Chapter 7 Abstract of Aztecs: An Interpretation by Inga Clendinnen (Coursework Sample)

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Chapter 7 Abstract of Aztecs: An Interpretation by Inga Clendinnen
Abstract
Mothers play pertinent roles in the society. They are one of the very important components of the family life. They play challenging roles in birthing and the tedious rearing ordeal that follows. As the saying goes, giving birth is not the issue, but the issue is nursing the newborn babe. At least, every society has its manner of representing the challenges they face in the nurturing roles. This chapter handles the Mexican concerns of the mother and the various roles she plays in the society. There are eight bedrock points made in this interpretation. However, this interpretation aims to make summary of the most important points made in this chapter. This include the struggles and challenges faced by mother during parturition, the human growth analogy, intriguing experiences that give important themes in life, breaking the bond between the mother and the suckling kid, the power of suckling, and the female sacredness. The chapter ends with an account of the festivities involved in the return of the “serpent woman”, the spirit of the woman who dies in the process of giving birth.
Summary Interpretations
The Mexicans have curved an image to represent their goddess of childbirth that succeeds to portray the practical challenges pregnant women face more often than not when they are giving birth. In fact, the painful experience of birthing is given the metaphorical resemblance of battlefield and the women in labor as the warrior who needs to struggle for both her life and that of the babe. Actually, it is a thin line between the life and death and the responsibility to keep alive or die that is left in the hands of the laboring pregnant mother (p174). In fact, the author sees childbirth as a struggle from captivity. The pregnant mothers should struggle to free themselves from the painful experience while the newly born child is freed from the confined of the mother’s womb when the mother finally gives birth.
It is interesting to note that a few societies have tried to challenge the strong bond that exists between the newly born child and the mother. The customs of these societies consider the newborn as destined to die at their young and delicate age. In fact, the women are encouraged to denounce their newborns’ days after their birth (p176). The opposite actually happens. The women grow fond of their babes and have compassion towards them. They exhibit this clearly in the way they lovingly strike them when nursing them and thus bonding even stronger.
In the Mexican society, there is a very high social value to wives during the birth process. This is because they could want to take all the necessary precautions so that the pregnant mother does not die during the birth process lest her spirit haunts them and the whole society later. Midwives and several attendants attend to this patient while they massage her and encourage her to push harder to free the baby at the right time. In fact, during complication, they will be forced to save the mother and let the child die.
The Mexican interpretation of the analogy of the human growth is very different as it is the case in the contemporary society. They considered water as a fatal component of the growth. In addition, they see the act of sex as dangerous that can lead to the death or still births if sex done in excess (p181). Their metaphorical representation of humanity and the world is very rich in that they use vegetables to represent the human growth process; blood represents water and the sun relates to the human heart (p183).
More often than not, people may miss drawing practical refe...