The Death of Mexico

The Death of Mexico

It is a part of human nature to sometimes lack a sense of identity and often feel like there is something missing, and it becomes a need for some people to try to find their true selves. Certain individuals attempt to become new people by changing their ways, abandoning their old traditions, customs, and beliefs, and seeking acceptance from a new crowd or community, and it is not unusual for such individuals to be subjected to profiling and have to deal with stereotypes that presume disloyalty to their own people and culture.

Countries and entire civilizations have gone through a series of political, religious, and cultural changes, and the population has had the need or has been forced to adapt to new ways of living as well. A good example is the Spanish conquest of Mexico, which brought Catholicism as the new religion and Spanish as the language of the New World; and with the help of some Indian groups and leaders, the Spaniards fulfilled their goal of conquest of the Mesoamerican peoples. This fact is pointed out by Harrison: "Cultural imperialism began its conquest of the third world with the indoctrination of an elite of local collaborators; the missionary schools sought to produce converts to Christianity who would go out and proselytize among their own people, helping to eradicate traditional culture" (69).

The Spaniards found their first ally in a woman named Malinche, the "Mexican Eve", mother of the new ethnic group "Mestizo", named for the children of Mexican, Indian, and Spanish parents, characterized by the absence of a defined cultural identity, and often subjected to discrimination by both Mexicans and Spaniards. This event also gave birt...

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...e. The country may not have political or economic stability, but during the celebrations there is plenty of food, drinks, dance, and music. "Poverty can be measured by the frequency and luxuriousness of our holidays; wealthy countries have very few: There is neither the time nor the desire for them"(Paz 51)

We can conclude that as long as there are cultural changes, people will seek for a way to meet them. As long as there are conquerors, there will be someone to be conquered and there will be Malinches to witness the end of an old culture and the birth of another, and they will betray their race society. "And so there grew up, alongside political and economic imperialism, that most insidious form of control - cultural imperialism. It conquered not only the bodies but the soul of its victims, turning them into willing accomplices" (Harrison 68).