Aztec Mythology and Catholicism

Aztec mythology has been in mexico since before mexico was called mexico, it has been around since the Aztecs one of the first inhabitats of Mexico which is around the 1300's. the Aztecs beliefe was that the gods and goddess and spirits ruled the world, and to keep them from dying they must give a blood sacrifice. One of these many beliefs was that the the god of the sun HUITZILOPOCHTLI was in a battle with the darkness and that the blood sacrifice keept him from dying. this sacrifice was done every 52 years. which has to do with their calendar and the corresponding gods to everyday, and the 4 types. every year gets detected to a different god, but every day gets detected to a different god or spirit or element. the 4 differnt types of calaenders are hard to understand but befer the years starts it is given a type -  Calli, Tochtli, Acatl and Tecpatl - so in total every 52 years (4 x 13) the ritual is conducted.  the biggest reason for the aztecs beliefe was there land they were very into agriculture and without the sun nothing would have been grown. so prying sacrificing and all the beliefe was due to necessity, they needed food, and a livable place. 

Colombian Religion

In Colombia they don't all practice one religion, like most countries the population believes in different faiths. Some believe in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism most of the population believes in Christianity. In the total of 45,000,000 people about 94% are Christians , 5% are Atheist and 1% are Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu. As you can see most of the population is Christian, Christianity  has been around since the 1500's (in Colombia). It was in the 1500's that Spain brought this Christian belief, it was spread not only through missionaries but also bribes and fear. Even though it wasn't until 1968 that Colombia's official religion was changed Christianity, and it wasn't until 1990's that other religions stated to enter Colombia.

Commentary on Notes in Nationalism by George Orwell

 This essay Notes on Nationalism written by George Orwell in May of 1945, explains the concept of nationalism and its effect on human beings. According to Orwell the concept of nationalism is “identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that if advancing its interests.” This is what nationalism is to Orwell, the dictionary definition “the policy or doctrine of asserting the interests of one’s own nation, viewed as speared form the interest of other nation or the common interest of all nations.” The explanation is the same but Orwell argues that nationalism is “the desire for power” and control than doing what’s best for your nation. 

A theme that Orwell talks about is the effects of nationalism on human beings. This nationalistic idea causes people to act and think differently, Orwell argues that nationalism changes the way people think. The whole reason I think that Orwell is talking about this idea of Nationalism is to tell people that it changes you. It causes you to always take the side of your country. This idea causes people to be dishonest, it “, having picked his side,[causes him to] persuade himself that it is the strongest ”. This idea make people believe they are doing the right thing because its for their country.

Through the essay he characterizes people who follow this nationalistic idea as “obsessive”. He writes, “as neatly as possible, no nationalist ever thinks, talks or writes about anything except the superiority of his own unit.” This is because they are obsessed with their own country they can’t think about the bad and evil of their country only the good and just that it has. He say that “he will generally claim superiority form it not only in military power and political virtue, but art, literature, sport, structure of the language, the physical beauty of the inhabitants and perhaps the climate, scenery cooking.” This only proves Orwell’s point that people that have the idea of nationalism in their heads that they are obsessive. Another characterization Orwell explains is the “instability” of people with this idea of nationalism. The reason why these people are so unstable is because they are so fixed on to their countries well being/ benefits they will anything for it. These people have such a tight hold their country that nothing will make them change their mind. But the thing that causes them to do such things is the leader, because they are fix on the idea that their country is better that the leaders are considered “gods”. The last characterization that Orwell explains is “indifference to reality”, this mean people are so clouded by the belief that you nation come first that people don’t care what happens to others. The use of torture, bombs and guns seem irrelevant to people with this nationalistic idea, some are so clouded they try to defend the nation that they are loyal to.

The effects of nationalism on humans cause war, death and sorrow; George Orwell proves this in his essay. This false sense of helping you country clouds and changes the way you act and think. This causes many bad ideas in this world, George Orwell conveys this in his essay Notes On Nationalism. 

Shooting an Elephant

In this story Shooting an Elephant was written to show that the British Empire was evil, and discriminatory. This what I got from my second and third read, on first read I thought it was just about a police man hating the people around him. After reading it again I got a better understanding of the essay written by George Orwell. Orwell uses imagery, metaphor and characterization to show the central idea that the British Empire was immoral.

Orwell uses imagery to see the bad in the British Empire; hid descriptions are very detailed which make the images stay in your head. On the third page he describes a man, dead from being stepped on by the elephant. This one passage really explains it  “He was lying on his belly with arms crucified and head sharply twisted to one side. His face was coated with mud, with eyes wide open, the teeth bared and grinning with an expression of unendurable agony.” This passage really paints a picture; once I read it I couldn’t get it out if my head. I believe that Orwell is trying to convey that the British empire are bad people, they kill and do mean things to people. Another quote from the same page also shows the pain the British inflict on to others “The friction of the beasts foot had stripped the skin from his back as neatly as one skins a rabbit.” This quote also gives another gruesome image that, again shows how bad the British are.

They’re a couple of metaphors in this essay, the elephant and the policeman. The elephant is a metaphor for the British Empire, sometimes it can be and look harmless for example “He was tearing up bunches of grass, beating them against his knees to clean them and stuffing them into his mouth”. Other times the British Empire can be deadly, and destructive, just like the quote before “He was lying on his belly… unendurable agony”. The policeman could be considered as the “savor”, because he was the one that shoot the “elephant”. Though at the beginning he never wanted to kill the elephant just scare it away with a .44 gun, but after seeing the threat the “elephant” was he decided to be prepared to kill the “elephant”. These metaphors again show the fact that the British Empire we “elephants” harmless at time and destructive at other times.

The central idea in this essay is that the British Empire was made of men with two faces, sometimes nice sometimes mean.  The metaphor, the “elephant”, shows how destructive the British Empire was to people. The imagery shows what the people felt like what was happening to them while under the rule of the British Empire.

P.S. I did like this story very much it made me think, it was great. The imagery, the metaphors and the story, it was a great story. I just had one thought that just occurred to me in Orwell’s 1984 he writes about how the government controls everything. It also explains the punishment and destruction the government could do, just like the “elephant”.