It has been very interesting reading the three very different but still very much connected books. They all represent different point of views but have similarities on a broader scale. Each author in their own individual way preserved a part of history with their encounters. Regardless, if readers agree or disagree with their perspectives, the authors allowed their audience (past or present) to enter a world that was full of conquest, exploration, evangelization, transculturation, attempts at preservation, exploitation of human life, material goods (gold etc.)and much more.
Cabeza de Vaca was writing a letter to the king of Spain wanting to explain his reasons for the failure of his journey. However, it is within this chronicle that the audience can read between the lines and truly discover some wonderful knowledge of the indigenous way of life and culture, how unfairly they were treated by the Europeans and the challenges the Spanish had with the newly encountered environment. As modern day readers we are also able to see how Spain, at this time, viewed the indigenous people, their traditions and everyday life.
Las Casas also wrote a letter to the king of Spain, but took a very different point of view than Cabeza de Vaca. Although both authors are from Spain, they did not see the conquest or treatment of the indigenous people the same way. Las Casas was not against converting the indigenous people, but he did disagree strongly with the manner in which the Spanish were treating the indigenous.
I found Garcilaso de la Vega’s point of view the most interesting because it is a rare perception on the events which took place. The indigenous culture was one of oral traditions and in comparison to the European documentation of the Spanish/New World encounters there is very little written documentation from an indigenous point-of-view.
6 comments:
after reading your blog, i realized just how much the first two texts had in common (letters to the king). Perhaps because they were both spanish authors with different points of view. I also agree that Garcilaso had the most interesting perspective!
This is a good broad summary. I like your comment on the audience. Also, the fact that both the first books were written as letters to the King of Spain is interesting because although they are so different, they are also similar.
good luck at the exam!
muy bien observaciones...tus breves son descriptivos y se provocan muchas ideas. Tu conecta con los pensamientos de la audiencia y tambien escribes clara de tu opinion. Aunque los dos primeros libros son de puntos de vistas muy diferentes, si se comparten el hecho que los autores dirigieron sus libros al rey de Espana... El tercer libro es, por consiguiente, el unico libro que es del punto de vista de un indigena.
It's interesting to think about Garcilaso de la Vega's position and to what extent it was an indigenous one. Though he was half indigenous he seems to have a very European way of expressing himself, and when describing the Incas he seems to take a detached anthropologist's stance. I wish we knew what a fully indigenous person who had little contact with Europeans would have written at this time!
Me gustó tu resumen. Es bien echo.
Tu comentario me dio inspiración de como la convergencia de las dos culturas (europea e indígena) comienza durante el siglo 17. Es razonable que los mestizos entienden las ambas culturas (alguén ha dicho que La Vega está más de lado europeo o indígena, pero todos acuerdan de su igualitarismo, ¿no?).
Hasta la segunda generación europea, las cosas me parecen bien. La transcultura es un fenómeno de fruto de la mezcla.
Las generaciones que siguen en las Americas, los curiollos o las personas nacidas allá tiene su raíz más en su origen. Entonces, es una consequencia natural que criollos contran eurocentrismo por la cultura, la administración etc.
ikuma
Your entry made me think something rather ironic about Naufragios: neither Nunez nor the people travelling with him ever killed or slaved any indigineous. Nunez was rather friendly and irreverent towards them, however his attitude after arriving in Spain and before getting lost clearly gives us an idea of his desire for colonizing the indigenous people and obtaining power, gold and land.
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