Christopher Columbus

Amanda Onalaja

August 29, 2009

Pd. 2- Ms. Brown

Christopher Columbus, one of the greatest names lined in out history textbooks; the man that sailed the Great Blue in 1942; a man who took on four voyages in a search of discovery. I expected to read of this great sailor that found incredible new lands and was revered by all. I expected to read journal entries of hidden treasures, gorgeous wonders, and love affairs; however the text proved to be less than fairy-tale like. Columbus described the most beautiful of sights and his worst of times. He described mutiny and sacrifice, all for the adventure of exploration, and in the end he still holds the names of his beloved monarchs dear to him as if they were his God. What surprises me is that Columbus loves exploring, even if the seeds he lays don’t bear fruit.

The author of the text includes two journal entries, from the first and last voyages. The former is a letter to a sponsor of Columbus’ voyage, Luis de Santangel. It carries a somewhat paternal tone as he lovingly recounts the five islands he has named, “…San Salvador, in remembrance to the Divine Majesty… to the fifth, Isle Juana, and to each one I gave a new name”. He continues to disclose his findings about another island which he calls Española, “…this island and all the others are very fertile in a limitless degree… Española is a marvel”. The entire letter is illustrative and readers hear the feeling of prides Columbus felt while explaining his discovery; a mood similar to that of a father.

However brilliant Columbus may seem for coming upon the islands, one can’t leave out the undertones of his letter, such as: the islanders and the native creatures. The island Columbus “found” already carried inhabitants. This is an example of oppression since Columbus is a foreigner who decides to rename the isles, disregarding the titles already bestowed upon them by the native Americans, “The Indians called it ‘Guanahani’”, he writes speaking of San Salvador. He also writes of encounters with nightingales and honey, neither of which is native to the western hemisphere. It makes one doubt the accuracy of Columbus’ discoveries.

In another letter, during the fourth and final voyage, addressed to the monarchs of Spain, Columbus’ tone is different. The letter’s tone is rather melancholy yet circumspective. Here Columbus partially addresses his political and reputational woes. He basically begs for assistance without seeming desperate, but still submissive to the king and queen. He speaks humanely, “I never think without weeping”, most likely to gain sympathy and compassion in an effort to secure help. Throughout the letter’s entirety, he repeats his innocence on whatever matter he’s accused of, while still managing to sound humble and speak of the king in a laudatory manner, “…and the unmerited wrong that I have suffered, will not permit me to remain silent… may the Holy Trinity preserve your life and high estate, and grant you increase of prosperity”.

It is evident that Columbus was grateful to the king, but the text emits his circumspective tone. He was kissing up to a higher power in hopes of being rewarded. It is unclear of what he was exactly pleading for, but he not-so-subtly voiced his thoughts of action, “The restitution of my honor, the reparation of my losses, and the punishment of him who did this, will spread abroad the fame of your royal nobility. The same punishment is due to him who robbed me of the pearls, and to him who infringed my rights as admiral”. One thing is certain; Columbus was somewhat skilled in his ways of navigating the seas and people, he gives compliments and praise, and immediately follows with his demands.

The connection between the letters and Columbus’ state of mind is clear. By the end of his fourth voyage he was consumed by the stress his lifestyle brought upon him. The text was structured with just these two letters for a reason; a before and after comparison. To link and contrast what could have possibly went wrong and why pieces of information were omitted. Such as: the details behind his political troubles, his internal conflicts, his rescue from his shipwrecked failure, all important aspects, but supposedly not relevant to the purpose of this passage. Even so, the use of the text available was adequate in its analytical accounts into Columbus’ struggle as an explorer.

Creation

Amanda Onalaja

August 25, 2009

Pd. 2 – Ms. Brown

Every culture has a story of their beginning. Whether noted or not, these accounts tell of where those people come from, helping them to better understand who they are. The tales of the origination of the Iroquois and the Pimas resemble the events of the book of Genesis in the Bible. Both retellings are to preserve their beliefs of how our world was formed. Through a powerful use of imagery, each story seems to capture their culture’s unique way in describing the universe in its earliest times.

