The visual narratives of The History of Cuernavaca and Morelos: Crossing the Barranca (ravine) 1929-30, fresco detail, Cortez Palace, Cuernavaca, Mexico, used by Rivera challenge the Western expansion and “settlement” by Europeans is historically based. He labored within walking distance of the extravagant weekend mansions of the corrupt generals and cronies of Calles, clustered together around the mansion of the Jefe Maximo on what Mexicans called "The Street of the Forty Thieves." The frescoes were painted on three walls of the outer colonnade, facing the Valley of Mexico and the great volcanoes called Popocatepetl and Iztacciihuatl. Once again, Rivera was forced to consider the effects of light and weather. He added some painted grisaille
In reviewing the poem Isla, written in 2000, by Virgil Suarez, I can say that this is the first poem I have reviewed for this class with which I can honestly relate. The fact that the poem was written during a time period when I was living is great. Additionally, the images that the author brings to light are from items that I have seen with my own two eyes. With that said, I do not need to use my imagination to see and, for me, that is a disappointment. What is more, before this course I hated poetry and never read it. Now I feel that I have a better understanding of what and how to read this literature. I have become a fan of poetry. (Not a big fan, but average.)
The passage from Bernal Díaz del Castillo’s The True History of the Conquest of New Spain is a clear example of a narrative source. Díaz is presenting his personal account of Hernan Cortes’s expedition into Tenochtitlan. An interesting aspect of this narrative is that it was written almost 50 years after the events described occurred . Bernal Díaz del Castillo was only 24 years old when on November 8, 1519 he and the rest of Hernán Cortés’s expedition first entered the city of Tenochtitlán . He did not finish his account, titled The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, which many suspect was intended as a slight to Francisco López de Gómara’s accounts of the expeditions , until 1567 . This was not his first travel to the New World, in fact, it was his fourth . Díaz del Castillo was 19 years old the first time he traveled to the Americas, this time was to Panama . Díaz later became a governor in Guatemala, mostly as a reward for his actions as a conquistador . The event that is commonly seen as spurring the not-well-educated Bernal Díaz del Castillo to write of his experiences with Cortés was the publication of Francisco López de Gómara’s Coleccion de historiadores primitivos de las Indias Occidentales, which Díaz saw as seriously flawed and underappreciating the work of the conquistadors . The book this passage comes from languished on shelves until it was published in 1632, posthumously .
In the shadow of a cliff wall within Chaco Canyon rests the ruins of Pueblo Bonito, the most famous of the towns and settlements built by the Anasazi over 900 years ago. From tree-ring dating, it is known that a period of severe drought swept through the Chaco area in AD 1150, causing the site to be abandoned. After it was rediscovered in 1849 by U.S. Army soldiers, the site was severely vandalized for seventy years until it was made a national monument in 1907. In 1920, the National Geographic Society began a thorough reconstruction of this once great, and still impressive, site (Chaco Canyon, 1982-2015). Between its construction and its abandonment, Pueblo Bonito was a complex and important locality for the people who poured so much time
A student should never be denied the right to learn and become successful because of a different skin color, or because they speak a different language. “No saco nada de la escuela” by Luis Valdez is a play that discusses the racism in schools. The play starts with students going to elementary school and then ascending to middle school and college. At the beginning the students were not aware of what racism really was because of their innocence. However, the teacher that they had was very racist and bullied the students of color. That experience made the other kids realize that not everyone was the same and because of color or language they should be treated differently. There are five different students who take part of this play, two of those students were white, and there were two Chicanos and one black. That is great diversity of cultures. The teacher that the students have in elementary school was an example of the other professors they were going to have throughout their school years. Very arrogant and not understanding of the minority students. Their teachers were not really interested in teaching the minorities and always showed her discontent of having students of color. Their teachers didn’t believe that students who were part of a minority should be placed in the same classroom as the white students. Maybe that was because they didn’t know the potential a minority student could have. One Chicano student named Francisco never denied his roots and became very successful. He had many obstacles in his learning environment, but at the end he becomes a great example of perseverance. Francisco is the student who I think showed the greatest development in the play. He had to deal with racism all the time, but that didn't stop ...
Adventures In The Unknown Interior of America, a narrative by Cabeza De Vaca, contains many pieces of information that are applicable to present day society and the culture that has been created. The values of today’s moral code and the moral code of those who lived in the fifteen-hundreds, whether or not they knew Spain as their mother country or America to be the only country, have similar qualities. Not only has moral code contained similar values but it also contains comparable accommodation to different cultures living among one another.
The stone was found in 1790 by accident in the Plaza Mayor of Mexico City, when workmen who were excavating the earth to pave the plaza. It was discovered facedown, so it only seemed as if it was a large blank stone until it was turned over and the intricate details and deity was finally shown. It was decided to be set on the side on the Catedral Metropolitana, where it was abused and misunderstood for nearly a century. It wasn’t until 1885 and almost a hundred years of abuse by the people of Mexico, it was decided to be placed in the Museo Nacional. Although researchers at the time knew the importance of the Aztec stone, “students of Mexican antiquities, the founders of our archaeology, eagerly urged the successive governments to shelter and protect this significant monument of the pre-Hispanic past from the ignominy that it had suffered. According to chroniclers of the period, when it was displayed, the ignorant masses hurled filth and rotten fruit at the calendrical relief. Even the soldiers who at a certain time occupied the centre of Mexico—because of the constant violent tumult and foreign invasions that characteriz...
