Research Papers / "don't shoot the messenger" - essay for my intro to latin american study class [3]

hey guys:) id like if you can help me with this. now, this essay was supposed to be written based off of two essays/papers we read in class and i didnt post them, but i know you guys are smart and can still help me.

now, im a freshman in college, and i havent written papers for college yet, so please tell me i guess if its up to par. its due tomorrow, so i dont have a lot of time, but id like some feedback. just even if its grammar mistakes. im really worried about it.

i go to johns hopkins btw.

and here it is... (its non fiction writing btw)
and she didnt really give us a topic to write on, but it is somethign liek "compare the european gaze with the indiginous perspective" or something like that. shes RLY not that great at telling us essay topics or organization.

thanks;)

The 15th century conquest has left both the indigenous people of the Americas and the Europeans disputing on what occurred. Both parties attempt to justify their reasoning for the situation, and it is up to readers to interpret and decide what they believe. Who was to blame for the conflicting indigenous prospective, and European gaze? The messengers of both sides played an important role in relaying exaggerated information to their leaders, causing perhaps the taking over of the indigenous people.

When the conquistadores arrived in the 16th centuries, they discovered this new place of spices, opportunity, and hope. Men like Christopher Columbus were sent to report back to Spain about the land and, give his opinion on what it was like and all the other Europeans took his word. Columbus arrived, saw the beautiful fauna of the Americas, and the lands' potential, and embellished a little bit in his report.

Columbus, didn't so much discover America, since there were already indigenous people living there, as much as he painted the picture of what the America's were like to the Spaniards. In his letter to Luis de Sant Angel, he writes "...varied forms, accessible, and full of trees of endless varieties, so high that they seem to touch the sky..." and "...covered with blossoms, some with fruit, and some in other conditions...". Columbus told the Spaniards the land had resources that were not found in Spain, and this would appeal to the king. Columbus' report was the first step in the European's idea for take over.

Even worse than how special he makes the land out to be is how he portrays the people that inhabit it. Since he already makes the land out to be an area they have to be in control of, the people are the only thing getting in the way; they were these specs that weren't as beautiful as the land. Since the people are just a tiny problem to take care of, he tells the King things like "...they appear extraordinarily timid" and they have weapons they are afraid to use. While these characteristics will make it easier for the Spaniards to take over, he doesn't dispute the native's intelligence. He mentions they can understand each other, which seems to surprise him since they live in the wild. They navigate the sea, which is useful to him and his people, and they can be easily manipulated [to Catholicism] since they don't follow any religion. Looking closely at what Columbus does, he paints a pictures to the Spaniards that this land is the perfect new world, the Natives are the perfect people-both intelligent and easy to overpower, making it easier for the Spaniards to get what they want.

While some of these exaggerations are refuted in Broken Spears, messengers are again put to use by the ruler, (in this case chief). When the Spaniards arrived, the natives didn't see them as strangers, but welcomed them as gods; so unbeknownst to the Spaniards they did in fact believe in a higher power. In Columbus's letter to Luis he writes "...I gave them some of everything I had, without receiving anything in return..." while in Broken Spears, the Natives recount giving to their "Gods" (Spaniards) "...quetzal feathers, its ornaments of gold and mother-of-pearl." Columbus depicted them as helpless, and needy. The message he painted to the Spaniards was a false one that showed the Natives as people who would, in fact benefit from the European's taking over. The idea of manifest destiny is best showed here; that it is the job of the Europeans to help the poor less fortunate countries. Really those "poor, less fortunate countries" had a system that worked for them.

The natives, however told a different story. When they came in contact with the Spaniards they showered them with gifts because they thought they were these gods. This is the antithesis of what Columbus wrote back in his letter because they were not these selfish people that were living in these difficult conditions that they needed saving as he described. They in face were able to provide for themselves by making nature work for them although they did not have eastern luxuries. They even had things to share with the Spaniards, and from in Broken Spears the Natives described the Spaniards as the selfish ones. When the natives tried to give them gifts, the response: "The Captain asked them: 'And this is all?' "

But the Spaniards were not the only ones responsible for sending skewed messages; the Natives were responsible of it as well. For example, when Motecuhzoma sent his messengers to scope out the situation (the Spaniards arrival), instead of giving Motecuhzoma the strength to take action, there report made him more fearful. When the messengers came back to report, they told their chief about the weapons. The messengers described the cannons as "...is aimed against a mountain, the mountain splits and cracks open...Most unnatural sight, as if the tree had exploded from within." The messengers had also done what Columbus had done in his letter, and exaggerated to their chief, making it seem as if their entire civilization could not do anything to save themselves.