The Iroquois envision an already designed existence with two worlds; one ruled by man the other by a monster. The story paints a picture of a woman, falling from the upper world to the lower, to rest upon a turtle that later turns into earth. The woman is carrying twins, one evil and one good. “[the evil infant] was moved by an evil opinion and he was determined to pass out under the side of the parent’s arm”, the evil infant in this passage seems to embody Christianity’s Devil. The yin yang relationship between the two brothers is evident throughout the tale. As the good brother continues to grow the difference between him and the evil brother are more prominent, including the evil brother’s inability to create man. However, towards the end of the story, the relationship between the brothers seems to be related to the story of Abel and Cain; expect the victim is the evil twin and motive to kill is different. “And the last words uttered from the bad mind were, that he would have equal power over the souls of mankind after death”, in this line readers can detect the bad twin’s connection to the Devil.

The story of creation from the Pimas is very similar also. It begins with an all powerful being that creates land and sea, and eventually man. The Pima’s version even includes the great flood depicted in Genesis. There is a scene where their creator, Juhwertamahkai, is disappointed with the people he created. The author repeats the phase “younger still” describing how the sins the people commit pass on to each generation until even infants are committing them. Although, the story seems to fall off track as the author includes an event about the moon, “the moon became a mother and went to a mountain… there was born her baby”. Readers understanding of the concept of the story seem to decrease after that paragraph.

Both narrations are unique in their style of description. The Iroquois have a more celestial and adventurous way of describing the universe. Their accounts seems to possess more purpose, wherein every creature served a purpose; from the mattress the woman slept on to lead her to the lower world, where she birthed the twins who would create the elements of the earth, and her corpse being used to create the moon and the stars, it would seem the Iroquois found beauty and function in everything. The Pima’s adaptation is much more biblical, in a sense that it’s just like the modern bible. But the last few paragraphs branch off into something unrelated to the universe’s creation.

The purpose of each chronicle was to express how their culture depicted the world to be created. Hidden in each, is the history of the people in some fashion. The story of the Iroquois focused mainly on the rival of the two brothers; maybe today religion and God are a big part of their culture. The Pima, being modern, may have been influenced with the records in the Bible since the stories are very similar. Both used vivid events to convey their story and in return achieved an emotional response.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Amanda Onalaja

August 24, 2009

Pd. 2-Ms. Brown

I’ve gotten to a point in my life where 60% of my day is spent behind my computer screen. Even if I’m not using it, my homepage is glued to Google. I don’t even own a dictionary, if I need a definition, I Google it. So while reading the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, I found that Nicholas Carr’s argument was dead on. The article is his opinion on how people today not only view the internet as a shortcut to information, but don’t process knowledge the way they used to. Through very powerful displays of logos and ethos, Carr convinced me the convenient Net would be the downfall of my own intelligence.

The article begins with a scene from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, which pulls me deeper into reading, but somewhere around the fifth paragraph I notice how long the article really is, and immediately start to lose interest. Carr explains he too has the same problem, “the deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle”. But how could one deny that the Web is an ever-growing market of knowledge all at one’s very fingertips! How could you not seize this opportunity and use it? However, Carr seems to find err in the idea of abusing such knowledge.

Carr supports his theory using credits from scholars and professors such as: media theorist Marshall McLuhan who said “The Net …is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation; a developmental psychologist Maryanne Wolf, “We are not only what we read, we are how we read; even the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzche said, “Our writing equipments take part in the forming of our thoughts”. Included in the passage are summaries of experiments done by different scholars testing the variation of man vs. machine.

Nicholas also incorporates a counterargument in his article, adding the helpfulness of the Web, and how Google’s founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, want to perfect the search engine. However, it’s plain to see that the idea of this super system Brin and Page want to create is not what Carr is hoping for. In the words of Richard Foreman, “we risk turning into ‘pancake people’ – spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button”.

The author did his research, by backing up his notion that society has abused the internet with creditable scholars and experimental examples. I too feel I may need to take time away from my flat screen monitor and indulge myself in a good book. Carr did make his point evident, especially with his closing paragraph. He recaps the scene in 2001. The “haunting” disassembly of that super computer and its human, almost childlike cries to the astronaut. Carr notes the irony in the film, how the humans were nearly robotic, yet the most human character was HAL.

Oak

The mangled Oak like a glassed horse.