El Indio
Throughout time, history has always had its conquests. We are told the stories in ways that makes us see them as good accomplishments. Therefore giving the label to the one's being conquered as savages and "uncivilized" people, and the conquistadors as the "civilized" society. Having this in mind we tend to see the so-called "civilized" as the good and the "uncivilized" as the bad. But we are never told how the conquests come about. What the conquistadors do to accomplish their conquest. How they kill and destroy in order to exploit these "uncivilized" societies, therefore penetrating and dramatically changing their lives. An author by the name of Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes tells the other side of the conquest in his novel called El Indio. There we are taken on a journey of how people are tragically caught in the tail wind of a civilization both alien and hostile to them. There we learn how these people (The Indians) are exploited by the whites, how their culture is destroyed, and how they, in the end were able to resist the oppression. These three points are important because they are the structure that holds up the story so the reader can gain a considerable amount of knowledge about what occurred during this clash of c
Given this definition to the Indians in the beginning of the story and as the story progresses we see how he was able to resist everything and although crippled in the end, still remained standing and showed the scars of the resistance. And after the white man came all these customs were altered. Everyone was taking advantage of the Indians. The tragedy and cruel truth behind the conquistadors. For example, in the beginning of the story when the Indian guide is tortured and escapes by jumping down the steep hill breaking hi legs, the village people find out about him and attack the three white men managing to kill one (56-61). Early in the novel after the white men's arrival, the Indians are forced to leave their village and seek refuge in the nearby hills fearing the white man. Throughout the book the reader witnesses many instances of exploitation and discrimination against them. The whites, or how the author calls them, gente de razon, people of reason, would use them to work for them like slaves and didn't pay them much so the Indians would live harsh lives. He was immune to the disease because he buried and had close contact with infected ones. The church wanted to convert them into Christianity, and the Indians had other beliefs. The book ends saying that the cripple, who represents the Indians as a whole, is looking down at civilization and although left cripple was able to resist the tyranny the whites had put on the Indians. A spokesman of the deputy came to the village and made a request: that the men of the rancheria, as well as all the other Indians had to contribute two days of work a week in order to open the highway (208). Probably the most important representation of resistance in the novel was the crippled Indian.
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