My Response to Ian's Blog 3 More Comparisons

Ian,

Wow! What an awesome connection! I completely agree with you that this story has a lot of connections to the crucifixion of Jesus. I think Echeverria probably did this on purpose. His story is full of symbolism. He connects the flood and rain to the story of Noah’s Ark, another biblical reference.  Echeverria also uses the runaway bull to symbolize the  trapped Unitarian. I think the similarities between the Federalist’s attack on the Unitarian was definitely another one of his clever allegories.

Blog Number 3

I would first like to start out by saying that as sad and gruesome as “The Slaughter House” was, I really liked this reading. I like reading short stories because they have a plot to follow and this story was different from everything else that we have been reading in this class. I hope we read more short stories, maybe even one with a happy ending. Anyways, with that being said, some of the things in this story just did not seem to add up to me. I’m still not sure how the Unitarian died at the end. When I first read the story, I thought he was beaten to death by the federalists, but going back, they never touched him. They had him tied down to the table and were undressing him and then, “a torrent of blood spouted, bubbling from the young man’s mouth and nose, and flowed freely down the table”. I don’t understand what exactly happened to him. Also, after analyzing the message of this story, it reminded me of something in chapter one of Sarmiento’s reading. On page 52, Sarmiento says, “all that is civilized in the city is blockaded, banished outside of it, and anyone who would dare show up in a frock coat, for example, and mounted on an English saddle, would draw upon himself the peasants’ jeers and their brutal aggression”. I wonder if he could be talking about the aggressiveness of the Federalists towards the Unitarians. The Unitarian came by the slaughterhouse riding a horse with an English saddle and dressed well. The Federalists were depicted as unruly savages just as Sarmiento depicts the people of the countryside. The Federalists taunted the Unitarian and were brutal and aggressive towards him. I think there may be a connection between the two.

 

My response to Leah's Blog Numero Dos

Leah,

To answer your questions, first, I agree with Alexis that most people think of barbarians as people who lived a long time ago. When I think of the word barbarian, I think of cavemen and sometimes picture the Flintstones. They are primitive people who lived at the beginning of time. Barbarians were focused on meeting the basic needs for survival: food, water, shelter, ect. They don’t use technology or modern methods to meet their needs; they are hunters and trappers. Often times, they are nomads and do not have permanent homes. That is how I would define a barbarian. To answer your second question, I agree with you that they could have tried to build some schools or churches despite the distance in hopes of educating the people of the countryside. However, I am not sure that all of the people would choose to change their ways to the civilized ways. The “barbarian” cowboys lived simple lives and may not have wished to trade their simplistic peaceful lives for the stressful civilized lives of the city dwellers.

Blog 2

This week, we have spent a lot of time reading about and discussing the issue of civilization vs. barbarism. The end of chapter two of Burn's reading really caught my attention. On page 32, he talks about how different Latin American countries dealt with the "barbaric savages" that were getting in the way of the progress of their civilized nation.  We did not really discuss it in class but it really surprised me to read this. Burns says that the Argentine government ordered their armies to massacre the Indians. They called the genocide the Conquest of the Desert and it started on April 26, 1879 and lasted until 1880. It was led by General Julio A. Roca, who served as the president of Argentina twice after the genocide. He ordered his men to clear the papas of the Indians once and for all. I was so surprised and upset to read about this. I thought that at this point in time, Latin American countries were moving towards legal racial equality and becoming more civilized.  It's occurrences like these that make me wonder who the real barbarians are. The so called “civilized” city dwellers went out and killed hundreds of innocent people because they were less advanced than them and they thought it was making them look bad? If these people are civilized and educated, surely they should know right from wrong. What made them think it was okay to murder innocent people? I think that the people responsible for the genocide were backward and uncivilized.  They killed the native elderly, women, and children. I think it’s so sad that tragedies like this are allowed to happen especially in the name of making progress. It reminds me of the Holocaust. Hitler tried to exterminate people that he believed to be less than him, mostly Jewish people. He wanted to create a perfect world with the race that he believed to be “superior” just like the Argentine government wanted to eliminate the people in their country that they believed to inferior and barbaric and create a perfect, superior, civilized population. It makes me sad that things like this happen.

Blog 1

Hello everyone, my name is Jacqueline and this is my blog. I am an exercise science major and hope to become a physician's assistant. I am fascinated with science and usually do well in math. History and English are not my best subjects so this class has been a challenge for me, however it has taught me a lot. When it comes to making big decisions, and even small insignificant ones, I can be very indecisive. of course, I wasn't sure which honors sequence to choose.   I decided to take Latin American Civilization and Culture because my best friend advised me to choose a class that not only seemed interesting to me, but was new and different from all of the other classes I would be taking for my major. I took some Spanish in high school and it was a lot of fun. We learned bits and pieces about the culture of Spanish speaking cultures and it was very interesting to me. I wanted to learn more about the history and culture of Latin America. I was especially interested in learning about the culture of the indigenous people. Latin American Civilization is not like my other science classes. This advice was excellent and I am very happy with my decision. Although this class can be challenging, I have learned a lot. I also really like everyone in this class :) Good luck to everyone this semester!