-**Week 2**-

Letter

I think (from based on what we talked about in class) that in cortes's letter to the king, he is more trying to impress him and write what he thinks the king wants to hear. It seems as though hes making fun of the natives that live there and pretty much degrading them and saying that they should 'convert' from their sacrificing and idling different gods to believing Christ.

Cantares Mexicanos

In the two poems, you can tell that they are negative. The native people are devastated about losing their land. This is exemplified thru the way the writer talks about 'the kings being imprisoned'. pretty much stating that if the kings can get put away, their 'voice' is gone and they have no one to represent them. The second poem, it seems like the writer is talking to a higher power, wondering why these things are happening to him and his community. These are helpful documents that makes the view of the natives more apparent from the skewed version of the European texts.

From the Codex Mendoza

The pictures from this selection gave a different way in looking at the history of these people. It looks as though the second map is more detailed than the first one. I also thought it was interesting that mas back then were used to record social, political, and historical events more than just dimensions. These maps, especially the ones signifying the rankings of the warriors and givings to the gods are most def helpful to us today. It shows not only what was going on back then with just the people, but what kind of animals and jewels were around and what communities had what resources.

Captives and Cousins

This passage makes women look like objects. They could either make or break a mans honor (which was very valued back then). Overall, this is the message that i got from this piece. It's kind of confusing and hopefully the in class discussion will shed some light on the subject : /

WEEK ONE POSTS :)

POEM

This poem is def a satire that is kind of racist and demeaning and is basically saying that the 'rich white man' has a duty to help the less fortunate, regardless of if they want the help or not. He also saw Imperialism as a burden that the White man was morally obligated to undertake, for the 'good of the colonized' aka one of the lines says: "To seek another's profit And work anothers gain".

VIDEO

I think that these days its the media that depicts different countries in a different light and creates new 'orientals' (word?) about them. For example, Slum Dog Millionaire (even though it was a great movie) did not portray India in the best light. Many people from that whole region were very angry in how Indians and Muslims were portrayed in the movie. Even though some incidents in the movie do occur in real life, i still think that it sends a very negative image to the rest of the world, especially people who haven't been to that country.