Week Two

After reading the introduction to Cortes' letter you have to wonder what parts are true in his description of the land and it's riches. There are a few things we talked about in class that point to several fictitious statements made by Cortes. For example, when he speaks of "all kinds of herds being found there both grazing and for use of beasts of burden". We know for a fact from lecture today that the region the Aztecs lived in could not sustain work/farm animals nor did they have the resources needed or enough of the resources needed to raise/keep livestock. Spain and what is now present day Mexico are also in different regions so when Cortes says that the land and animals are similar to what they have in Spain, that is not a true statement. I find it interesting that at the beginning of the letter, Cortes gives a glowing review of the country but as soon as he begins to talk about the natives, he does so in a condescending/disgusted tone. He elaborates and most likely exaggerates on their "un-civilized" ways in order to convince others of the need for colonization. He speaks of the great numbers of people sacrificed, probably without understanding that they are prisoners of war, but it seems like he exaggerates on numbers and methods of sacrifice. He feels that the natives would be willing to give up their "heathen" ways if they were brought to God through religion. This is also amusing to me after learning today in class that the Aztec people had a very developed society/culture, even more so than Spain. Basically, like other periods of colonialism, the Cortes did not take time to get all the information but just assumed that the Aztecs would be better off following his way of life.
In the two poems, you can feel the helplessness of the people as their land, way of life, and parts of their culture are taken from them. "Nothing but grief and suffering where once we saw beauty and valor". I'm sure that the land was still the same but it was no longer theirs, so to speak, so they probably did not see it in a positive light after it was taken from them. It probably reminded them of bondage and slavery instead of freedom. They also feel that this situation they are in now is a punishment from their God for misdeeds that they had done/committed. I'm not sure what the significance of the niece is in the second poem so if someone understood it please let me know. I thought that the first poem gives a good visual representation of what the situation was like for the natives as they were colonized. It speaks of water and food tasting bitter and of darkness. These two descriptions helped me to better understand how the people where feeling.
The pictures help to support what we talked about in class about a well developed society. They show different plants and animals, labeled, which shows some sort of education in the society. Also, the pictures depict a working class and an upper class proving an established hierarchy.
I did not really understand much of the "Captives and Cousins". The only thing I really got from the excerpt was that the men treat the women more like possessions compared to individuals. I feel like their trading of the women and children shows the power the men have in the community. I am definantly looking forward to the class discussion to hear others thoughts on this.