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AN ENGLISH MAJOR
hailey.colbrunn
Story
The story is the events as they are ordered within the narrative. Analyzing the three components for their relation to Mexico can be done through the discussion of, first, the story that the ‘speakers’ would tell. The first identified speaker was Mexico City which is a modern Mexican City. Today, the legacy of Mesoamerican culture, which is the second speaker identified, resonates throughout the city while also reflecting the strong Spanish influence that built Mexico City. The first speaker’s story is structured from the collaborated control between the Spanish Crown and the Catholic Church.
Narrator 1: Mexico City
The Church played a significant role in Mexico’s social and political development while being viewed as a “political ally” due to its wealth and extensive ownership of real estate (Camp, p. 65). The Church’s influence on Mexico’s development became an issue that separated political agendas. One faction of the population, the Liberals, wanted to restrict the Church’s influence on Mexico. The other faction was the Conservatives who believed Mexico needed the centralized authority of the Catholic Church to be productive. The political agendas throughout Mexico’s history represent the fabula, or the content, of the narrative and the outcomes of particular political movements in regards to the Church represent the story that is composed from the order of the fabula.
Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, on top of the Great Pyramid of Cholula.
This section of the Mexican Metropolitan Cathedral was built from bricks that were made from the ruins of the Aztec's ruined capital.
Narrator 2: Mesoamerica
The second speaker in Mexico’s narrative is Mesoamerica. The earliest civilizations had built impressive cities and a distinct religion around 2000 B.C. according to Gilbert M. Joseph on page 55 of his translated text titled, The Mexico Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Spanish chronicles of the conquest of Mexico contained accounts of awe for the “magnificent civilizations” that they destroyed (Joseph, p. 95). Mesoamerica as a part of the narrator for Mexico’s narrative includes “native chronicles” that describe the events of the Spanish invasion as the “initiation of a long period of forced labor, disease, hunger, and cultural weakening (Joseph, p. 95).” On page 95 of Jospeh’s book, the text discusses the indigenous people’s exploitation for the benefit of the Spaniards’ conquest. Indigenous groups had allied with the Spanish only to have their land encroached on while they “became part of the reward given to conquerors, which consisted of Indian labor and tribute (p. 95).” The story of Mesoamerica is one of strife, conflict and exploitation that is evident in the text given for Mexico’s narrative.