Analysis of the Spanish Conquest as an Imposition of

the Mexican Inferiority Complex

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INDEX:

I. Introduction: The Aspects of the Identity of Mexico According to Octavio Paz

y el laberinto de la Soledad

II. Historical context:

a. Identity before the Spanish Conquest
b. Spain comes to conquer
c. The drama of blood
d. Evangelization, legacy, and consequence of the Spanish Conquest

III. Analysis of the inferiority complex:

e. Definition of conquest
f. Definition of imposition
g. Definition of inferiority complex
h. Consequences in the change of identity

IV. Mexico:
i. ¿What does it mean to be Mexican?

V. Conclusion: Mexico is a dormant volcano

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I. Introduction: The Aspects of the Identity of Mexico According to Octavio Paz y El

Laberinto de la Soledad

This paper will explain the analysis of the Spanish conquest, and how this historical event affected
the change of identity of the Mexicans, showing that the past opens a gap that gives continuity to
understanding the history, the events, and the new identity of the Mexicans. I’ll begin by giving
an introduction with the help of Octavio Paz and his work El laberinto de la Soledad.

“The Mexican doesn’t want or doesn’t dare to be the same…”1

Identity is a topic that is ancient and modern as the man himself. Who the man is? where he comes
from? where is he going? what is the final purpose in this life? and if there is a next life. These are
questions that have intricate the human mind since ancient times and are still valid in the present
century, and these mysteries can be summed up in one word: identity.

In El laberinto de la Soledad, Octavio Paz (1914-1998), a great Mexican literary Nobel Prize
winner (1990), exposes the search for the identity of a specific group of people: Mexicans. After
analyzing the country's traditions, studying its history, and unraveling its culture, Octavio Paz
unveils the distinctive expressions, attitudes, and preferences of his nation, postulating that, by a
past marked by loneliness and suppression, Mexicans today are like adolescents who do not know
who they are and are in an identity crisis. He describes the Mexicans as non-conformist and
dissatisfied, based on an observation made about the "pachucos" (a group of young Mexicans
living in the USA). In this context, Octavio Paz explains that the history of Mexico has always
been situated on the margin of universal history (Western or European), making it merely a
derivation or consequence of the history, philosophy, and movements of others. This has caused
the nation, instead of developing its own identity, to become the result and effect of other identities,
always being limited and subjugated, just as an adolescent.

1
OCTAVIO PAZ, El Laberinto de la Soledad, 1950, Ciudad de México (México), Editorial “Libros Tauro”, 1ra Edición. P. 30
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Mexico intensely seeks to be itself. It does not know its identity and longs to find it, but it feels so
oppressed by adults and uncomfortable with infants that any attempt to be itself is stifled. Thus,
this nation is currently in a labyrinth of loneliness. What is now up to the Mexican is to search for
his true identity, and to begin this introspection from before the "before" (even before the conquest)
to found his country, his culture, and his society. After this, we can say that the Mexican lacks
identity, he is in a crisis in which he lacks self-knowledge, and dreams of finding and integrating
himself someday.

It is time for the Mexican to question what his culture is, what the Mexican is, why the inferiority
complex, or in three words: What is Mexico?

II. Historical context:

a. Identity before the Spanish Conquest

Before the conquest, the identity and the way of working of the Mexican civilization were very
complex it was considered a highly sophisticated civilization, and these societies contributed to
the formation of the modern Mexican nation in many ways. This level of development that they
had before the conquest had been reached about two thousand years ago, with a level of civilization
characterized by a production system with crops, and developed crafts, which were able to
maintain a large population in which there was a division between the work of the field and the
city. They had almost perfect alphabetic writing with a highly elaborated calendar, monumental
buildings, and beautiful art. Here we see how this civilization had a very clear purpose and way of
seeing things, clarity in their ideas, and security in their identity.

b. Spain comes to conquer

“The great honor of breaking the news to the world of the existence of lands beyond
the horizon was reserved for Christopher Columbus.”2
Cristopher Columbus gave way to the first encounter between European and American
civilizations.

