The Destruction of the New World

The words in these books not only give us facts and stories, we get to share in their surprise, in their religious opinions, and in their fear. What these men share in common is the fact that they were there when these events took place, they lived through these adventures; however, they all differ in their attempts to present their story. The perspective that each of them hold separates their works, and gives forth great differences in the way in which they portray the encounters in their stories.

De Lery's work is an objective eyewitness account of events, as he tries to remain detached and almost scientific, in his approach. Although he was a part of these early American cultures, he stays much separated from them in his writing. Trying his best not to offend any natives, he plays a great role as guest; however, as he explores their culture, he completely separates himself from his surroundings.

Diaz is in a very unusual situation, first forced into defending himself as a soldier and religious messenger, and secondly as an explorer in an alien land. This is going beyond ones imagination to fathom a reality where there still are alien and foreign places we have yet to know of. Radically different from what is known to be true, faced with a terrible mixture of fear and curiosity Diaz offers up a very different perspective than that of either of these men.(this can be related to a toddler in this world, and even a growing teenager as they try to under stand the strange society that surrounds them)-exploration

Diaz's mission when he got there was to convert the wayward, and bring wealth back to his land It is a time of war for Diaz, on alert at all times, with a lack of supplies, and no way of returning home from a foreign land, where allies are few, and enemies many. There exist a constant wartime lack of trust towards the Americans. He is always anxious to start trade with these people there is no time wasted on telling us about himself or his home, no time for thoughtful reminiscing or philosophizing just pragmatic stories and encounters, a journal soaking up encounters and cultures like a camera takes in light. There are no real thoughts or feelings no relishing the moment, but instead just doing a job. In the end it seems the Spaniards not only conquered them physically, but through this absorption of their culture they bottle up a living breathing society, onto pages and lines. By no means can we find history books that have been passed down from there generation to the next, instead we see them devoured while other cultures push and move forward.

Diaz attempts to offer up a clear and precise view point of events stamped in his past; however, he loses the life and vitality that flows freely from these ancient societies. He lacks the curiosity of a child in his attempt to understand and appreciate these cultures; instead held in tow is his armor and sandals as he drags these memories with him through dreadful fighting, and sleepless nights.

It would seem that there must be no great discovery without great danger involved as well, it would seem that we find in these tellings of events nothing more than a mans memories. What we do get are facts, and descriptions, what we don't receive, like a long slow download, it's missing patches of key information. Missing in his reports are the telling of the life and beauty that resided not only in the cultures that lived while he was there but in there past. He misses what de Lery soaked up in his travels in Brazil.

Herodotus is a lot like Diaz, he is using the knowledge that he has gained over all these years, to help portray and preserve the history he has grown to know and love. Like Diaz, he too was a warrior, offering numerous tales of great battles, but with Herodotus there is a distinct passion in his work, this can be seen in many ways. The constant attempt to maintain accuracy, be it a far fetched tale or an amazing Legend, his unbiased recording of knowledge compares to the tall tales and unbelievable story's which have come out of de Lery and Diaz's books. Unlike the concrete facts the other men have put forth in their books, Herodotus is not trying to make us believe that all he says is truth, often times defending the tales he has been witness to, with more realistic alternative explanation of events, as he does in describing the Scythians, "[w]hat about the feathers with which, according to the Scythians, the air is filledÐ'... [m]y view is that it is constantly snowing north of the region in question."(The Histories p.245).

Herodotus uses his work not as a persuasion on beliefs, or even as a clarifier of events, as Diaz does, for he is not recording in a time of turmoil and fear, Herodotus is using his book as an expression of his own interest, for those who are in interest. Much like de Lery's he is very curious in these cultures and this is seen in his approach to their examination, and their histories; however, Herodotus goes about his writing as if it were a great story or tale, no matter how hard De Lery tries, his work only ends up as a grand List, of his dissection of a society and history.

De Lery throughout his writing tries his best to keep an unbiased view of the cultures around him, as a scientist would do research. Often times in his writing we find him comparing his own society with theirs in an attempt to offer a better understanding of a society which has been formed on nothing more than natural laws. Diaz, however differs in his view toward the savages that surround him along his journey.

He is much less forgiving in his assessment of their ways, as he is often times horrified by what is accepted as normal within these societies.

Diaz and de Lery differ fundamentally in perspective due to the difference in their conditions during their exploration of these foreign lands they are in. Diaz's fear was constantly reminding him not to trust what lies around him. This fear affects the way in which Diaz writes, often times clearly expressing a keen distaste with his surroundings. De Lery is not affected by any sort of physical or spiritual war with these people. Diaz doesn't show wonder and amazement until they land