Categorizing Malintzin's Choices

The classification of the book Malintzin’s Choices by Camilla Townsend can be categories in different sections. First of all it is a nonfiction book that explains the role of an Indian women during the conquest. Every detail explained in the book is based on “facts” according to the different sources the author gathered. The sources are documented communication between Cortes and his King and the Natives of Mexico.  This allows the book to be in the section of Latin America or Mesoamerica category. It could also fit the category of the Spanish Conquest since Malinztin played a major role according to some of the context in this book.

I would also say that the book is not a biography although it has Malinztin as one of the main characters.  My reason for that is that there is not enough evidence to create or write a book about the life of Malinztin. We can assume things and write things about her. Anthropology allows us to make assumption of how she became to be the translator of Cortes. The book analyzes other women and allows us to create a picture of what her childhood might have been or how she became to be Dona Marina. All these are assumptions made by the way the Natives lived their life before and during the conquest. 

Overall, it is a historical book that informs the reader about different events and important people that played a major role in the Spanish “conquest”. It allows us to see how different choices and decisions effected the outcome of history.