Quetzali Essay Example

A brief summary of the chapters including major events, characters, and important information about setting (place and time).

Quetzali is a story that gives an account of the Indians territory invasion by the Spaniards in 1522 in Mexico. During the invasion, Quetzali and her two children witness the horror and brutality of the Spanish soldiers. Quetzali wanders in the place she and her family formerly called home in search of Cualac her husband who had been taken by the Spanish soldiers as a slave. Quetzali witness plunder and murder by the Spanish soldiers who were being directed by robbed priests to destroy Indian sacred places and sculptures representing their gods. The Indian leaders, priests, and warriors are reduced to slaves and those that resist are killed. Quetzali and her two children come across Spanish soldiers who take away Xochitl her daughter and she is forced at the end to abandon her son in a Spanish seminary to search for her daughter and husband.

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Your response to the reading including your opinions about and reaction to the assigned chapters.

Quetzali story is filled by sad and painful gestures on how human beings can be divided by beliefs and ethnicity. In the story, Indians are displaced from their homes as Christian's invaders strip them of their dignity and beliefs. The story showcases the evils that men have done in the past in the name of religion and culture. Lack of respect and understanding of those that have different beliefs leads to animosity and murder. The story depicts the hypocrisy of the Christian invaders in the 15th century who kill, destroy, rape and torture in the name of religion.

An explanation of your reading process.

This reading went well for me because the story is captivating and has a flow of events which makes it easy to read to the end to be able to identify how Quetzali ordeal ends. The most challenging parts were the names of places and Indian gods because they were written in Indian and were not elaborated most of the time. The strategies I used to figure these out included referring to the flow of the story and also using the context where the word is used to discern what it means. This part of the text made me think of the importance of following through the story and using previous reading experiences and themes from my other class or other text/reading about colonial invasions and conquests. A possible topic from this section for my research project could be"The Bloody Religion foundation." I am considering this topic because the story highlights the brutality met on the Indians by Spanish soldiers and priests to change their religious and cultural beliefs and introduce Christianity. A Golden Line from this section.

"The children held their mother's hand and with wide, curious eyes watched the destruction of one of the most sacred and honored structures of their young lives" (Morales, Alejandro 1). This line plays a significant role on how the story unfolds as the children are stripped of their innocence and witness destruction as their community is decimated by the Spanish soldiers and priests who are trying to change their religious beliefs and culture. At this point, the children were aware that the temple was the most sacred building and previously all the people respected the temple and their indigenous priests. The destruction of the temple ushers an age of destruction, pain, and hunger as the Spaniards impose their culture and religion on them without regard to their culture, family institutions and leaders.

Work Cited

Morales, Alejandro. Little Nation & Other Stories. Arte Publico Press, 2014. p. 1-10