Markeia Scruggs
August 30, 2009
Ap English III
Upon receiving “Christopher Columbus”, I expected to read a continuous list of facts about the great voyager. To my surprise, it was the complete opposite. “Christopher Columbus” gives the reader the chance to go into the mind of Columbus. This is done by reading two of four letters written by Columbus himself. The letters used very interesting diction and word choices. Because of such word styles, the text grabbed my attention almost immediately.
The first letter is to Luis de Santangel, which was written at sea, February 15, 1493. Columbus explains how he has made it to the Indies and has discovered many islands. This letter reveals the Columbus was an extremely adventurous person. For example, Columbus writes, “I determined no to wait for a change in the weather and retrace my path as far as a certain harbor known to me.” In this quote, Columbus directly states that he isn’t giving up. He tells the reader that he isn’t waiting for the weather to change. This quote shows that Christopher Columbus was a true voyager and that he loved to find new things.
Another trait of Columbus revealed to the reader was that he was a true lover of nature. He writes, “All are most beautiful, of a thousand shapes, and all are accessible and filled with trees of a thousand kinds and tall, and they seem to touch the sky. And I am told that they never lose their foliage, as I can understand, for I saw them as green and as lovely as they are in Spain in May, and some of them were flowering, some bearing fruit, and some in another stage, according to their nature.” Columbus gives the uses very descriptive diction to explain the new found land and his feelings toward it. Without even saying it, Columbus tells the reader that Earth is beautiful and that he is excited to explore it. This section of the letter speaks to me because Columbus appeals to pathos by creating imagery for the reader and making me feel what he is feeling toward nature.
In Christopher Columbus’s second letter, written to Ferdinand and Isabella, he describes the part of the Indies that he’s just discovered. “I came to serve at the age of twenty-eight years, and now I have not a hair on my body that is not gray, and my body is infirm, and whatever remained to me from those years of service has been spent and taken away from me and sold, and from my brothers, down to my very coat, without my being heard or seen, to my great dishonor.” said Columbus. In this quote he basically says that he is worthy of having power. His diction describes how he has come through many trying times and that he is ready to gain power.
Toward the ending of the letter, Columbus describes the land he has found. He indirectly states how the land isn’t what it was thought to be. “Here in the Indies I have become careless of the prescribed forms of religion. Alone in my trouble, sick, in daily expectation of death, and encompassed about by a million savages, full of cruelty and our foes, and so separated from the holy Sacraments of Holy Church, my soul will be forgotten if it here leaves my body.” writes Columbus. This quote basically says that Christopher Columbus has come all this way and lost everything he stood for. He tells of how he has lost his religious background and that he fears of going to hell if he were to die. Columbus writes, “Weep for me, whoever has charity, truth, and justice.” Columbus’s diction in this quote is heavy. He is basically crying out for help and begging for pity. He appeals to pathos by using such diction and word choice.
Christopher Columbus used many interesting forms of diction and word choice. He used these factors to reveal hidden characteristics about himself that were unknown to many. Columbus also appeals to pathos on many occasions within his letters. Because he used these literary concepts, he created a better link between the audience and author and allowed the reader to understand his thoughts more clearly.
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