Feminism, Nation And Myth: La Malinche, By Richard Rodriguez

In the passage “India”, Richard Rodriguez argues that rather than being an act of conquest, the Indian/European interaction as not always uniformly violent or exploitative; instead [he argues], it was a complex series of profit and transformative exchanges. Both the Indian and European cultures made visible advancements by coming to the new world. The Europeans had begun global trading network, and therefore, trading with other cultures became easier. Rodriquez argues that the Indian people appropriated a variety of European technologies and cultural forms. Indians and Europeans exchanged not only food but also technology such as metal working, iron, steel, and fire arms. By the two cultures exchanging biological goods to technology this created …show more content…
(“It is traditional belief…exchange for a new life.” Pg. 67) Rodriguez also argues that Malinche was disowned by her tribe for becoming a translator and a mistress for Cortez. Romero and Harris state that La Malinche was also known as La Llorona (“Some say that the spirit of La Malinche is La Llorona. Here Gaspar de Alba succinctly summarizes a classical variation of the malice story/myth.” pg.67) Rodriguez never stated in his passage that Malinche was also known as La Llorona. It must be a story/myth that was made up over the years in Mexico. Romero and Harris state that because of the betrayal of Malinches’ tribe she is given a consequence of the eternally fighting, uncanny, ghost/undead corpse. (“The indigenous women betrays her people to the Spanish conquestor by serving both as an interpreter and mistress for Hernan Cortez; thereafter, “malinchita” in Mexican usage evokes the sense of an unpatriotic betrayal of the nation to foreign interests; as a consequence, the eternally frightening, uncanny, ghost/undead corpse, La Llorona measures out her fit punishment.” Pg. 67). Rodriguez does not specifically state that she is given a punishment as such stated by Romero and Harris but Malinche is punished by her tribe for leaving. La Llorona is a myth that the Mexican culture, (“In these oral permutations of history, La Malinche becomes La Llorona, her son by Cortez becomes La Llorona’s archetypal victim, as popular report and folklore shift and change historical record to fit different times, circumstance, and cultural needs” pg. 68) Rodriguez does not state that Malinche had a child with Cortez. Romero also states that La Malinche is just a rumor and does not have any real knowledge behind it. (“ Reminds us that the nebulous authority of rumor is all that substantiates or moral lesson derived not