A Comparison of Christopher Columbus’s Letters Essay Sample

In the book The Norton Anthology-American Literature there are two ocean trips that are writen about by Christopher Columbus. I will compare the two and explaine some of the contrasts between the two. As they are two really different ocean trips. 10 old ages apart. Columbus has emotions and experiences that separate the two. From a free adult male to a adult male in bondage. Discovery

In Columbus’s first missive “Letter to Luis de Santangel Sing the First Voyage” ( Franklin. Letter to Luis de Santangel Sing the Frist Voyage. 2008 ) Columbus is full of exhilaration and felicity as he writes about his finds of new islands and sights. He discusses how he traveled to each island and the class he took. For illustration he states “When I reached Juana I followed its seashore to the due west. and I found it to be so extended that I thought that it must be the mainland. the state of Catayo. ” Columbus besides states in the same missive the admiration of the beauty in which he was detecting “There are six or eight different thenars. which are a admiration to lay eyes on on history of their beautiful variety” . In his 2nd missive “ Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Sing the Fourth Voyage” ( Franklin. Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Sing the Fouth Voyage. 2008 ) he does non talk of any new exciting find or new beauty. Excitement / Sorrow

When Columbus starts his first missive “Letter to Luis de Santangel Sing the First Voyage” ( Franklin. Letter to Luis de Santangel Sing the Frist Voyage. 2008 ) He begins by saying “As I know that you will be pleased at the great triumph with which Our Lord has crowned my voyage” He speaks with a tone of exhilaration and pride at his finds and achievements. Columbus besides writes of all the new topographic points he named. In the 2nd missive “Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Sing the Fourth Voyage” ( Franklin. Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Sing the Fouth Voyage. 2008 ) his tone and enunciation is really different. He begins by composing “Of Espanol. Paria. and the other lands. I ne’er think without crying. ” The missive starts off really negative and sorrowful and continues with frailty and desperation. He has lost the genius and exhilaration of the ocean trip. Freedom / Bondage

When you read these two letters you can see where Columbus was sing great freedom and how he ends in great bondage and sorrow. In his first missive “Letter to Luis de Santangel Sing the First Voyage” ( Franklin. Letter to Luis de Santangel Sing the Frist Voyage. 2008 ) he states “there are many seaports on the seashore of the sea. beyond comparing with others which I know in Christendom. and many rivers. good and big. which is fantastic. Its lands are high. and there are in it really many sierras and really exalted mountains. beyond comparing with the island of Tenerife” Columbus is detecting new universes and he is really much enjoying this. In this first missive there is complete freedom. he is merely making what he loves seafaring and he is detecting new exciting islands without any depressing or low tones. But this is non the instance in the 2nd missive “Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Sing the Fourth Voyage” ( Franklin. Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Sing the Fouth Voyage. 2008 ) where Columbus discusses his imprisonment. ill intervention. pleading to be released from his ironss and his spiritual mistakes. “Here in the Indies I have become careless of the prescribed signifiers of faith. Entirely in my problem. ill. in day-to-day outlook of decease. and encompassed approximately by a million barbarians. full of inhuman treatment and our foes” “my psyche will be forgotten if it here leaves my organic structure. Weep for me. whoever has charity. truth and justice” He has become a adult male of much unhappiness.

Decision
In decision you can see that by these two letters that Columbus wrote he shows a assortment of life experiences and that in 10 old ages he went from a comparatively unworried adult male to a adult male in bondage and much desperation. He had seen beauty. freedom and exhilaration in its rarest most olympian signifiers but in the terminal experienced some of the darkest. sad. lonely times. These are non things that you think of when you think about the great Christopher Columbus but he merely like us experienced a life full of joys and letdowns.

Mentions

W. W. Norton & A ; Company. Franklin. Wayne ( 2008 ) . Letter to Luis de Santangel Sing the First Voyage & A ; Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Sing the Fourth Voyage. The Norton Anthology American Literature. 25-28