Bartolome De Las Casas: "The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies"

In his writing, entitled The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies, De Las Casas illustrates the atrocities done to the natives of the land by the Spaniards, a group of people who claimed to be Christians. The work reflects a tone of remorse and repentance. A repentance that the author feels must be repaid by a change in treatment towards the Indians. An American theme is reflected here, the question of equality, love, and compassion for other human beings. The American nation has bestowed upon itself a responsibility to flee from injustice. There is a paradox that is borne to America, the fact that justice emerged later on through history, but the growth sprouted from a time where injustice abounded. Furthermore, a question that I continued to ask myself throughout the reading was, why does the author continue to repeat and label the Spaniards committing the acts against the Indians as Christians? Anyone who has a solid foundation in Christian thought will know that the acts committed against the Indians were contrary to Biblical doctrine. The question still lingers… There were a couple reasons De Las Casas continued his rhetoric in the fashion he did. The writer knew that the Spaniards claimed to be Christians, and in an attempt to open their eyes from a viewpoint of faith, he was reminding them that what was occurring was not Christ like. The actions taken place can not be justifiable by the Spaniards by merely proclaiming that they are Christians. In addition, he wanted to share his conviction with fellow believers. He wanted to shed light upon the truth of their actions, which were, quite frankly, barbarous. If the foul treatment done to the Natives was done to fellow Spaniards some type of judicial action would have taken place. He was trying to instill compassion, a Christ like love for all mankind, by challenging their standings through their claimed faith in Jesus.

-William Castro

Christopher Columbus

When I think of Columbus, I think of think of that song, "In 1492 3 ships sailed out to sea..."  I think of the man who realized the earth was not flat.  What I did not know was how he suffered.  I think that this writing about Columbus is pretty straight forward and insightful for a short text.  It tells us that Columbus went on four voyages and there are actual letters by him.  

There is a big difference between the first voyage and the fourth voyage.    In his first letter to  he talks a lot about scenery and his thoughts on what will be.    Columbus is very proud and wants Luis de Santangel to know what land he discovered.  he first came upon the main land and thought it was India, but it was the Carribeans.  he started naming islands on after the other  He described them as, "All are most beautiful" (33), Columbas mainly talks about how happy he is and nature.

The fourth letter to Isabella and Ferdinand is a complete turn around. I was surprised to read that he was kidnapped and made a prisoner.  A lot of never think that ok maybe this person is jut like everyone else. regardless of the what period.  It is awful how the same people Columbus left there were the same people that turned everything upside down. Control became and issue.  What I felt bad about was the end, when Columbus reaches out to Isabella to help him and get him out of there, and in return the Holy Trinity will preserve her life.  If you are a believer, that might work. lol

I think the narrator was very powerful and believe able.  He was factual as well.  Good synopsis of Columbus voyages.  It puts things into persepctive

Jen Marchese

Blackboard Update

I'm afraid many of you won't read this for a few days, but Blackboard is down. As a result I cannot post next week's readings for you on it. I have converted them into a pdf. If you don't have the Norton anthology yet, e-mail me and I will forward the file on to you. Sorry about the delay.

nm

Welcome to our QC Class Blog

Greetings students and welcome to our blog. This will be a space where we hold informal discussions together before meeting in class. Each week, one or two students will be assigned to be the blog leader (or leaders). This student will post before Sunday at 10pm on a text or author to be discussed in the upcoming class. The rest of you will post a response by 3pm Tuesday (the afternoon before class). The purpose of our blog is to give you a chance to share your ideas and begin thinking about what the class finds most interesting, entertaining, and troubling about the readings.

Some words of advice:
1) The purpose of your blog entries is NOT to summarize the text or give excessive biographical information about the author.
2) You cannot simply write "I agree with what _________ said." The purpose of the blog is to engage with what students are saying. Feel free to agree or disagree, but give your fellow students something more.
3) Don't worry about writing a paper here. The purpose of the blog is informal--you don't have to try to show off, or edit your ideas 20 times before posting.
4) Pay attention to posting deadlines--if it's your job to be the blog leader, make sure you've read your chosen text before Sunday evening, when you have to post.
5) Posts are expected to be between 200-300 words.

I look forward to reading everyone's contributions.

nm