i suppose that the most interesting thing that came through after reading the specified texts would be the personality of el libertador. colloquially speaking he is the man. more formally, he presents a confident, educated, and powerful persona giving the unified and abused Americas someone to follow into victory. during the time of the Jamaica letter, Bolivar was in exile. this was a time of thought for him. He spent a lot of his time thinking about the current political state of the world. With great forsight and thought, Bolivar knew two things, that all of the americas needed to unify or else the failure of venezuela would reoccur. Secondly, he knew that they needed the help of either brittain or another outside nation. This is interesting because to me it shows that he knew when he needed help although he was such a significant figure alone. "My delirium" is the text that gace me the impression of his singular power. Early on he wrote "Nothing could stop me. I reached the
glacial heights, and the atmosphere took my breath away. No human foot
had ever blemished the diamond crown placed by Eternity's hands on
the sublime temples of this lofty Andean peak."
el libertador elevates himself the though of mere mortals and becomes something devine. He does not become god but he becomes something much more than man.
He then wrote "All men have I surpassed in good fortune, for I have raised myself above all. The earth lies at my feet; I touch Eternity; beneath me I feel the throbbing of Hell; beside me I contemplate radiant planets, suns of infinite dimensions. I gaze upon the realms of space which enclose matter; I decipher, on your brow, the history of the past and the thoughts of Destiny."
anyone who writes that clearly has the confidence and power to unite and lead the Americas. I don't want to come off like i am calling him an offensive powerhouse. If anything i feel like the power all came from his brain. Just like Senor said, he was very well educated was very familiar with enlightenment thinkers. If anything enlightenment thinkers inspired revolt in order to create something better. Also, while benjamin Franklin never led an entire unified army against opressers however i see many parallels in thinking and decisions. He writes "However, such unity will not come to us though divine miracle buit through sensible action and well-organized effort."
to me, this screms Ben. This is impressive with is insight alone. Bolivar was in fact the perfect person to unite and fight for the Americas. He is easily one of the top mind of history, educated and ready for politcal fights. He had the ambition to unite and lead. and finally, he was not an outsider, he understood the pain of the americas despite his wealth.
viva el libertador
Posts
5 comments:
I like the comparisons between Bolívar and Franklin. It's interesting that none of the great North American general were writers of the caliber produced by Latin (in the broad sense, including France, Spanish and Italian traditions) military men. In these cultures there is an age-old culture of the great warrior poets. I don't know if this idea is important in the Anglo tradition or not. I'd be interesting to read more comparison of the respective intellectual grandes of North, South, and Central America.
i agree entirely with everything that is stated here. Bolivar was a well educated man in exile that knew more than just about anyone did about South and Latin America. i think that it's interesting how he had the confidence and power to unite the Americas, which is certainly no simple task. he can be compared to figures such as Washington and Jefferson. it's also interesting to see the comparison between franklin and bolivar and how multi-talented and strong bolivar really was.
I agree with your statement about how Bolivar really makes himself come across as a "super-human" in all respects. When you try to discern why exactly Bolivar decided to record his "Delirium," it seems the only clear reason must have been to brag about himself and help his name live on in history. He was an incredibly intelligent man, and and did accomplish many great things in his lifetime but he portrays himself in a pretty extreme fashion making himself seem unparalleled.
I agree with you and Dylan. I too wrote about Delirium and compared Bolivar to Washington. This also fits your description because of your details of his leadership of armies. I like your comparison to Franklin, I didn't previously connect them through their writing and that a good point. Franklin was also known as a sort of rebel when he ran away as a young boy and Bolivar was known to help countries, giving them hope and helped several countries including: Bolivia, Panama, Ecuador, and Peru. You also discussed Bolivar'a arrogance, but he evidently used his power for good and was wise beyond his time.
It is interestingly ironic that in the Second sentence, you refer to Bolivar as "The man," and then proceed to demonstrate how far he really is from an ordinary human. You've got a solid point, though, and your comparison to Franklin at the bottom there lends extra credibility to your argument. Very sensible, amigo.
Post a Comment