Doña Castillo Analysis

In chapter XXIII, Castillo gives us a little more background about Doña Marina. If we recall from class Malintzin, as we refer to her, came from a nobility/ elite family. However, Castillo provides more specific information about Doña Marina’s parents. Diaz mentioned (1517) that her father and mother were Chiefs and Caciques of a town called Paynala located in Coatzacoalcos. In addition, Castillo gives a paragraph whose main function is to provide information which only a witness may possess and demonstrate the truthfulness of the narrative. He describes that he personally knew Doña Marina’s mother and her half-brother, whose names were Marta and Lazaro, names that were given to them when they became Christians. Also, we can see through Castillo’s descriptive narration that Doña Marina was much like her mother. …show more content…
She was able to forgive her mother and her stepfather after they gave her away. As Castillo narrates, she still gives her mother many jewels of gold, and tells her to return to their town. Unlike most of us, she put aside her pride and moves the grudges and hatred aside to give peace to her heart. These natural virtues are what characterized her and also portray her as a religious person. She seems to look at the good side of her bad experiences. In addition, we learned in class that Malintzin had an intimacy relationship with Cortes and as a consequence, she gave birth to a child. However, we can see in Castillo’s narration that she felt that god reward the years of slavery by having a child with Cortes and letting her marry a gentleman named Jaramillo