There are plenty of images that pop up when you simply type in “Malintzin”
on any search engine. But this
particular image spoke to me the loudest.
Not only because of what it represents but also because it so closely
relates to Townsend’s book on Malintzin.
I love this one image, a painting by Antonio Ruíz titled [The Dream of
Malinche - 1939] and it is part of the surrealism movement which makes it that
much more interesting to me.
I also
believe that Townsend would very much like this depiction of Malintzin because
it would agree with one specific point that could be argued as a goal of
Townsend’s. As we discussed in class,
there are many possible goals that Townsend’s books can be argued to make and
all can be equally true as much as they can all be argued to have their flaws.
One specific
goal that this painting speaks to, in my opinion, is that of Malintzin’s
choices. One goal of Townsend, according
to my understanding of the reading, is to make us, the readers, understand that
Malintzin was not faced with the easiest decisions to make, nevertheless still
choices.
In this
particular painting, we see an unnamed town of Mexico with a church (which says
this town has already been influenced by Catholicism therefore already
influenced by Malintzin’s choices to aid the Spanish) resting on Malintzin’s
blanket while she sleeps.
If Malintzin
was to turn or move just a little, the consequences could be disastrous for
this unnamed town. This also applies to
Malintzin’s real life as we know it; if she would have made different choices
such as not become an interpreter, not stay loyal to the Spanish, or translate
differently then things could have turned out completely different. Yes, Cortés could have gotten another
interpreter and could have killed Malintzin if she dared betray them, but every
difference is in the details and the fact that Cortés had Malintzin (a smart
and beautiful woman) as her interpreter made possible everything that happened
because of Malintzin’s choices aiding the Spanish.
As this
painting depicts, this unnamed town in Mexico and much of Mexico exists on the “foundations”
of Malintzin’s choices and simply on who Malintzin was because of her
involvement with the Spanish; that is a strong point that is made by Townsend
in her book and that I firmly believe in and agree with.
This is a great image of La Malintizin. I think if Townsend was looking at this image she would say this image is another great interpretation of Malintzins role of the conquest. I see a worn out tired woman after a long day of rest. If you work long and hard hours, sometimes you dream that you are still at work. Is this is how we are supposed to see her. Is she dreaming of how she is at work? If so, her job looks beautiful. The environment of her labor is beautiful, the spinning image of what Communism wanted itself to appear is in the eyes of the world, as the light, that beacon of equality, beacon of freedom, and a world where people are cared for and valued as equals. This dream is just that. This world appears so beautiful which Malintzin is dreaming. Yet it is incomplete. The room is incomplete. The physical reality of the room she sleeps in shows us the real condition. Not the image her dream wants us to see. The room itself is the actual environment of how imperfect reality is.
ReplyDeleteThe room itself is not beautiful, it is not a light on the hill. It is flavilla, she is not living in her perfect city. Instead she is living in a room that is not fully painted, has cracks, and could be condemned if the department of health saw it.
Delete