La Malinche Myth

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Their supply of fresh water wascut off. This does not undermine the myth of La Malinche - herlegends are part of Mexico's historical iconography. Indeed,official Spanish policy for the first several decades of the 16th centurywas set by Queen Isabella in 15 3 in coordination with her Roman CatholicChurch advisors: this policy held that Amerindians were "children of God"worthy of redemption and a place of equality in the Christian world(Benitez 87-1 8; Fehrenbach 112-114). In the ensuring months, while theAztecs lost one ruler and tens of thousands of warriors to the smallpoxepidemic, he and Malinche persuaded all of the city-states surrounding LakeTenochtitlan to either ally themselves under Spanish leadership or remainneutral (Fehrenbach 149).…show more content…
The Legend of La Llorona. It was a not-uncommon practicefor Nahua nobility to sleep with "gifts" and slaves, even while married;there was no shame in the arrangement for either party (Cypress 24-25).Cortés was rapidly adapting himself to the customs of the Amerindians,allowing them to perceive him as the foretold, fair-skinned demi-god fromthe east, Quetzalcóatl, an omen of the decline of the Aztec world order.Although the later history of Mexico would develop a strong, censuringattitude toward the Malinche-Cortés relationship - imposing a RomanCatholic morality on a pre-Christian context and depicting La Malinche as adefiled "whore" in contrast to purity of the Blessed Virgin - at the timeboth participants very easily entered into the relationship (Gonzales 229-249). Mayan civilization as apolitical entity had long since declined by the time the Mexica invaded thehigh plains, or meseta, of central Mexico in the 12th century A.D. In general "yes" - but onlyinsofar as those symbols represent simplifications of complexpersonalities, events and social fabrics.

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