Bebe Oguntade
Ap English III
8/28/09
Christopher Columbus
Year in year out every twelfth of October, thousands of people celebrate Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. The main purpose of the article is to enlighten audience and give them the some useful information which they are yet to know about Columbus. First of all the speaker describes the subject of the article, which is Columbus, as well as his family background. He then proceeded by construing how Columbus had embarked on his voyage to the West Indies, discovered various things unknown to several people and then arrested by some Spanish settlers.
The letter Columbus wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella is a very significant artifact, because it will give majority of people an opportunity to understand exactly how he felt, as well as what he went through during his very last years. His main purpose of writing the letter to the monarchs was to let them know what he encountered during his Journey to the Indies. “I write this to you from which you will learn how in thirty three days, passed from the canary islands with the most illustrious King and Queen our sovereigns gave to me. And there I found very many islands filled with people innumerable amount of them all I have taken possessions of their highness by proclamation made and with the royal standard unfurled, and no opposition was offered to me” In this quote, Columbus describes the beginning of his journey. Everything seems to be in favor of him, and it also tells that he has no problems or nothing to worry about.
Columbus also makes use makes use of imagery, to describe the environment he came across, even though audience will not see this in physically, the way he construes them, will enable his audience to create a cognitive map of the environment . “ for I saw them as green and as lovely as they are in Spain in May, and some of them were flowering, some bearing fruits ………… there are six or eight kinds of palm, which are wonder to behold on account of their beautiful variety…… In the interior are mines of metals and the population is without number. Espanola is a marvel”. There are certain dictions Columbus that gives the environment an admirable and appealing characterization. They are words like lovely, flowering, fruits, and beautiful. These words create an enticing mood for the audience.
After explaining is discoveries, Columbus went ahead to describe the disastrous part of his voyage. “Suddenly, while I was waiting for ships to come to your high presence with victory and the great news of gold being very secure and joyful, I was made a prisoner and with my two brothers was thrown into a ship laden with fetters, stripped to the skin, very ill-treated and without being tried or condemned”. This quote shows Columbus’s appeal to ethos. He displays a tone of anguish which construes how terrible he and his brothers had been treated. This creates a sympathetic mode for the audience, when they see how the innocent Columbus had been dehumanized.
