The Valley of Mexico, by José María Velasco (1875) is a painting that says so much. As was discussed in class, there seems to be something different about his painting compared to that of his teacher, Landesio. Perhaps it IS because he actually from Mexico. To me, his colors are deeper, richer, and the attention to detail is unmatched in Landesio's version of the exact landscape. It makes me connect to home; to the dry air, tall mountains, the smell of my clothes after coming out of the laundry, the yellow walls of my bedroom, and the colors of fall outside the window.
Home is a deep word. It is a different place, smell, and feel for everyone. Depending on if someone loves his home or not, they could argue that it is the most wonderful place in the world. Perhaps, as was mentioned in class, visiting someone else's home offeres the excitement of experiencing something new; but at some point, it seems as if everyone eventually longs for home, like the two little mice in the children's book, Town Mouse Country Mouse. In the version that I read (by Jan Brett) as a kid growing up, the town mouse and the country mouse switch places for a day or so to see what life is like in the other mouse's shoes. At first they both love what they experience, and have a great time. But then they each experience things that are unfamiliar and a bit frightening to them in their new surroundings, and each desires to return to the comforts of their own homes; the homes that they are familiar with and love.
Maybe Velasco wasn't deeply attached to his home, maybe he was; If he were alive today and able to explain his thought process behind this piece, I wonder what his reasoning for painting it would be. To me his style of painting shows me the beauty of what was once a land of solitude, peace, nature and serenity.
'Carrickfergus' is a song about a town in Northern Ireland. When I hear it, it makes ME want to return there, and its not even my home! But can you relate to this feeling of loving where you're from? Maybe Velasco could . . .I know I can, perhaps Irish can with this classic tune, and I bet Iracema could, as well!
The word "redemption" implies a heavy meaning. The definition, according to diccionary.com says that is is :deliverance, resucue, an atonement for guilt. Redemption can come physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In the 1986 film, "The Mission", this is a common thread all throughout the script and is displayed in several charaters.
Rodrigo Mendoza is one of the characters that i feel most effectively demonstrates this. One of the first lenghty scenes we see him in is when he kills his brother. Its is obvious that he has a temper, as shown in this clip . . .
I am aware that this video is in Spanish, but it highlights what to me is acritical point. When Rodrigo walks past the group of men and one chuckles in his direction, Rodrigo accusingly asks, "se rio?" meaning, did you laugh at me? What seems to get him really mad is that someone was laughing at him. This behavior is evidenced again when Father Gabriel goes to Rodrigo's jail cell offering his help. At one point, Rodrigo springs off of his chair and again asks angrily if Father Gabriel laughed at him.
I didn't think too much about Rodrigo's apparant demise for laughter until he climbed the falls with his huge load and comes to the point where he realizes that he feels forgiven.
I too, could feel like Rodrigo was had finally graped that forgiveness and internal peace he was seeking through serving this penance of carring the armor up the falls. When did i feel it? When the Guarani started laughing at Rodrigo. Not only did he just let it go, but it almost appears that he himself, starts laughing along with him. In that moment, i realized that Rodrigo was feeling some Godly sorry and could sincerely knew he had received forgiveness for his actions. He had finally met all the necessary requirements to obtain that kind of happiness.
In this same clip, I was reminded of Jesus Christ, and how he is always there to pick us up in these moments, just as Father Gabriel was there for Rodrigo. Why is redemption so important? Why do we even bother with it? Could it be for the feelings of relief, joy and peace that come as they did to Rodrigo? I'm sure the feelings are different for everyone but that they can also relate. Just as this idea of redemtion is an underlying theme in the movie, so it is and will be for the rest of our lives. Whether we are religious or not, we will all come to apoint where we seek forgiveness from God, a loved one we have hurt, or maybe most of all from ourselves.
