This reading tells of two days of travel for Christopher Columbus. He is exploring some islands in the north where he meets incredibly friendly and generous native peoples. Everywhere Columbus goes, he encounters native people who generously and freely give him and his crew members gold and other items.
The reading says that Columbus was greatly impressed with the ship he was sailing, but was afraid to compliment it too much because he had already complimented other ships that day. Because he did not want it to seem like he gave compliments too easily, he said that some older men who were sailing for him and said the compliments that he was giving towards the ship. This stood out to me because Columbus was worried about the way others would view him if he were to give out too many compliments.
This generated the idea that when exploring new areas, the sailors did not always go with hopeful expectations and that they had an agenda of sorts. Columbus acknoledges the fact that he was surprised to meet such friendly natives and that he intended to make them into to people under the rule of Castille. Columbus also said that he planned on conforming the Indians into Christians so that he could teach them what to think like he did with the Indians that sailed for him.
A modern parallel that I see to this reading passage is how when the American troops invaded the Middle East, they did so with the hopes of comforming the native peoples into something similar to themselves. They also tried to recreate their own political set up there as well. Troops did not expect to meet friendly people there because they had a preformed image in their heads.
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