Secondary Source Essay – the Cost of Courage in Aztec Society

Sharon Quijandria

October 26,2016

History 181

Judy Bieber

Secondary Source Essay – The Cost of Courage in Aztec Society

The main topic of “The Cost of Courage in Aztec Society “ written by Inga Clendinnen, is how the Aztec are seen vs how and why that image is different to what they practice. The Aztecs saw themselves and their culture very normal and believed that their sacrifice was just, since the Gods gave them everything from what was in the surroundings to what each and every one of them passed through in life.

                                          The intended audience for this secondary source is someone who isn’t willing to read the primary source. For example for an academic purpose.  A student who has very good job at only trying to find the key points in the Aztec culture. This article does a very good job at explaining the why and how the Aztec lived and practiced with their religion. Another intended audience can be historians or people of  the general public who are interested in learning about the Aztec culture and beliefs.

                    The author of this article, uses parts of the primary document (poem) and then furthers the thought of what the primary document states. For example, parts of the primary document and are used as quotes or by italicizing the direct words. The article discusses how  the author interprets the poem and how both authors agree to view the Aztec and their rituals are different  to how the Aztecs were seen by the Spaniards.

The style in which the article is written, is very simple to understand, yet it is very formal. The article is engaging and it is set up in parts. The first part of the article focuses on the first chunk of the poem and the second, has an emphasis in the last part of the poem. The first part focuses on the warrior part of the Aztec culture. On the other hand, the second part focuses on how blood sacrifices to the Gods were pure and how it is correlated as gifts the Aztec had for their Gods.

      When the Spaniards arrived for the first time on the mainland of the Americas, The Aztecs were not the first group who they encountered. In fact the Aztec were the last to know about the Spanish, in what came to be known as New Spain. When the Spaniards arrived. Cortes already had the overall goal to destroy the Aztec and their empires. The Spaniards had heard a lot about the Aztec and the way they managed to extract labor and sacrifice from other groups within the Mexica empire. The Aztec were said to be “savages” and warriors, yet that did not make Cortes back down or make him afraid.

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