Christopher Columbus: Hero Or Villain

Stories can often be retold to portray a character differently; a perfect example is Christopher Columbus. Retold differently, and altered over the centuries, Columbus is seen as a hero to many, and villain to others. Originally only told from the Spanish’s point of view, the story of Columbus and the Arawaks is particularly difficult to analyze because of how many variations there are. From Howard Zinn to children’s books, the portrayal of Columbus is always different. While a source may be credible or accurate, authors can still bend the truth to support their idea of someone. One source, Howard Zinn’s A Young People’s History of the United States, shows the more violent, and what some would say, more accurate side, of Columbus’s story. The book contains excerpts from the writing of Bartolomé Las Casas. Las Casas made a copy of Columbus’s diary and wrote his own book describing the life of the Indians. This is how we know exactly what happened on those Caribbean islands. He writes about how the Indians were treated by the Spaniards, saying “...In this way, husbands died in the mines, wives died at work, and children died from lack of milk…” (Zinn 9). Other pieces in his book include a description written by Columbus, of the Spanish and Arawaks’ initial interaction. He says, “They would make fine servants…

Stephen Krensky’s children’s picture book, Christopher Columbus, depicts Columbus as brave and courageous. The author describes him as the only one with hope, saying, “The sailors are afraid. But not Columbus.” (23). The book even contains a line that states blatantly, “Columbus is a hero.” (46). While Krensky does say, “Columbus has also forced six Indians to come with him” (41), a majority of the text canonizes him, and ‘forced’ does not exactly cover the concept of raped, enslaved, and