2
H. BEUCHAT, Manual de arqueologia Americana, PP.11-34
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For Spain, the discovery of an entirely new world meant something extremely important. It was a
step that meant extending frontiers. But above all power and raw materials the geographical
discoveries meant much more than economic benefits, and all over the most important thing was
the expansion of human knowledge, all the plants, and animals whose existence was unknown and
ignored, enriched the food supply and facilitated the work of many people both in the old continent
and in the New World.

We know that when the conquistadors entered ancient Tenochtitlan, they were so astonished that
they thought they were seeing visions. They saw that in the middle of a lagoon they had built a
city bigger than any other contemporary city in Europe where they came from, they also saw
enormous temples rising above the water as in a great portentous mirage.

Moctezuma was the Mexica ruler of the time and he had millions of people at his service from his
vast domains came the most varied products to the great market of Tlatelolco, perhaps the largest
in the world at the time. Temples, canals, causeways, palaces, and gardens embellished the Aztec
capital. But behind all the wealth and splendor, there were constant wars, sacrifices, and prisoners,
and the latent hatred of the subjugated peoples who conquered and subdued by the great warring
empires longed to shake off the yoke that had been imposed on them. The independent lordships
also suffered the constant harassment of the Aztec armies. We know that upon the arrival of the
Spaniards, several indigenous kingdoms had the same idea in mind as the conquistadors: to defeat
Tenochtitlan, their main enemy, and seize all its wealth.

c. The drama of blood

Blood is a word that has resonated strongly in recent centuries.

Mexico has been home to many historians who have individually sought to cultivate their hunger
for knowledge, but, above all, mostly on the subject of the blood of the victims of the year 1521.
This is because the richness of our past inspires many generations to ask themselves the following
questions: What was the drama and the plot of our history? Who were its decisive characters? How
can we better understand it? What is the meaning of our history? What was the drama of the blood?
Questions are not easy to answer, especially when there is a history full of tragedy behind them.
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All the bloodshed during the conquest has its origin in the indigenous world. Many historians have
questioned the number of people who died on both sides. However, it is hard to know for certain
the exact number of catastrophes caused by the Spanish military occupation. It is not at all easy to
make an objective analysis of the process of what happened. A theme that tends to justify the
conquest and the bloodshed is the following: to justify the invasion in the name of a new freedom
and a new faith.
As always has been the case, this has been the justification for such an event. That is why I consider
it even offensive and idle, to say that the indigenous people of Mesoamerica, and in particular the
Mexica were barbarians and that there was no other option but the gun and the sword. It has to be
clarified, as far as possible, that they affirm that Spain did not conquer America, but that Spain
liberated America. Some said that Hernan Cortes thought that the Mexica lived oppressed and
defeated by a certain lack of leadership since Moctezuma was a kind of tyrant, who did crazy rites
and too many human sacrifices because of weird superstitions.

d. Evangelization, legacy, and consequence of the Spanish Conquest

At the Synod of the Amazons, Pope Francis was quite right in explaining that before evangelizing
a culture, you have to know and understand it.

According to Hernan Cortes, the main reason for the conquest was the implantation of the Christian
faith among the Indians, so he requested the sending of friars to the newly conquered lands. For
this Cortes, before leaving, had in mind to leave images of the Holy Virgin and proceed ardently
to propagate the Christian faith, taking into consideration that the Indians needed to leave their
idolatrous and inhuman practices and live as Christians (for that time the religious life for the
Spaniards as well as for the Indians, was the core of all life. The center of their daily life).

In 1540 there were already more than a hundred missionaries spread throughout the conquered
territories. The dioceses of Tlaxcala, Mexico, Michoacan, and Oaxaca were founded. Each friar,
upon arrival, had two tasks: to learn one or more indigenous languages and to learn the local
customs related to the worship of the ancient gods. The main task of the missionaries was to
implant the Christian faith among the natives through preaching, the preparation of catechesis, the
writing of doctrines or catechisms, and the administration of sacraments such as baptism and
marriage.
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Their work did not stop there: they gathered the indigenous people in new towns, built convents,
chapels, and churches, constructed roads, bridges, and aqueducts, created hospitals and schools
where various trades were taught, defended the new Christians from the abuse of the
“encomenderos” and recorded the customs and history of the ancient indigenous peoples. But to
achieve their purpose they also destroyed indigenous images and books and persecuted those who
continued to worship their gods. The evangelizing work of the friars was carried out with enormous
enthusiasm; many died because of exhaustion and the austere life they led. In little more than forty
years they had transformed the mentality of millions of indigenous people, who converted to
Christianity and created the largest Catholic nation of their time.

