columbus essay

Amber James
Period 2
Christopher Columbus Essay
English III
In the letter that Columbus wrote to Luis de Santangel, he tells Luis about his voyage and all of the land that he has found. Columbus takes all of the credit for what he and his men have found. He paints beautiful pictures with his words about the land. He also tells Luis that he would like control over the land. Then at the end of the letter he finally tells Luis that he and his brothers were captured and are now prisoners.
In the letter Columbus uses “I” a lot as if he did everything by himself. He doesn’t acknowledge the people that helped him at all he just takes all of the credit. He says how he found 5 new pieces of land and named them all himself. And he has taken possession of each one. Then he goes into detail about how he found the islands and the certain things he had to do to get there. Columbus made it seem like he made all of the decisions and the success that he and his men had been all because of him. He also adds in the fact that he did this all in the matter of thirty-three days. I believe that Columbus comes off cocky and arrogant in this letter. There is no way that he could’ve done everything by himself and he could’ve made that evident during the letter.
Columbus is a very intelligent man and he knows how to use his words and when to use them. Throughout the letter he speaks formally to Luis. He addresses him as Your Highness as a form of respect. He gives Luis a feeling of power. When telling Luis about the land Columbus uses great imagery and paints a beautiful picture with his words. He makes the land seem like the perfect place to be. He talks about how beautiful the land is and he uses adjectives like marvelous and lovely. It’s like he just puts you in a fantasy world and makes u just imagine the type of place that he’s talking about. He mentions how the birds were singing and how everything just seemed so perfect. He compares the trees to the lovely ones that appear in May in Spain. He uses comparison so that Luis can understand and relate to what he is talking about. Columbus didn’t mention not one flaw about the island. Then he starts to talk about how Luis should leave the islands to him to govern in Luis’ name since Columbus did discover these islands. So now he figures they should belong to him. Columbus also says that it is only right for him to control the land in which he discovered as a matter of justice.
Columbus waits until the end of the letter to tell Luis that he is a prisoner. He wrote about all the success he has had first. When Columbus talks about him being a prisoner he plays the victim role and he tries to play on Luis’ sensitivity. He talks about how he has nothing and how he is becoming sicker by the day and expecting death. Then he asks for Luis to pardon him. So he starts reasoning for freedom. He begins to tell Luis for all he has done for him he deserves to be free. It’s almost as if Columbus is begging for his freedom.