Introduction: Summary and Major Themes
The book, Song of a Hummingbird by Graciela Limon, describes the story of an indigenous woman named Huitzitzilin who narrates her experience to a Spanish monk. The setting is in 1582, when Huitzitzilin, the 82-year-old protagonist, talks about her encounter during the Spanish conquest and the coming of Cortes to Mexico. She tells Father Benito Lara how she came from being an Aztec princess to being a mere beggar and concubine. The author uses Huitzitzilin’s story to bring out several themes: religion and its role in society, war, culture, and the ending of an era for the Mexicans.
Religion is the major theme that extends throughout the novel. During the woman’s confessions, readers see how Father Benito is constantly referring to God and his Christianity. He does this to show Huitzitzilin that his God is the truest and worth of worship, as opposed to her traditional gods. The author also potrays the influence of religion on the Latino’s way of life before the Spaniards’ invasion. On the other hand, the theme of culture comes out when Huitzitzilin explains how the Aztecs practice human sacrifice and ritual dances before the coming of the Spaniards. The novel illustrates how the Mexican culture quickly fades since the Spanish invaders have little understanding of their customs (Limón, 2014). War then comes out when the Spaniards begin to show aggression towards the Aztecs, as they view human sacrifice as an act associated with devil worship.
Importance of the text in relation to History
Limon uses her book to highlight some of the historical happenings in ancient Mexico. Through the novel, she explains the relationship of the cultural domination between the Spanish and native Mexicans to the reader. History indicates that the Spanish colonized most Central and South American countries almost immediately after Colombo discovered the continent. However, on the land of present-day Mexico, they faced many challenges as the local populations organized to resist their invasion. According to the reading, in 1517, Spain first marked the Mexican territory and later ruthlessly conquered the land using their Spanish forces in 1519. In this aspect, the novel elaborates on how the church (specifically the Catholic Church) played a significant role in these conquests (Limón, 2014). It mainly shows how the Spanish realized that they could gain control of the indigenous population more easily by following their cultural ways and conforming to their ideologies. The author uses the dialogue between the hummingbird and Father Benito as a symbolic representation of the relationship between the two cultures taking place in an environment of military supremacy.
Relation to Historical Aspects
The book by Graciela Limon covers various historical aspects, the major ones being; Aztec’s ancient religion and the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Aztec War. Concerning religion, every city in Aztec had one or more idols dedicated to them in the city temples. Additionally, the historical traditional aspect of Aztec making human sacrifices is covered in Huitzitzilin’s narration. She says that they made these sacrifices because the rite was connected to their belief that human blood is sacred, and that people who were indebted to the gods were to repay through blood or their lives (Limón, 2014).
On the other hand, the Aztec War was one of the major happenings in the Spanish colonization of the Americans. The old lady narrates to the priest how Aztec warriors strived to maintain their supremacy in their zone. Aztecs engaged in the war for two major reasons; to overpower the invaders from neighboring areas and for religious purposes. In the old days, it was a custom for the victorious warriors to receive honors from the emperor such as land, clothing, and privileges. The book depicts the early Aztec wars by describing how the community tries to resist Spanish supremacy over them from 1517 to 1519, when they are finally defeated (Limón, 2014). The Spaniards take over their territory.
Decolonial Imaginary Concept
The writer proves and supports Huitzitzilin’s arguments by employing the decolonial imaginary element in her novel to write about colonialism. Decolonial imaginary refers to having an alternative perspective to how history is presented to people. Emma Pérez poses a theory in her book, The Decolonial Imaginary, to challenge people, especially history readers, to channel their focus on the historical narratives of the “hidden voices” of the Chicanas, away from the colonizers’ methodological assumptions about Chicano history. In Song of a Hummingbird, we see this element in Huitzitzilin, who presents her side of the narrative to the Spanish monk. She expresses the courage and liberty that women had strived to attain for several years. Huitzitzilin passionately narrates her tale to Father Benito, forcing him to see the conquest, for the first time, in the subdued point of view. The priest, however, is stuck in his ways as he does not want to reconsider certain aspects of life and see how things actually happened (Limón, 2014).
Writing and thinking through a decolonial imaginary is important because it is the only way people find ways of negotiating and liberating identities. It is vital for historical knowledge as it gives people alternative viewpoints to the objective conceptions of history and pinpoints the bias in historical narratives and archives. Decolonial imaginary is an analytic literary apparatus that Limon uses in her writing to recover the voice and experiences of the Chicanos. She uses it to indicate a transgressive period between colonialism and post-colonialism in Mexico. Understanding this concept has enabled me to rethink history from a wider perspective and recognize that every story always has two sides: our judgment should not be based on one version. The decolonial imaginary concept is important to the society as it allows people to reconsider history, thus, eliminating misconceptions and social bias towards other communities and their cultures.
Conclusion
I can confidently say that the novel is well written and I enjoyed reading every aspect covered. I particularly like how the writer uses the style of an intimate dialogue between the priest and Huitzitzilin to tell the story of the Aztec people and how it impacted the protagonist’s womanhood. The story evoked a sorrowful emotion in me as I found myself sympathizing with her just like the priest does. Her experience is tormenting, and putting myself in her situation makes me feel sad for her people. I connected with the characters to the extent that I started questioning whether the historians give us facts as they are, or if colonialists’ ideologies influence their findings. As much as the story is fictitious, the writer makes it believable by connecting it to the actual historical happenings during Spain’s colonization of the Mexican empire. It is therefore useful to the class as it gives insights into the history of the Aztecs and their fall and the aboriginal roots and spirituality of the Mexican people.
Reference
Limón, G. (2014). Song of the Hummingbird. Arte Público Press.