La Llorona Summary

Some earlier versions of La Llorona use the loss of La Llorona’s children to demonstrate the destruction of indigenous Mexican culture that occurred when Spain conquered Mexico. In fact, these versions use the example of La Llorona to describe what occurred during that time period: the explorers using the indigenous women for sex, the destruction of “ancient marriage patterns,” and the abundance of illegitimate children that were shunned by both the Spaniards and the indigenous people (Butterworth 20). In these examples, La Llorona is La Malinche, who was the lover of the Spanish explorer Hernan Cortes. One version of La Llorona is not historically accurate, but nonetheless explicitly demonstrates this destruction of culture. The story begins

with Malinche and Cortes having a son. Cortes can no longer stay in Mexico as he needs to return to Spain. He wants to take his son with him, but decides to leave Malinche behind as she is “only his mistress and besides an Indian” (Butterworth 209). When Malinche learns of his plan, she is distraught and murders her son, before committing suicide. She then becomes La Llorona (Butterworth 209).