Both sides show a heavy reliance on messengers for the sole reason of the chief or king not wanting to explore the land themselves. However, this is not always a great idea because these messengers do exaggerate as did Columbus and the messengers of Motecuhzoma. The Spaniards in return, were painted a picture of this great place that has such potential, and also has these timid people that could be easily overpowered, so the king felt it necessary to send in knights. Motecuhzoma was painted a picture by his messengers of these people (the Spaniards) with these "stags" horses, that were larger than life, and a type of vicious animal, these European gods they could not satisfy and they had these weapons they could not compare to. This gave Motecuhzoma fear, and made him a worse leader for his people and allowed him the Europeans to easily come in and take over.

So the common phrase of "don't shoot the messenger" is not always accurate, and is not pertinent to this situation. While the chief of the natives and the King of the Spain thought, at the moment it would be more convenient to send messengers, they would have been much more successful if they had went themselves. Instead they both got exaggerated versions of the truth, like a game of telephone, from the people they sent that put either put them in fear, or made them take extreme action, respectively. Both the indigenous perspective and the European gaze, are thus not entirely accurate since they were ideas planted by just a few people-mere messengers reporting-rather than ideas seen first hand by the entire group of people.

Undergraduate / track! ("I am able to do more") [3]

comments plze :)

I inhale. I exhale. For twenty minutes those are the only two things that I concentrate on. My heart beat races. The air around me is hot and heavy. Below me, I can feel the pieces of wood against the soles of my feet. I start to slow down as I approach the wall that I'm dreading. I inhale. I exhale. I ignore the soreness on my ankles, the tightness in my legs. I take a deep breath and pick myself up the hill. I begin to feel pushes and shoves. As girls run ahead of me, my determination replaces my fear. Before I know it, I'm on the other side of the hill. My arms grow quicker and my strides, longer. I spot the waving red, orange, green and blue flags. I increase my pace as I approach them. They greet me, with my face sweating, my legs aching, and my heart pumping. Despite everything, I still manage to smile, with a small medal in my hand. An anonymous writer once said, "Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try."

Getting the confidence to try, came to me at a late age. As an only child, I always liked to spend my time alone. To me, loneliness came with shyness. In Elementary School, while all the other kids lined up for their turn to hit the ball in a game of whiffle ball, I stood in the back of the line. As they came to the back of the line, I took a step back, letting them take a step forward. I would continue that. My turn would never come. Even in Junior High School, my turn never came. By then, I was always picked last in my gym class. In class, when my teacher stepped out of the room, all the other kids began talking to their friends. I didn't. I had no one to talk to. I never had the courage to do so. Instead I just sat there and continued to do my work. I knew that I wanted to be surrounded by many friends. I wanted to talk about the new show on T.V, the gross cafeteria lunches, our new alien math teacher. It didn't matter what, as long as I had them.

When I got to high school I knew that I wanted to change. But getting the confidence to do that took some time as well. I decided that I wanted to join a sports team. But after many years of standing in the back of the line, I didn't know how to play anything. After hearing that Tech's Track Team did not have any tryouts, I decided that I would try that sport.

My first day of practice was a Wednesday. Wednesday was the day when the girls were racing in Prospect Park. Wednesday was the day that I ran a short distance of about 1.5 miles, for the first time. I ran from Tech to Prospect Park with girls that had been in the team for one, two, or even three years. After one block of running, my face was already red. I was gasping for air. My feet hurt inside my blue, flat, puma sneakers. With every step I took, I could feel the pain going from my toes to my thighs. It felt as if I had been running for hours, when in reality, it had only been minutes. My first day of practice was horrible. But even so, I was back the next day.

As I run day after day, week after week, I am able to do more. I have something in common with all the girls in team: we are all runners. Running teaches me that I need to be strong when approaching that hill. I need to try my hardest when things are most difficult. I also need to be confident when racing, knowing that I am trying my hardest. The ground below me, and the sky above me: both are still. Only I am moving. Only I can push myself forward. As Helen Keller once stated, "Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."