In the first half of Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias it is apparent that De Las Casas is writing for a cause. I do not see any selfish intentions within his writing. Although he is not against colonization and evangelization he does not seem to seek any personal gains from his chronicle. He genuinely is seeking aid for the people of the Americas. De Las Casas uses strong rhetoric to get his point across to his intended reader. The indigenous people are being tortured and the Spanish are not acting like good Christians; “…que en todas las partes de las Indias donde han ido y pasado cristianos, siempre hicieron en los indios todas las crueldades susodichas …en aquellas inocentes gentes.” (pg. 24)
Among all the justifiably used vocabulary to describe the actions of the Spanish, there was one quote that stood out especially. It describes the despair the Indigenous people faced and allows the reader to feel their hopelessness; “Aquellos son los caminos por donde íbamos a servir a los cristianos y, aunque trabajábamos mucho, en fin volvíamonos a cabo de algún tiempo a nuestras casas y a nuestras mujeres y hijos; pero agora vamos sin esperanza de nunca jamás volver ni verlos ni de tener más vida.” (pg. 31)
5 comments:
I agree that the arguments for the cause of the Indians is a selfless act on his part. It doesn´t seem like he would gain anything by making comments against the christians and the spanish people.
Si, definitivamente la principal intencion del argumento de Bartolome de las Casas es la defensa de los indigenas y lo hace de uan manera tan desinteresada que convence al lector.
pienso que la reaccion del autor de los horrores en las Americas es el proposito distincto de la escritura de Las Casas. Como un hombre religioso,a el para evangelisar no fue un acto malo pero las maneras en los que actuaban los europeos anterioramente fueron contra las ensenadas de los Dios de la religion catolica.
Hi - this is a response to the comment you left on my blog which I thought was really interesting. You said: "Perhaps De Las Casas believes that by writing to the king he will not only aid the Indigenous people but also help these Spanish conquerors become better Christians again." I think what is fascinating about this book is not just the destruction of the Americas but the destruction of our idea of what is a Christian or a European. Perhaps you're right and Las Casas believes that by asking the king to intervene, this will not only halt the killing of indigenous people but bring his countrymen back on track.
"I think what is fascinating about this book is not just the destruction of the Americas but the destruction of our idea of what is a Christian or a European."
Yes, I agree with this. In this sense, there is something selfish about Las Casas's perspective... not personally selfish, perhaps, but in the end what's most important to him is as much the fate of the Europeans as the fate of the indigenous.
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