At first, it seemed like the Spanish had total control of the city, but trouble soon broke out. In May 1520, Cortes briefly left the city. Ignorantly, his men, for some odd reason, attacked the Aztec. "Those Idiots!" I bet Cortes would have exclaimed as he came back to find his men being besieged in Moctezuma's palace. Cortes, being quite the intelligent thinker, thought that calming them would be the best way out of the situation.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. However, what words are being told in the Codex Mensoza 1964, Lám (Brumfiel 1991: 224) and more importantly what influential role did the Spanish heritage have in the artifacts? These credentials were offered as form of resolute of Aztec women’s productive activities in Mexico. Nevertheless, Bromfiel paint a different picture of the Aztec women. In these sketches, Brumfiel draws our attention to the background in which the women are performing their “productive activities.” (Brumfiel 1991: 224) At first glance, these images are portraying Aztec women. However, after careful scrutiny of the photos, I noticed several an uncanny discoveries. In the first two portraits, both of the weaving instruments appear to be bound to Roman and/or Spanish columns (to my untrained eye). In the last two illustrations, I observed “productive activities” (Brumfiel 1991: 224) of cooking being performed, in what appears to be in a non-traditional work environment that does not correspond with the “productive activities” (Brumfiel 1991: 224) of the women in that era. One appears to be working in luxury room while the other seems to be overlooking the mountains from a balcony. Although these duties were performed in a residential setting, the pictures fail to emphasi...
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
The final reason that conversion did not mean that they had left their old religion behind is that their pagan religion was polytheistic, worshiped dead bodies of emperors, and cannibalistic offerings. Though priests and other Christians of that time would disagree, Christianity, though monotheistic, is technically the worshipping of the body and spirit of the leader of a large number of people, and eating and drinking of the body of said leader (Eucharist). Therefore, the Indians like the Guaranis mentioned in Montoya’s account may not have converted to a different religion but simply added another god to their collection of gods. This would also account for the switching between religions that many of the “converted” Christians would do (Montoya). The reason this is not a simple cultural difference is
¡Diles que no me maten! A short story by Juan Rulfo, which depicts the reality of a peasant’s life in rural Mexico. This short story is about a farmer who had a disagreement with the landowner after asking if he would be able to share his animals’ food. Due to the refusal the farmer sneaked his animals at night to feed them; however, when the landowner found out he killed one of the farmer’s cattle. As a result, the farmer killed his landowner; consequently he had to hide for over 40 years only to be murdered later on by the landowner’s son. This paper will discuss the following ideas; themes explored in the short story such as family, death and revenge. Then, an analysis of the strong need of survival and the symbolism of corn crops. Continuing to the structure of the short story and what it adds up to the overall understanding of the story. Finally, there will be a conclusion of all the aspects and what findings are reached after reading this short story.
“Los Vendidos,” translated to “The Sellouts” by Luis Valdez is a one act play that draws attention to the prejudice against Mexicans. Salesman, Honest Sancho, is a used Mexican lot owner that sells “robots,” each representing a Mexican model stereotype. The secretary, Miss Jimenez, works for the governor of the town who has sent her to purchase a Mexican to help their votes. Sancho shows the secretary the many different Mexicans they have from a farm worker to Pachuco (a lazy Mexican that causes trouble), to a revolucionario and a Mexican-American. Each Mexican model has a quality that the secretary doesn’t like, represented through a stereotype, which shows the prejudices society holds on the race. Although throughout the play the Mexicans
We are left with Castillo symbolically describing the events at the great Cue. Montezuma sent priests to help Cortés ascend the 114 stairs to the top but Cortés would not allow them to even come near him. At the top Montezuma tells Cortés that he and his men must be very tired from ascending the great Cue. Cortés promptly and firmly replies: "…that he and his companions were never tired by anything" (World History: Castillo, 252). This symbolizes and affirms Cortés intentions that we were only able to infer before. Castillo says that they "…stood so high that from it [the temple] one could see over everything very well, and we saw the three causeways which led into Mexico" (World History: Castillo, 252). Cortés is observing the future and destiny that awaits him and the great city of Mexico.
The Spanish decided to build a settlement between New Spain and East Texas. It would be a midway stop. They decided it would be located on the San Antonio River. San Jose was one of these settlements. It was made of limestone and was built in 1720. A nickname it had was "The Queen of Missions". Close by was San Antonio de Valero, or also known as the Alamo. It had carvings in the windows and the doorways that were complicated and beautiful. The carvings were made when the limestone was just unearthed. When limestone is just quarried it's relatively soft.
The history of the Western hemisphere is full of war and conquest. One of the most significant and defining of those conquests is the downfall of the Mexica/Aztec Empire. While there are many other events to choose from, this one stands out since it was one over one of the largest empires in Central America. It is also important to look at because of the immense cultural impact it had. The story of this takeover reads like a movie script, a small band of Spaniards single handedly takes down the most powerful empire in Central America. It was an epic battle, which unfortunately led to the destruction of a magnificent culture. As in any major historical event there are many underlying themes and storylines that come together to make the event happen. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec is no different. Three major themes are seen in this struggle. One of them is the incredible advantage that the Spaniards technology gave them over the Aztecs. A second major theme is the greed that fueled the conquests in the New World. The last major theme was the effect of the political divisions and rivalries within Montezuma’s Central American Kingdom. As this historical event progressed each one of these themes began to intertwine until they became an almost unstoppable force.