Frida Kahlo Legacy Analysis

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HSP 3085 02/22/12 History of US-Mexico Relations Julia Bondar Response Paper # 1 5. Feminine iconography: women’s contribution to Mexican culture. Literature on the live and thoughts of Mexicans contributes a lot of its context to the feminine image in Mexican culture. Similarly to the Western world, where women are being categorized as either disobedient Eve from the bible or Virginal Mary, the Mexican women are permitted to have two roles. In this example, the role of Malinche, who is considered traitor and mistress of Cortes the conqueror, or the role of Lady Guadalupe, who is on the other hand rendered as innocent and pure, playing important role for the human salvation. In Latin American culture women…show more content…
They admired her also because she dealt with the problems of being a woman painter in a macho society. Finally people were encouraged by the fact that Frida was still painting and creating beautiful portraits, despite her falling health and infamous husband who notably betrayed her by having affair with her sister. I am reading the book “Frida Kahlo’s Legacy”, and overall my reaction to that book poetics of self has been positive. My experience as a reader is enjoyable and I’d recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of the Latin-American world, especially to those who wonder what was the role of women in Mexican society. Frida Kahlo in my opinion was an amazing woman. After seeing fragments of the movie “Frida” in class, my goal was to watch the full version myself, and do a little reading about it. I agree with the portrayal of Frida in the movie, and the power of that strong woman who was able to merge her beliefs into culture. Kahlo's life was a curious blend of politics, painting, sentimentality and a harsh frankness…show more content…
Cortes wrote, “After God we owe this conquest of New Spain to Doña Marina.” In my opinion of the text “La Malinche, unrecognized heroine”, La Malinche is not a traitor by any terms, because she didn’t choose to join Cortes in his conquests voluntarily, but was turned to him as a slave. In this matter, she had no opinion or personal choice of freedom. La Malinche turned into history of Mexico as a translator for the Cortes, who at that time relied on the help of the Spanish priest Jeronimo de Aguilar who spoke both Mayan language and Spanish. When the expedition left to the Mayan-speaking area Cortes knew that he could not communicate with the Indians, Dona Maria helped Cortes to negotiate and therefore in my opinion should be recognized as heroine who helped to save Mexico from its brutal leaders. The time of the conquest, from 1521 to 1528, was similarly a complex and dramatic period that generated new myths, symbols, paradigms, and social structures. In Mexican language Malinche means “twisted grass” today her name symbolizes treachery and betrayal. Another reason for that is probably judgment of Dona Maria remaining at the side of the

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