Imagery and Perspectives of the Encounter

After reading various accounts of the conquest in LEARNING STATIONS, students

will be able to compare perspectives of the conquest by analyzing imagery.

IMAGERY

Words that appeal to the FIVE SENSES (i.e. sight, sound, touch, smell, taste) in order to entice the reader to recreate a person, scene, event, or object in the readers’ imagination. Through the use of imagery, artists and writers convey opinion and perspectives meant to persuade their audience.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

1. How did early literatures and writings shape interpretation of the early encounters between Europeans and native peoples of the Americas?

2. How do writers’ use of imagery shape readers’ opinions?

3. How did this initial meeting between Europeans and Native peoples shape Mexican American identity and culture?

Directions

Learning Stations1. Cortes in Tenochtitlan: SAMPLE STATION

• Author: Hernan Cortes• Genre: Journal

2. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain• Author: Bernal Diaz del Castillo• Genre: Narrative & Memoir

3. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico* Author: Miguel Leon-Portilla

Genre: Academic Essay 4. “The Fall of Tenochtitlan” “The Imprisonment of Cuauhtemoc” “Flowers and Songs of

Sorrow”• Authors: 16th Century Nahuatl Poets

• Genre: Poetry5. From The Florentine Codex

Author: Bernardino de SahagunGenre: Narrative Account

6. “Madresita”, “Coyotes of Today” • Author: Dona Luz Jimenez, Contermporary Nahuatl Poet

• Genre: Poetry