The following article proposes reading Maria, a novel by the Colombian writer Jorge Isaacs, from the perspective of national identity construction, due to its mandatory presence in Colombian education. Elements such as attitudes towards slaves, in the time when slavery was abolished in the country; considerations about Jewish immigrants situation, and the position women occupy in the foundation of the country, seen as a mainstay of society, are traced. One arrives to the conclusion that this work has to be understood in light of the historical context where it was written, and it cannot be considered a current axiomatic paradigm.