In the reading “Mirrored Archetypes: The Contrasting Cultural Roles of La Malinche and Pocahontas”, Kristina Downs explains how La Malinche and Pocahontas, two Native North American women have been differently perceived in the eyes of history. Although La Malinche and Pocahontas were in nearly parallel positions and acted quite similarly, they are view in very different ways. While Pocahontas is seen as a heroine for aiding the European colonizers, La Malinche holds the reputation of being the ultimate traitor to her people. The main reason why La Malinche holds such a poor reputation is because she is responsible for aiding in a violent military conquest against her own people. Pocahontas, contrastingly aided in the colonization of her homeland. Furthermore, throughout history, Pocahontas’ story continued to be told in the perspective of Englishmen, with her as the protagonist. In the case of La Malinche, her story was primarily told from the perspective of the indigenous peoples of Mexico, who felt the consequences of her actions. It is true that La Malinche aided the Spanish in their conquest, and also gave birth to the son of Hernán Cortés, a Spanish conquistador. However, it is important to remember that she was a slave and likely had no control over her actions. For this reason, she may receive more criticism than she deserves. …show more content…
Van Kirk refers to intermarriage during this era as not being gender neutral. The reason for this is because aboriginal women were perceived by Euro-Canadians as being the keys to unlocking lucrative trading networks. At this time, being a part of native kinship networks proved to be very helpful in the fur trade
Le Morte d’Arthur and many other stories have many wonderful archetypes in them. The definition of an archetype is a typical character action or situation that seems to represent universal patterns of human nature. This means that things represent things that naturally happen and will still happen. Archetypes play into Le Morte d'Arthur by showing how the character act and react with other characters and objects. In Thomas Malory´s Le Morte d´Arthur he illustrates the three types of archetypes they include character, situational, and symbolic.
This historical study will define the important role of Hernan Cortes in the colonization of Mexico in the age of the Spanish conquistador. Cortes was an important figure in Mexican history because of his discovery of Mexico at the Yucatan peninsula in 1519. During this time, Cortes became a historical figure that represented the “conquistador” system of conquest throughout the Mayan and Aztec Empires during the early part of the 15th century. The fall of these indigenous civilizations marked the beginning of Spanish colonization of Central America. Cortes was a significant figure because of the primarily military style of coercion and conquest that sought to annihilate the indigenous peoples of Mexico, and to claim Spanish territory. These conquests contributed significantly to the blend of indigenous and Spanish traditions of Mexico’s national history. Cortes represents the first phase of colonization for the Spanish empire in terms of the violent and aggressive nature of the Spanish Conquistador in the discovery of Mexico. The image of the Spanish conquistador as an often violent and ruthless colonizer is defined the invasion and destruction of the Aztec empire in Mexican history. In essence, a
Fitts, Alexandra, and University of Alaska. "Sandra Cisneros's Modern Malinche: A Reconsideration of Feminine Archetypes in Woman Hollering Creek." Sandra Cisneros's Modern Malinche: A Reconsideration of Feminine Archetypes in Woman Hollering Creek 29 (2002): n. pag. 2002. Web
The Black Legend and White Legend: Relationship Between the Spanish and Indians in the New World
Despite the decreasing inequalities between men and women in both private and public spheres, aboriginal women continue to be oppressed and discriminated against in both. Aboriginal people in Canada are the indigenous group of people that were residing in Canada prior to the European colonization. The term First Nations, Indian and indigenous are used interchangeably when referring to aboriginal people. Prior to the colonization, aboriginal communities used to be matrilineal and the power between men and women were equally balanced. When the European came in contact with the aboriginal, there came a shift in gender role and power control leading towards discrimination against the women. As a consequence of the colonization, the aboriginal women are a dominant group that are constantly subordinated and ignored by the government system of Canada. Thus today, aboriginal women experiences double jeopardy as they belong to more than one disadvantaged group i.e. being women and belonging to aboriginal group. In contemporary world, there are not much of a difference between Aboriginal people and the other minority groups as they face the similar challenges such as gender discrimination, victimization, and experiences injustice towards them. Although aboriginal people are not considered as visible minorities, this population continues to struggle for their existence like any other visible minorities group. Although both aboriginal men and women are being discriminated in our society, the women tends to experience more discrimination in public and private sphere and are constantly the targeted for violence, abuse and are victimized. In addition, many of the problems and violence faced by aborigin...
The conventional image that comes to mind when talking about the native Americans during the period of the building of the new world is brutal. The term “savage” is most closely associated with them and their practices at the time. It is important, as mentioned in P’s class, to remember that all the information we have on native Americans is what had been provided by the settlers. Therefore when studying the autobiography of Mary Rowlandson during her captivity, observing the actions of the native Americans, beyond Rowlandson’s descriptions gave more insight into what the atmosphere at the time was. It is also important to note that the Puritans,
Fleras, Augie. “Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: Repairing the Relationship.” Chapter 7 of Unequal Relations: An Introduction to Race, Ethnic and Aboriginal Dynamics in Canada. 6th ed. Toronto: Pearson, 2010. 162-210. Print.
