Carmen Lorena Cruz

I took a Chicano literature course in California and this book was part of the curriculum. I found this book to be so moving and majestic. I kid you not but right after finishing this book I started to notice hummingbirds in the backyard by our orange tree. There are themes in this book that portrayed a more realistic view of what happened in Mexica during the Spanish conquest. For example, millions of indigenous people died not from the sword but by the diseases brought by the Spainards. It is a fact that millions of indigenous people died from diseases that their immune system was not used to. Mexica revered cleanliness as part of their lifestyle and their cities and bodies were constantly being cleansed. I think so clean that the arrival of the Spainards exposed them to diseases they were not used to. I also valued the theme of religious assimilation.