Malintzin: The Sacagawea of Mexico

Malintzin emerges in a positive light both by C. Townsend and W.H. Prescott, but for different reasons.  Townsend paints a picture that is contextual, partially based upon evidence and partially on induction from the sources of the 16th century.  From records by Bernal Diaz, among other sources, the story of Malintzin is one of rising to respectability from the hands of slavery.  W.H. Prescott is no less admiring, noting her talents for interpretation, which were used routinely in the service of Hernan Cortés.  Also sourcing from Diaz, Prescott takes the opportunity to mention Marina (as the Spaniards called her) on multiple occasions.  She is a heroine by both accounts.

Townsend wishes to demonstrate that Malintzin was a "beautiful, talented, and self-confident woman who was both practical and politically astute." (153)  Rather than linking her astuteness with the capacity to interpret, she describes how by marrying Juan Jaramillo she snagged one of Cortés' captains from Tenochtitlan, and secured the rights appropriate to the Spanish nobility.  The rise in social status is argued also in the post by Kendra Y.  A further example is her wedding present.  She received two properties, which unfortunately later, she was unable to keep.  She also had claim to a property through her marriage to Jaramillo.  Townsend states, "For Malintzin to have demanded an encomienda was remarkable." (155)  By marrying smartly, and demanding her property rights, she was a remarkable woman of her age.

Prescott takes another approach, no less flattering, although condescending by today's standards.  "The envoys received their instructions through the interpreter, Marina.  That remarkable woman had attracted general admiration by the constancy and cheerfulness with which she endured all the privations of the camp.  Far from betraying the natural weakness and timidity of her sex, she had shrunk from no hardship herself..." (323)  He goes on to praise her still for lifting morale among the soldiers, and advocating for her indigenous people.  The emphasis is on her actions.  Like Sacagawea helped Lewis and Clark, so Malintzin did for Cortés and Jaramillo, his second in command.  Her talents were put to good use for the service of others.  Despite the adversity that beset her youth, she partook in the formation of México, and is deservedly a heroine.