Bartolome De Las Casas

In A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Bartolomй de Las Casas vividly describes the brutality wrought on the natives in the Americas by the Europeans primarily for the purpose of proclaiming and spreading the Christian faith. Las Casas originally intended this account to reach the royal administration of Spain; however, it soon found its way into the hands of many international readers, especially after translation. Bartolomй de Las Casas illustrates an extremely graphic and grim reality to his readers using literary methods such as characterization, imagery, amplification, authorial intrusion and the invocation of providence while trying to appeal to the sympathies of his audience about such atrocities.

Las Casas emphasizes on three main issues throughout his account. First, in almost each chapter, Las Casas writes about the luscious qualities of the land and the different indigenous peoples that inhabit them. Second, he explains and describes in detail how the natives were rapidly being massacred by the invading Christian Europeans. Finally, Las Casas discusses how God had brought justice to the Europeans for their diabolical acts upon the natives. Las Casas, a former slave owner himself, realized that those whom he previously enslaved were just as much human and capable of learning and practicing the Christian faith as he was. As a bishop, he realized he could do little for the Natives except document his experiences (in as much detail as possible) and hope that the royal administration would have sympathy for the Natives and establish laws to protect them from the Europeans.

Bartolomй de Las Casas begins by providing a vivid description of each land being invaded by the Europeans and the type of people that are native to these lands. Using words like ‘fertile’ and ‘verdant,’ Las Casas conveys that these lands are something to be taken advantage of for resources and settlement and in his mind “it would seem…that the Almighty selected this part of the world as home to the greater part of the human race” (Casas 9). He also portrays the natives with lucid terms so as to shed an innocent light on them in an attempt to instill into his readers why it is so wrong for the Indians to be treated as they are by the Europeans.

Never quarrelsome or belligerent or boisterous, they harbour no grudges and do not seek to settle old scores; indeed, the notions of revenge, rancour, and hatred are quite foreign to them. … they are also among the poorest people on earth… They are innocent and pure of mind and have a lively intelligence, all of which makes them particularly receptive to learning and understanding the truths of our Catholic faith. (Casas 10)

As stated in the excerpt, Las Casas uses characterization to describe the Natives. He even says, “These would be the most blessed people on earth if only they were given the chance to convert to Christianity” (Casas 11). His use of this literary method virtually guarantees that his readers will become empathetic toward the natives and side with Las Casas in his endeavor to protect the Indians. Essentially, to those uneducated in the goings-on in the New World, Las Casas not only educated them but struck a sympathetic nerve that helped to push Old World Europeans toward minimizing the cruelty in the New World.

Although Las Casas’ detailed characterization of the natives was basically cheerful and pleasant, his use of imagery to describe how they were treated is much more explicit. Comparing the natives to ‘gentle lambs’ and the Europeans to “ravening wolves upon the fold, or like tigers and savage lions who have not eaten meat for days,” (Casas 11) he exposes an extreme contrast between the two parties.

The pay which they (the Spaniards) gave the wretches (the Indians) for their uninterrupted labor, were the lash and the stick, and scarcely a word did they address them if it was not to call them Dogs. And would to God that they’d treat them as well as their dogs. … Two boys twelve years of age, were each the possessor of a parrot. Two other individuals, who called themselves Christians, took the birds away from the children, and then, as if for amusement, cut their (the children’s) heads off. (quoted in Dutto 35-36)

The above quote from The Life of Bartolomй de Las Casas provides a better understanding of how inferior and weak the Europeans thought the Indians to be. The natives were considered to be subhuman or little more than beasts that were soulless and not worthy of the Christian doctrine. Casas illustrates an elaborate picture so as to help his audience experience the full effect of the excruciating pain and suffering that the natives endured. Natives feared these men and their dogs so much, because of the sheer carnage they reaped, that they would flee to mountains or even commit suicide in the hopes