Indian women had played roles in the beginning of American history. The two famous women were La Malinche and Pocahontas. Both of them were not educated, that’s why their stories were written by others. Bernal Diaz, Spanish conquistador and Cortez’s companion, wrote about Malinche. Whereas, John Smith, English soldier wrote about Pocahontas. Malinche played the role of translator, advisor and lover of Cortez, while, Pocahontas played the role of peacemaker. There are also some contradictions in Smith writings about Pocahontas saving his life. Malinche and Pocahontas made the link between colonist and native population, they married to Europeans; but Malinche was from South America (Mexico) and she had contacted with the Spanish, whereas, Pocahontas lived in North America (Virginia) and related to English. Both of them very intelligent women, Malinche had the skill of speaking multicultural languages and Pocahontas was the peace creator between Indians and English.
Juliana Barr’s book, Peace Came in the Form of a Women: Indians and Spaniards in the Texas Borderlands. Dr. Barr, professor of history at Duke University-specializes in women’s role in American history. Peace Came in the Form of A Women, is an examination on the role of gender and kinship in the Texas territory during the colonial period. An important part of her book is Spanish settlers and slavery in their relationship with Natives in the region. Even though her book clearly places political, economic, and military power in the hands of Natives in the Texas borderland, her book details Spanish attempts to wrestle that power away from indigenous people through forced captivity of native women. For example, Dr, Barr wrote, “In varying diplomatic strategies, women were sometimes pawns, sometimes agents.” To put it another way, women were an important part of Apache, Wichita, and Comanche culture and Spanish settlers attempted to exploit
In An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s reexamines the American historical record and moves it passed the typical narratives of colonialism, revolution, and American exceptionalism. Dunbar-Ortiz’s analysis will impact the field of Native Studies and even general United States history with its examination and focus on settler colonialism as a genocidal policy. It is, as Dunbar-Ortiz argues, impossible to write American history without the acknowledgment of Indigenous peoples. Dunbar-Ortiz shatters the myth of “free land” and conquered Natives. She instead focuses on “the absence of a colonial framework (7),” which she believes is the reason that most historians overlook Indigenous history. In other words, historians need to view colonization as an ongoing process and not a
Glasspell, Susan Trifles. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing 4th Ed.
In schools, students are being taught wrong information. “Our gods were vanquished after the fall of Tenochtitlan as were our traditions. Our warriors and nobles were eradicated, our children starved and our women ravished by the white conquerors and their allies.” (157). In books across America, the Spaniards were said to be good people, but the way that Huitzitzilin described what happened, shows the complete opposite of how the Spaniards actually were.
The Disney movies of Pocahontas tell a plot of a Native ¬American tribe and English colonists that fight for the land the Native Americans live on though war ultimately creating moderate peace. While keeping to their own sect, the imbalance of power between the two social groups is prevalent throughout much of the story. Walt Disney’s Pocahontas is more than a classic children’s movie. It is a thoughtful, well contrived narration that portrays a message that in order to fit in, you must be a certain race and born into a specific culture. Disney’s Pocahontas suggesting that the color of our skin shouldn’t matter when being accepted into social groups as well as the idea that arranged marriage should be rejected. Thus, treating people right could ultimately have a positive outcome and lastly, the film also suggests that family roles change without a mother figure.
The myth talks of a woman living in the time of the Aztecs who is caught between her culture and that of Cortez cultures in the time of Hernando Cortes. The woman served as a mediator between Cortes and her people. She was his lover and stood aside as Cortes conquered her people making her seem as a traitor (Fitts).The woman and Cortes had a child; then Cortez abandoned the both of them, and the woman stayed alone the rest of her life. La Malinche means “bad woman” the woman got this name by turning on her people for Cortes by selling them out for revenge from how badly they treated, and ultimately destroys the civilization
In modern times, phrases such as “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” are commonly used. Also, the mere word revenge holds negative connotations as it is seen as immature and unnecessary. The theme of revenge uses archetypes to develop ideas without having to reiterate their meaning. According to the creator of the term, Carl Jung, “archetypes are defined as being a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.” (Dictionary) The Count of Monte Cristo, one of the novels that pioneer this theme, tells the story of a man’s quest for revenge on those who betrayed him. This man spends 14 years of his life imprisoned because of his betrayers, but he manages to escape to avenge his suffering. In the novel The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas uses the archetypes of the byronic hero, the betrayer and the old sage to demonstrate that one’s suffering doesn’t give them the right to seek revenge on those who have failed them.