SOURCE: Lattin, Patricia and Vernon Lattin. “Power and Freedom in the Stories of Estela Portillo Trambley.” Critique 21, no. 1 (1979): 93-101.

In the following essay, the critics investigate the treatment of women and power in Portillo Trambley's short fiction, asserting that many of her female characters “resist being merely a passive reflection of man's will and rebel against the unjust system of power and order that has enslaved them.”

Malinalli Tenepal, called “La Malinche,” took her place in the “history of man” as the betrayer responsible for the Spanish conquest of the Indians, for she is said to have revealed important military information to Cortez. One must realize, however, that “La Malinche” was not a free citizen, having been first sold into slavery by her parents and then given to Cortez by her owner.¹ Her position as slave to both Aztec and Spanish masters raises questions about the meaning of...