Song of the Hummingbird

“My name is Huitzitzilin, but because I know the difficulty my language causes your tongue, you may call me Hummingbird, since that is what the word means.”

This quote represents Huitzitzilin’s complex negotiation between her cultural identity and the impositions of colonialism. By offering a translation of her name, she asserts her identity while accommodating the colonizers’ linguistic limitations. It introduces the theme of The Power of Narrative, as Huitzitzilin seeks to maintain control over her story despite the forces trying to silence her voice.

“‘Why are you telling me these things?’

‘Because I will soon die, and someone must know how it was that I and my people came to what we are now.’”

As a colonized Mexica woman, Huitzitzilin occupies a vulnerable and marginalized position, and she is perceived mainly through the lens of the dominant colonial power. This exchange highlights the inherent power dynamics between Huitzitzilin and Father Benito, who is a representative of the Spanish conquerors. In this moment, however, Huitzitzilin asserts the significance of her narrative, emphasizing its necessity and urgency. Her statement serves not merely as a personal confession but as a vital historical testimony meant to ensure the survival of her people’s history and identity.

“She had fascinated him, and he wanted to know more about her because she was different from what his teachers in Spain had taught him about the natives of this land. He muttered under his breath, asking himself why it had not occurred to him before that the people of this new mission might be like his own people.”

Father Benito begins to question the stereotypes and prejudices he learned back in Spain about the people that his country had colonized.