Malinche: The Voice of a Nation
39
Every September 16th the President o f Mexico repeats the cry
(grito) o f Miguel Hidalgo, the father o f Mexico, “ jViva Mexicanos!
jViva M exico!” The crowd on the Zocalo o f M exico City replies, “ jViva
M exico Carbones!” (Long live Mexico, you bastards!). These words
express the desire o f Mexican men to think o f themselves as tough,
obstinate and aggressive. They shout, “ jViva Mexico, hijos de la
chingada!” (Long live Mexico, sons o f the violated one!). Koronkiewicz
noted in his essay, “La Malinche: From Harlot to Heroine” that those
who gather in the Zocalo tum an insult into a badge o f honor. They are
M alinche’s bastards, the sons o f a violated mother.
The term M alinchista is an epithet used by modern Mexicans to
describe traitorous behavior, someone who assumes European dress and
manners and tum s their back on the customs o f their indigenous
ancestors. The picture o f Malinche the reviled arose from four periods o f
Mexican history characterized by intense patriotism and nationalism:
Independence (1810-1821), W ar with the US (1846-1848), Revolution
(1910-1929), and Social reform (1920-1940). The truncated logic o f
nationalism insisted that the enemies o f Mexico were Spanish. Malinche
helped them. Therefore she was vendepatrias, the treacherous woman
who sold out her country to the enemy.
Victor Turner called such periods liminal. They provide a
threshold for the development o f new myths, Symbols, and paradigms
{Ritual 41). Writers and artists reconceptualized Mexican history,
especially the Conquest, after M exico gained independence from Spain.
They valorized the indigenous people and demonized the woman who
betrayed them, reprised in the Mexican song, Maldicion Malinche, The
Curse o f Malinche (Maldicion de Malinche).
Historical novels played an important role in degrading and
demonizing Malinche. William Stavely o f Philadelphia published
Xicotencatl (1826), by an anonymous author. The author vilified
Malinche as an “unworthy prostitute,” a “very venomous serpent,” and a
“traitor and temptress” (qtd. by Cypess La Malinche, 53). He blamed the
Spanish. “This American could have been an admirable woman without
the corruption which she mastered since associating with the Spaniards”
(qtd. by Cypess, La Malinche 55). He insisted that Malinche sold her
brothers and sisters into slavery, and blamed her for the destruction of
the Aztec civilization.
Ignacio Ramirez, a well-known writer, poet, and orator, incited
nationalist sentiment during the Mexican-American war. He reminded
his listeners that the barragana (concubine) o f Cortes, consorted with