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that she had no choice in the matter, no agency, and that the notion o f
patria did not exist. They argued that Malinche is at the root o f much of
the disdain M exican men display toward Mexican women; something
expressed in the country’s high rates o f infidelity and domestic violence
(Krauss 1).
Cypess said that once she conceived o f the idea o f Malinche as a
displaced woman, exiled and disconnected from her own community; she
has “not stopped thinking o f her since” (“M other Malinche” 14). Cypess
declared that Malinche is a central figure in the Conquest, an emblem o f
M exican national identity, and a symbol o f all Latin American women.
She is more than a national mother; she is the Eve, the mother o f us all.
M alinche transcended all gender constraints o f both European and Aztec
societies.
M alinche Stands between two cultures. She is strong, adaptable,
and a facilitator. M alinche’s story is worth re-examining and reinterpreting because o f her central position in Mexican history and
mythology. Chicana poets, artists and writers play a unique role in the
appropriation and revision o f M alinche’s image. They have changed
conventional interpretations o f Malinche, as well as, perceptions of
Chicanas in Contemporary American society.
Conclusion
The translator is the carrier o f the human spirit.
Pushkin
Three different scholars provide insight to Malinche as revered,
reviled and a role model. Peter Novick said that: “Every group has its
own historian” (469). The chroniclers o f the Spanish Conquest needed a
counter-weight to the egoism, violence and unpredictability o f Hemän
Cortes. M alinche compensated for his weaknesses, taught him to adapt to
a new and different culture, was his concubine and bore him a son. The
Spanish wanted a simple and direct way to explain to the people of
M exico their origins in history. They found the answer in the story o f
Malinche, as a guide, interpreter, and Christian mother.
Victor Turner clarified the importance o f liminal periods in the
reinterpretation o f the Malinche founding myth. Ireneo Paz, saw her as
the embodiment o f the stereotype o f the love strack woman. Octavio Paz
viewed her as the violated mother, la chingada (86). Octavio argues that
only by retreating into solitudes, “the two-fold notion o f withdrawal-andretum ” can M exicans widerstand the duality o f their nature (212).