Paradise Found And Lost - Critique :: essays research papers

paradise establish and Lost from Daniel J. Boorstins The Discoverers, embodies Columbus emotions, ideas, and hopes. Boorstin, a former Librarian of Congress, leads the reader through one mans struggles as he tries to pass off a Western Passage to the wealth of the East. After reading Paradise Found and Lost, I was enlightened about Columbus tenacious affection as he repeatedly fails to find the passage to Asia. Boorstin title of this test is quite apropos because Columbus discovers a paradise but is unable to see what is before him for his vision is too jaded by his ambition. Although this try on is historically accurate it lacks important details, which might paint a contrasting view of Columbus. Boorstin writes favorable of Columbus and depicts him as a heroic and impelled figure who helped shape history, but he neglects to include Columbus unethical acts committed in the world that was not supposed to exist, the Americas. When Columbus primary discovered the New World, he took care that the royal standard had been brought ashore and he claimed the land for Spain in front of all, including the indigenous population who had been sight even before Columbus made landfall. According to the medieval concepts of lifelike law, only those territories that are uninhabited can become the property of the startle person to discover them. Clearly this was an unethical act. Thus, the first contact betwixt European and non-European worlds was carried out through a decidedly European prism, which ensured Spanish claim to the islands of the Americas. Faced with a colony in an inhospitable area, the Spanish soon inaugurated the practice of sending regular military parties inland to surpass the increasingly hostile natives. Members of the indigenous population were captured and enslaved to support the fledgling colony. The objective lens of Columbus desire changed from exploration and trade to conquest and subjugation. Boorstin eloquently writes of the deprec iating mentality of Columbus and his hopes. As each voyage is unsuccessful in producing Oriental splendors or in establishing relations with the Great Kahn, it becomes harder for Columbus to persuade others to support his missions. His explanations become increasingly farfetched and they are lese and less received. The Spanish monarchs revoked his monopoly on the newly discovered region. He never waiver in his belief that he had engraft an alternate route to Asia. Columbus had found a paradise just not the one of his hopes and aspirations.