memorable occasion, I participated in an iVillage chat room discussion with a feminist author who'd written a fascinating article about important women in the history of Latin America. One of her subjects was la Malinche. There was a lot of controversy outrage about that, with a number of readers objecting to the inclusion of that particular historical woman. People were seriously pissed. And I, who had been lurking the whole time chose that moment to say something because of course.
Nearly everyone: She was a traitor! She helped the invaders murder her own people! She was evil! Betrayer, wicked, selfish, horrible, disgusting! She collaborated with the destruction of her own race! She deserves nothing but to be forgotten!
Me: She was a survivor.
You can imagine how well that went down. It was quite a pile-on.
La Malinche at far right, with Hernan Cortes and Spanish conquistadors.
To say that people have deep feelings about her would be a great understatement. To this day, over five centuries later, her name is a pejorative term. Malinchista. A person who displays a strong preference for foreign things and ideas. To be accused of Malinchismo is tantamount to being called a traitor.
La Malinche as depicted in a bronze sculpture group which includes Hernan Cortes and their son Martin.
Without her help it's safe to say that the Spanish Conquest, while likely inevitable, would have taken considerably longer. She had an undeniably huge impact on the history and eventual destiny of Mexico. (And by extension, much of the rest of the New World.) And yet not a very great deal of real information about her exists. In the absence of such, a wealth of legend has grown around her. Like splendid flowers. Like noxious weeds.
Malinche as depicted in a mural by Mexican artist Diego Rivera.
A romanticized depiction of Cortes and Malinche by Mexican artist Jesus Helguera.
Cortez y La Malinche by Mexican artist Jose Clemente Orozco.
The four Twentieth Century artworks shown above, all by Mexican artists, give you some idea of how varied the views and opinions about this woman can be. Variously described and depicted as a villain, a victim, an ancestress; the "Mexican Mata Hari" and the "Mother of Modern Mexico". Who she was, and what she means today, depends a lot on who you listen to.
Much of what we think we know about Malinche was written by a Spanish conquistador named Bernal Diaz del Castillo in his memoir "True History of the Conquest of New Spain", which was completed in 1568. Almost fifty years after the events he describes. Bernal Diaz claims to have been present at the first meeting of Cortes and Malinche, and to have been in close company with her during her time as interpreter and advisor to Cortes. He's not shy about being an admirer. And describes Malinche as being of rather small stature, very attractive, with hazel eyes, medium-fair complexion, and light colored hair. She sounds practically European in appearance. Which, to be honest, makes me doubt just about anything else he has to say about her.
In Bernal Diaz's version, Malinche was a beautiful young daughter of Mayan nobility, who was sold into slavery by her own mother. Who did it to please her new husband and make it possible to give all their time, attention, and resources to Malinche's baby half-brother. (Many versions of her story have strong overtones of the ancient Mexican legend of La Llorona.) And after serving her people well by helping to bring them the benefits of Spanish civilization and Christianity, rising to the status of an honored and wealthy woman in the new society, Malinche at last journeyed back to her homeland. Where her mother waited anxiously, expecting to be denounced and punished for her appalling betrayal of her own child. Wasn't she surprised when the former slave girl, now the respected Dona Marina, embraced her, forgave all, and showered her relatives with gifts. Truly a beautiful reunion. Like a scene from a fairy tale. Which it probably was.
Other versions claim that Malinche was born into slavery; that she was Mexica or some other nationality; that she was born to an impoverished working-class family and in order to escape the drudgery that likely awaited her as an adult, she sold herself into slavery. Or that she was simply abducted and trafficed. What writings that exist by her contemporary Indios are not entirely condemning of her; not everyone was sorry to see the Mexica empire brought down. If Malinche herself recorded her memoirs, I haven't heard of it.
We do know that she was a real person. An indigenous woman, born around 1500. She was in her late teens when she met Hernan Cortes in 1519. She was one of twenty young slave women given to Cortes as part of a tribute paid by a defeated people. It's likely that she was in fact considered attractive; slaves given as gifts or paid as tribute would have been of the highest quality available. Whether born into slavery or not, she was definitely enslaved. Before ever being handed over to the Spanish, Malinche, like thousands upon thousands before her, was enslaved by her fellow native people.
She was multilingual and very intelligent. When she became the property of Cortes she already spoke Mayan and Nahuatl. Cortes already had one interpreter, a Spaniard who'd been shipwrecked off the Yucatan coast some years before. That man learned enough Mayan to get by. But Malinche's facility for languages, together with her in-depth knowledge of local customs and culture, made her invaluable. It isn't surprising that Cortes quickly appropriated her for himself.
She became his interpreter, advisor, and eventually mistress. Malinche and Cortes had a child together, a son they named Martin. Who was born in 1522, the year following the destruction of the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan. It was the birth of Martin that earned her the titular role of Mother of the Mestizo Race. (Mestizo, Spanish "mixed") Like every other native the Spanish got their hands on, Malinche was baptized as a Roman Catholic. At which time she was given the Christian name Marina. To which was added the honorific "dona"- Dona Marina. Eventually Cortes's wife heard about her, and Marina was married off to a Spanish man named Juan Jaramillo. After that she appears to have subsided into obscurity. And is thought by current historians to have died sometime prior to February 1529. Less than ten years after providing invaluable assistance to the Spanish colonizers. Not yet thirty years old.
Monumento al Mestizaje, by Julian Martinez. This bronze sculpture group depicts Cortes, Malinche, and their son Martin. Created in 1982, it was intended to be displayed in a location near the site of Cortes's home in Coyoacan. It was moved to a small, little-known park following widespread protests.
In the centuries since her death Malinche has appeared in poetry, in art, in novels, in films, in an opera, and a graphic novel series. To this day historians and scholars debate about her character and motives. Trying to discover the real woman under the layers of legends, admiration, and loathing.
Whatever else she may have been, she clearly did the best she could while in an impossible situation, with unimaginable choices forced upon her. She did what she could to survive.
Thank you for reading. This is an open thread; all topics are welcome.
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