Teaching materials with primary sources, supporting resources, lesson plans for high school, and document-based questions.
In âNever Marry a Mexican,â Cisneros mentions Malinche (or Malinalli/Malintzin/Doña Marina). Some of you may know who this is, and some of you may not. The link will take you to a more detailed history, but the basics are that she was an indigenous Mexican slave who was offered to HernĂĄn CortĂ©s during the conquest of Mexico. She became his translator and concubine. She bore him a son, who some view as the first âMestizosâ (and/or modern day Mexicans). Itâs more complicated than this, of course, but because she worked for CortĂ©s translating and helping to negotiate between the Spaniards and the indigenous tribes of Mexico, she is often seen as the traitor of Mexico, and the word âmalinchista,â still used today, means traitor.
Pardon my French (er..Spanish? ha!), but the Mexican insult, âhijo de la chingadaâ refers to Malinche. She is the chingada, who sold out Mexico (if you donât know what this word or phrase means, google it carefully!). Octavio Paz, the famous Mexican writer, has a chapter in his book The Labyrinth of Solitude titled âSons of Malincheâ in which he explores the use of the word chingar and the hijos de la chingada saying in Mexican culture. If youâre interested ask and I can send it to you! Malinche is also associated with La Llorona - she has become a Mexican archetype for the bad woman. La Virgen de Guadalupe, or suffering mother figure, is her antithesis.
Chicana writers like Cisneros reclaim Malinche as a means to celebrate and interrogate their dual Mexican-American identity. Maybe this adds a little more dimension to the story?
P.S. - I would also like to add that in past semesters, students have misunderstood this story a bit. This story is actually flipping the advice around, âNever marry a Mexicanâ is not referring to Mexican men, but referring to Mexican women - Clemencia specifically. Never marry a Mexican (woman) - theyâre crazy! ;-)
