Monday, November 15, 2010

La Malinche

In World History, we learned about Hernando Cortes, who, I'm guessing, saw himself as a "Conquistador Extraordinaire." The article we got for homework says he was an arrogant, power-hungry man. But what really caught my eye was his relationship with his Native American translator, a woman known as La Malinche.
The story goes that, when Cortes arrived in the Aztec Empire, whether or not they were seen as gods, they were given 20 slavegirls. La Malinche, one of them, was in her late teens or twenties at the time. She was noted for her beauty and grace, or whatever, and learned Spanish quickly and efficiently enough to be Cortes's translator. She became his mistress, even though he already had eight or so children from previous marriages. She bore him a son, Don Martin, one of the first Mestizo (person with mixed European and Native American ancestry).
But what I was wondering was, what did she think about Cortes and the Spanish? Did she think of them as gods or did she just pass them off as impostors? And Cortes, did she really love him or did he force her into a relationship? And when he conquered Tenochtitlan, did she feel guilty for letting him do what he did or was she glad to be rid of a society she felt no part of?
If anyone has any resources on something she said or wrote from a first-person point of view, that would be much appreciated.

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