C ARLOS FUENTES' maternal protagonists share with universal literature the paradoxical characteristics of the goodbad mother. They are at the same time both the protective and perfect pre-natal womb whose proximity the child desires, and the source of identity domination and punishment from which the child seeks to escape. The salient feature of Fuentes' treatment of the Mexican mother is, however, his skillful integration of a distinctive Mexican trait, which I shall call the Coatlicue-Malinche conflict, with the more universal characteristics of motherhood. The Coatlicue-Malinche conflict is a psychological attitude of certain women who have suffered a humiliating deceit or sexual violation. Influenced by their cultural and historic heritage, these women view their offspring as conceived without carnal contact. They assume an attitude of false virginity which is painfully destroyed when the progeny begins the search for his true origin and identity. My term for this unique quality of Mexican motherhood is derived from two Mexican tradi-