The conquerors imposed their language also, the defeated simply had to learn it. Spanish is “the
language of the other”.3 According to Fuentes, this idea made the New Mexicans feel like the
oppressed and the servant of the Spaniards: “The mass of the Indigenous people, a defeated people,
had to learn the language of the masters and forget the native language […] In its extremes, this
language is used to serve humbly the boss; it is the language of slaves.”4

III. Analysis of the inferiority complex:

e. Definition of conquest

The act of taking control of a country, city, etc.; through the use of force.5
In other words, conquest is the act in which one's own will prevails over adversity, in which a task
is achieved by overcoming adversaries, overcoming difficulties. It is a common term, widely
applied to different contexts, which comes from the Latin conquistare, a verb in turn derived from
the participle of the verb conquered ("to lie in wait"). Thus, conquering is related from its origins
to verbs such as "to want" and "to acquire", with which it shares the idea of making something
foreign to our own. In any case, the idea of conquest always places the protagonist in a victorious
position: that of the conqueror, the individual who imposed his will on others.

3
C. FUENTES, Tiempo mexicano, primera edición, Cuadernos de Joaquin Mortiz, Editorial J. Mortiz, Mexico, D.F 1971, Pg. 26.
“la lengua del otro”.
4
ibid, Pg. 26 “La masa del pueblo indigena, pueblo vencido, debio aprender la lengua de los amos y olvidar la nativa […] En sus
extremos, esta lengua se emplea para servir, humildemente, al patrón; es lengua de esclavos.”
5
ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, Definition of conquest.
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f. Definition of imposition

Imposition, from the Latin imposition, is the action and effect of imposing or imposing oneself.
This verb refers to placing an obligation. An imposition, therefore, can be the action of trying to
force someone to do something.6

g. Definition of inferiority complex

An acute sense of personal inferiority often results either in timidity or overcompensation in

exaggerated aggressiveness.7

A concrete example in our current society is the following:

Why is it so hard for Mexico to succeed in the World Cup that we can't get past the round of 16?
Let us avoid looking for the reasons for our failures in causes external to ourselves and our
idiosyncrasy. There are no planned robberies or divine curses. Let's accept it: the cause of our
failures and defeats; is ourselves and our lack of identity.

In the world of soccer, things cannot be different: Mexicans cannot beat a colonialist power of
yesteryear or today because it would be like going against history. The Dutch did not beat us, we
gave them the victory. If the Mexican team could not hold the lead, it was because they could not
adequately process the meaning and importance of beating a first-world team. The problem was
not aptitude but attitude. Eighty years ago, the illustrious and ignored great Mexican philosopher
Samuel Ramos, in his book “El perfil del hombre y la cultura en México”, stated that "the feeling
of inferiority of our race has a historical origin that must be sought in the conquest and
colonization". However, he said: “ It is not claimed that the Mexican is inferior, but that he feels
inferior, which is a very different thing ".8 We must persuade ourselves that Mexicans are not
inferior and that our natural state is not defeated. The problem of the Mexican National Team is
not sporting, but cultural, and when this is done and corrected, the players will change their attitude
on the field, and the Mexican National Team will already be a winner, even though it may have
some defeats that are not obsessive.

6
DEFINICION.DE, Definition of imposition.
7
Merriam-Webster.com.
8
SAMUEL RAMOS, El Perfil del hombre y la cultura en Mexico, (Madrid, 1951), Editorial “Colección Austral”
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h. Consequences in the change of identity

We have seen in the introduction to this paper that, throughout the history of Mexico, Mexicans
have been involved in one of the worst crises in their history: the loss of their identity and thus the
creation of an inferiority complex. This is something serious because not having an identity and
not knowing who we are, creates, therefore, an inferiority. Why, what is the law of the inferior:
because the law of the inferior is: to live isolated, in a bubble thinking that everything you do does
not matter and that you have lost everything.
Now, all this does not happen out of the blue, everything has a beginning and an end, and we know
that when something that belonged to you has been taken away from you, you are left with an
emptiness that no one or anyone can give it back to you unless that which has been taken from you
is returned to you, but unfortunately, this never happens, we see this clearly in the XXI century, a
pattern that is born in each generation.

