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This is the page for daily questions (in English) for Lesson 5. Literature
of the Conquest: Cortés, Bernal Díaz del Castillo
Lesson 5A. The Conquest
5-1. What relationship is there between the Conquest of America and
the Reconquest of Spain?
5-2. Give at least four reasons explaining the importance of the year
1492 to Spain.
5-3. What was the literature of the first wave of the Conquest like,
and why?
5-4. What stimulated the abuse of the Indigenous by the Spanish conquistadors?
5-5. What happened to the writings of the first Conquistadors when they
reached the Court in Spain?
Lesson 5B. Hernán Cortés
5-10. What important facts do we know about the life of the author?
What was his academic career like?
5-11. What motivated the author to write this piece?
5-12. How does Cortés indicate the respect that the Aztecs had
towards Moctezuma?
5-13. What happened when Cortés tried to embrace Moctezuma?
5-14. What is the work's style like?
5-15. According to the gifts presented by Moctezuma to Cortés,
what can we conclude about the values held by the Aztecs?
5-16. How does the legend of Quetzalcóatl appear in the first
conversations between Cortés and Moctezuma? What is the meaning of
this?
Lesson 5C. Bernal Díaz del Castillo
5-20. What do we know about the author's life?
5-21. How does the author's personality appear in his work?
5-22. What motivated the author to write this work?
5-23. Explain the significance of the use of the word "true"
in the title of the work by Bernal Díaz del Castillo.
5-24. Compare the Indigenous in the work of Columbus and that of Bernal
Díaz del Castillo.
5-25. What is Bernal Díaz del Castillo's style like? Why?
5-26. Explain the significance of Marina/Malinche.
5-27. Why is Marina/Malinche rejected by her mother and step-father?
5-28. Explain the significance of the phrase "and not the way the
chronicler Gómara recorded it".
5-29. What was the relationship between Marina/Malinche and Cortés?
How do you explain her marriage to Juan Jaramillo?
5-30. Why were the bridges important in the story of the "tragic
night"?
5-31. Is there a certain criticism of Cortés in the story of
the "tragic night"?