Prayers Of Columbus: The Character Analysis Of Christopher Columbus

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Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, who was sponsored by Spain in 1942. After taking four trips across the Atlantic Ocean and credited for opening up the opportunity for Europeans to colonize the Americas. Christopher Columbus was taught as an icon that found the “New World,” everyone praises Columbus as a legacy and glorifies him. Some viewed him as a monster, that mutilated and enslaved the natives. Was Columbus really the man everyone thinks of him as? Does Columbus deserve all of the recognition he receives? After this examination of the three sources, “Prayers of Columbus,” “Columbus,” and an analyzation of Columbus's Journal Entry from October 21, 1492, we will discover the true aspects of his character.
In the first source, “Columbus” by Joaquin Miller, he speaks of the long journey Columbus and his crew had to travel to reach America. The first mate speaks of how people are getting ill and growing weak: “My men grow mutinous day by …show more content…

In this, Columbus is shown in a god-fearing light, giving his final prayer during this near death experience. Columbus speaks of how even though he is going through a rough time, he still believes God will help him through the storm: “Thou knowest I have not once lost nor faith nor ecstasy in Thee” (Whitman). Whitman makes Columbus out to be a very religious person, that through tragedy, he still continues to believe in faith. Columbus is ready to give up his ships to god and wait for the unknown: “Intentions, purports, aspirations mine—leaving results to Thee” (Whitman). Just like Miller, Whitman also isn’t a credible source since he didn’t live in the same time period as Christopher Columbus. Whitman wrote this so he could channel his inner feelings of not getting the recognition he deserved just like Columbus, so the poem adds

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