IV. Mexico:
i. What does it mean to be Mexican?

One of the great influences that have determined the identity of Mexicans is the European
liberalism that began to be embraced from the time of independence. Those recognized as
liberators of both Mexico and America, from Hidalgo to Bolivar through San Martin, were strongly
influenced by the ideals of freedom, justice, and equality presented by the French liberals. The
clearest example of this influence is how our constitution is a replica of the French Constitution.

The big problem with this is that a constitution is the result of a country's situations, context, and
history; since it is the guiding document of national life. The French Constitution was made as a
result of the struggles and problems of France and sought to solve the problems of this country.
However, in Mexico, an almost replica of it was imposed, which did not respond to the needs of
the country. This brought many problems because instead of resolving the differences and internal
conflicts, it only aggravated and mixed them. It is only after the revolution that the true essence of
the Mexican begins to take shape since this stage marks the beginning of a new era in which the
Mexican leaves aside his feelings of inferiority to give way to the creation of his own identity, and
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begins to awaken in critical thinking of both his past and his present and realizes that he has to find
that identity, which will allow him to move towards the longed-for progress.

V. Conclusion: Mexico is a dormant volcano

Mexico is a country with a lot of history to show. But we still have the same question that haunts
us every day: What is the future of Mexico? Yes, we know that our problem is the lack of identity,
but what is the plan to turn the page and regain our identity?

I want to answer this question with what the great priest and historian of Mexico: Joseph H. L.
Schlarman shows us in his great work. He teaches us to read between the lines, that the pages of
Mexico Tierra de Volcanes are only presenting the facts in their reality, and one of the realities is
that when the Mexican of the 21st century accepts his lack of identity with all the history behind
it, he will begin to acquire again that identity that was given to him from long ago. Mexico is a
dormant volcano. It is a volcano that does not manage to make peaceful eruptions, but rather
frequent violent eruptions that damage the spirit. Until we can make peaceful eruptions, but at the
same time solid, we will never achieve what we have been longing for so many years: identity.

We are already at the end of this analysis, and we can ask ourselves if Mexico and the Mexicans
have managed to delineate their identity. To look back and see what has happened in these last
years since the Spanish conquest. In the introduction, we saw that the work of Octavio Paz gave
us a clear-sighted and sharp look at the background of all the questions we raised. We saw that
Octavio Paz breaks the scheme because he knows that reality is different. If at least this capstone
is not the answer, it is an answer to the many questions that Mexicans as a growing adolescent
society need to find.

Mexico has to understand that the Conquest was a wound, but a wound that was not sterile, rather
a wound that gave us birth, and accepting this would take off the mask of our fear that does not
allow us to act to be who we are. Someday, when Mexican society matures, it will be able to say
with Lucas Alamán, “Mexico is a country where everything that exists has its origin in that
conquest.”9

9
E. KRAUZE, La Presencia del Pasado, Pg. 180. “Mexico es un país en que todo cuanto existe trae su origen en
aquella conquista”.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

JOSEPH H. L. SCHLARMAN, Mexico Tierra de Volcanes, 1950, Ciudad de Mexico, Editorial

“Porrua”, 21ª Edicion, segunda reimpresión 2018.

OCTAVIO PAZ, El Laberinto de la Soledad, 1950, Ciudad de México (México), Editorial “Libros

Tauro”, 1ra Edición.

HENRI BEUCHAT, Manual de arqueología americana, (Madrid, 1918.

SAMUEL RAMOS, El Perfil del hombre y la cultura en Mexico, (Madrid, 1951), Editorial

“Colección Austral”.

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, Definition of conquest.

https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/conquest

DEFINICION.DE, Definition of imposition.

https://definicion.de/imposicion/

MIRRIAM-WEBSTER, Dictionary Online.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inferiority%20complex

KRAUZE, E., La Presencia del Pasado, Tusquets Editores Mexico, S.A de C.V Mexico, D.F
2015 1ªedicion.

C. FUENTES, Tiempo mexicano, primera edición, Cuadernos de Joaquin Mortiz, Editorial J.

Mortiz, Mexico, D.F 1971, Pg. 26. “la lengua del otro”.