Tenochtitlan. Once the biggest city in the Pre-Columbian New World. Its Aztec citizens thrived; they possessed not only necessities but luxuries. In my own words, they were on top of their game! Then, on a fateful November 8, 1519, Hernan Cortes arrived to the great city and would eventually destroy it.
Many massacres and battle led up to this great event. Once the city was sieged, it was all over for the Aztecs and this great city. There are writings on what occured there so long ago, including poetry.
Flowers and Songs of Sorrow
(Victors and Vanquished, Stuart Schwartz, 213)
We know it is true That we must perish For we are mortal men You, the Giver of Life, You have ordained it We wander here and there in our desolate poverty We are mortal men We have seen bloodshed and pain Where once we saw beauty and valor We are crushed to the ground We lie in ruins In Mexico and Tlatelolco Where once we saw beauty and valor Have you grown weary of your servants Are you angry with your servants Oh Giver of Life
All these things come seeping through the text in this poem. When the Spanish conquistadors came marching in, i wonder if they thought it could possibly end well. With all the battles looking a lot like this:
mexicolore.co.uk
I don't see how they could.
The way these bodies lie on the ground is just as the poem states, "crushed". I don't think it is any coincidence that the author of the poem would use such a specific word to capture the scene of the aftermath of the conquest so well. Not only were things physically crushed (monuments, flowers, corpses, etc.), but I'm sure the spirits of any survivors were as well. To crush is to pulverize and grind down into nothing; after being defeated, how could anyone feel anything but "nothing"?
Although the poem seems to allude to the fact that the Aztecs knew they must perish, this was a tragic event. Sometimes, the fall of an object can be a good thing: The Fall of the Berlin Wall, the fall of an evil regime or a powerful dictator.
The Berlin Wall (floridapundit.com)
The fall of the walls and buildings of Tenochtitlan did not quite yield the same results as that of the great wall in Germany. There was no celebrating on the Aztec side. There were only cheers and excitement from the Spanish. The collapse of this great Aztec empire reminds me of a song we all used to sing as children while holding hands and going around in a circle...
Ring-a-round a rosie, A pocket full of posies, Ashes! Ashes!
To Octavio Paz, that statement "has no paternal flavor and is not said in order to protect or to guide another, but rather to impose one's superiority, that is, to humiliate." (The Labyrinth of Solitude, 81)
(gremlindog.com)
After watching that clip of Luke's reaction to finding out that he is the son of Darth Vader, I would have to say that there is DEFINITELY some humiliation shown on his face!
Paz states that "Power" ist he one word that can sum up what is is/ means to be macho. "It is force without the discipline of any notion of order: arbitrary power, the will without reins and without set course. . . macho -- power -- almost always reveals itself as a capacity for wounding, humiliatiing, annihilating." (The Labyrinth of Solitude, 81-82)
I had heard a little bit about machismo in Spanish classes that i had taken in school, but never really understood it until i served a mission among many Mexicans and Latin Americans. One Sunday while in the Principios del Evangelio class, a lesson about family was presented. The teacher reviewed the Proclamation to the family and as a class, we discussed the role of husbands, wives, and children in the family. That day, there was a couple there who was taking the lessons from the elders. The husband was very stand off-ish and didn't say much. His wife participated and was loving the idea of husband and wife working together in the home. After she made a comment about this, her husband raised his hand; the teacher called on him and he said in his wife's direction,
"YO MANDO."
Basically he said to his wife that HE was the one who wore the pants in the relationship,called all the shots and had control in the house and their marriage. An extremely awkward silence filled the room and this man's wife immediately looked down at the floor as her face turned bright red. Again, there was that humiliation.
It is with this same sense of machismo that I'm sure Cortes conquered these great civilizations. He surely annhiliated everything about them. I know that sometime Mexicans and Latin Americans get a bad rap for this sense of "machismo" that seems to exist in the culture, but its honestly in all cultures. I think it is extremely interesting that this still exists today, seeming to have been passes down from generation to generation. Maybe its not quite as intense, but we still see it in today's society.
