Bartolom de las Casas - Essay Example

David Orique highlights the achievements made by Bartolomé de las Casas one of them being his successful penetration into Tierra de Guerra, an area that had remained unconquered due to the hostility of the locals. The author also indicates that this area stood as a model of Casas’ evangelization ideas in practice. However, there is a need for clarification on whether the region remained as Casas had developed or it finally fell into the influence of other conquerors with different ideas on the relationship between the Amerindians and Spaniards.

This is because most of Casas’ ideas were novel, but others including merchants who only saw the economic importance of the region without concern for the native population rights always challenged their implementation. In Staceyann Chin reads Bartolomé de Las Casas and Destruction of the Indies the brutality of Spanish conquerors is highlighted through Casas’ story about the treatment of the native population who were massacred in large numbers. The killing and degrading of native people are compared to the treatment of beasts.

Even as Casas is interested in documenting the atrocities committed by Spanish conquerors, he seems to be overcome by his subjective stance about the events leading to his exaggerations of the situation. For instance, Casas estimates the native people to be about three million with the attack only leaving about two hundred persons behind. Even though the massacre of the majority of the population is possible especially based on the described brutality of the Spanish conquerors.In Gilgamesh, the author presents the exploits of Gilgamesh, a king in the city-state of Uruk and his friend Enkidu who highlight the power of friendship as the two are able to bring down beasts such as the bull unleashed by Ishtar.

The two are finally separated when the gods have to choose one of them for punishment for the killing of Humbaba and the bull and cutting down the cedar tree. It is decided that one of them must die, which leads to the selection of Enkidu who then goes through painful periods as he suffers (Gardner 39-69). The cultural context of the society presented in the text plays a role in understanding the events taking place, especially based on the relationship between humans and the gods where one is mortal and the other immortal respectively.