La Malinche: Forgotten Mother Quiz

Answer: 2

Malinche gave birth to two children. The first was a son named Martín, who was son of Cortés. The second was a daughter named María, who was born to her husband, Juan Jaramillo.

Answer: Náhuatl and Maya-Quiché

Interestingly, Malinche was familiar with many dialects in both Náhuatl and Maya-Quiché. This lends support to what the chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo says about Malinche in his "History of the Conquest of Mexico". He says that Malinche was born to a noble family, which means that she would have been taught the different dialects of Náhuatl. She would have learned Maya-Quiché during her years as a slave.

Answer: False

Malinche did not give birth to a child until after the defeat of Tenochtitlán. Some historians seem to believe that this was the case because she was of too much value to Cortés as an interpreter for him to risk her getting pregnant. Coincidentally, once she was no longer of such great value for his plans for the Aztecs, she bore him a son.

Answer: Juan Jaramillo

Though Malinche bore a son to Cortés, she never married him--he had a wife and children in Spain, along with numerous slaves who also bore him sons in the New World. She was married to Jaramillo during an expedition to modern-day Honduras.

Answer: Hernando Puertocarrero

Malinche was originally given to Puertocarrero. She was going to serve as other female slaves did-- as a bed mate and cook to the Spanish soldiers. Shortly after her arrival among the Spanish, Puertocarrero returned to Spain and Cortés discovered her bilingual abilities. She was then spared the fate--for a time--of a traditional slave woman and was used as an interpreter.

Answer: Malinalli

The original name given to her was Malinalli because she was born on the 12th day of the Aztec calendar. The Spanish baptized her as Doña Marina. To the indigenous, she was Malintzin because -tzin is a suffix of honor. There are several theories as to how the name Malinche came about, but it was most likely caused by the Spaniards misunderstanding the pronunciation of Malintzin since they were not accustomed to the way the indigenous spoke.

Answer: nationalist

During the nationalist movement of the 1800s, Mexican politicians wanted to break away from Spanish roots and return to their indigenous heritage. During a time when Latin America was gaining her independence, in Mexico, all things Spanish were frowned upon. Since Malinche was viewed as helping the Spanish by serving as interpreter, she was blamed for the defeat of the Aztecs. Feminists argue that this was a form of machismo and that she was blamed because she was a woman, and that some hold the view that women are the source of evil.

Answer: Cihuacóatl

Cihuacóatl was an Aztec goddess. Her name means "woman serpent." She is said to have walked the streets at night crying for her lost children, hence the name "La Llorona." There are some parts of Mexico where it is believed that Malinche is the woman who walks the street at night crying for her lost children.

She lost her children physically because her son, Martín, was taken from her by Cortés and sent to Spain and she died a few years after the birth of her daughter. Also, she is symbolically known as the "Mother of the Mestizo." Since her "children" now look on her as a traitor, she has lost them.

She was not the first indigenous woman to give birth to a mestizo child, but she is symbolically the most important.

Answer: True

Malinchista is a term which appears in dictionaries and is used by politicians. It is used to describe a person who exhibits "the love of foreign things." Since Malinche was made into a traitor during the early 1800s--nearly three hundred years after her death--she has been thought of as such for about two hundred years.

As a result, the term "malinchista" has developed for politicians to use to describe their rivals when they think that their opponent has too much love for things that are non-Mexican.

It is a way of almost insulting them and make them look like a traitor themselves.

Answer: Bernal Díaz del Castillo

Bernal Díaz del Castillo wrote "The History of the Conquest of Mexico" where he provides many details about his experiences as a soldier and conquistador in Cortés's army. He knew Malinche personally and describes her as being of fine character. He also tells us how she came to be a slave after being born into a noble family and about her life as interpreter and her marriage to Jaramillo.