Whither Malintzin? The stories about Malintzin proliferate, although most amount to little more than a reshuffling of the same scant sources for the purpose of exaggerating the fiction surrounding an immensely important yet poorly understood historical personage. Malintzin is infamous as Mexico’s Eve, a traitor to native America, above all. But she is also described as a victim of family abuse whose only hope for survival was to capitalize on her linguistic skills in the service of the Spaniards. Philosopher Octavio Paz thinks of her as La Chingada and laments her passivity and failure to resist. But who was the real Malintzin, what was her role in the fall of Mexico Tenochtitlan, and what became of her?
Camilla Townsend seeks to set the record straight by examining the context of Malintzin’s life. Malintzin comes to be known through meticulous study of her homeland, family, and life as a girl slave;...
