Analysis Of The Lieutenant Nun By Catalina De Erauso

The exploration and domination of the New World by the Spanish during the 15th and 16th century have been interpreted as the result of groups of bloodthirsty soldiers wanting nothing more than gold in their rucksacks and kill counts in their heads. As history has made clear, Spanish priests were also important historical actors during this age of discovery who made it their task to convert the natives to Catholicism. The conquering soldiers physically torn at the Natives while, at the same time, the priests harmed the natives spiritually. The importance of history is that we can learn from the past to aid our future. In other words, does the blindness of Spanish culture while regarding the Natives justify the physical, social and religious destruction they caused to the Natives? Considering the educational resources, sense of morality, and religious values the Spanish lived by, the answer is no. It makes sense to start this conversation by identifying what the Spanish conquerors did and if the culture they lived in was enough to justify it. Venturing into the book, The Lieutenant Nun, by Catalina de Erauso, we find evidence of not just the slaughter that took place at Paicabí in 1619 (Lieutenant Nun, Chapter 6), but also the moral dissociation that came with it. In her autobiography, Catalina was a soldier of …show more content…
The power of history is not simply to educate, but to guide. Justifying the actions of the Spanish because of their deep rooted Catholicism and history of conquering undermines exactly why history is studied. We are supposed to look at history objectively, take what we know today, no matter what day it is, and correct ourselves. The killing and cultural devastation the Spanish did in the name of God is a lesson that we should not base what we do on lust. We should approach every decision with a grain of salt. We cannot look at people and treat them as subhuman as the Spanish did. This is why we should not justify their