General Instructions
- Choose one of the questions below to answer in depth.
- Spend at least 10 minutes brainstorming your answer to the question; don't be satisfied with the first answer(s) that come(s) to mind, but continue to think more deeply about the problem for the entire 10 minute period. Write your answer in a text-editing or word processing program - don't write it directly in the comment box!
- The, spend another 10 minutes editing your answer - challenge yourself about your answer, ask yourself why you think the way you do, and develop your answer more completely.
- Finally, copy and paste your answer in the comment box, below.
- A good answer will be at least half a page long as you're writing it in your processing program.
- Answers are due by 4 a.m. Saturday morning.
- By 4 a.m. on Monday morning, respond to one of your colleagues. You can (respectfully) challenge the person's reasoning, expand on what someone else has said, use a colleague’s idea as a jumping off point to develop something else, or ask a colleague (in detail, and showing why and how you’re confused or unsure of their reasoning) to expand on what they’ve said. But be sure you’re demonstrating serious engagement with the ideas.
Questions
Choose one of the questions below to work on.
- Mendoza's views of what constitutes the good life undergo sweeping changes in the film; how do his views change, and what do you think it says about how to live a good life?
- Do you think all, or only some, or none of the people in the film exhibited courage? Why do you think so? Everyone certainly meant to be courageous - how would you describe each person's view of courage?
- Gabriel's view of courage is based on his religious commitments; could you make an argument for that view, without depending on a particular understanding of the divine?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete(Answering question #1)
ReplyDeleteWhen the film starts it is clear that Mendoza views “the good life” as one of material wealth, prestige, social standing, power, and a woman at his ready. He first loses the love of his woman to his own brother. He then murders his brother, whom he clearly loved. Mendoza only then, after removing the dagger from his brother’s ribs, realizes that he has lost much more than the two people he loved. In fact he lost something he didn’t even know he had, or valued: he lost touch with his own humanity.
Mendoza then went through a period of not even thinking it was possible to have any sort of “good life” at all, when Father Gabriel intervened to help him recover his purpose in life.
Initially, after leaving the local church, the only purpose Menoza could make sense of was one of repentance. He was constantly in spiritual pain from the devastating effects of committing that act of murder. He could not, at this point in his story, find purpose in life without first finding a way to buy back his humanity. He is committed to the physical penance of dragging his former possessions behind him while he makes the journey to above the falls where the Guarani live.
While he may not consider his life “good” while he is dragging the artifacts of his former life behind him, he starts to find purpose again. He does not become ready to release this purpose until he finally arrives at the Mission where the Guarani live. There, he almost seems to hope they will kill him for his past slave-trading sins. Instead, the Guarani King recognizes the innate value in Mendoza, as a human being, and orders his bonds removed; and just like that, Mendoza’s penance is over, and his recovery can begin.
Once someone else, who he had so horribly wronged, can see his humanity, Mendoza is able to start to recognize his own humanity. He sees it reflected in the people who care for him, and who welcome him into their community.
He starts to realize that he is now, unlike before, living a good life. And it is one that doesn’t contain or embrace the things he thought so highly of: money, power, prestige, and domination. Instead, it is a life that encompasses love: love of the simple, and the beautiful; love of community, and love of the inner spirit, in the form of love of God. The hard-won smile of a child brings meaning and goodness to his life. Playing in water with the village children clearly brings more joy than the capturing of any slave ever did.
I think this aspect of the movie, how Mendoza’s views change so radically, tells us that a truly good life does not feed the bank account, or the social registers. A truly good life is one that feeds the soul, and does not harm the spirit. Love is part of a good life, and community and brotherhood is often part of one, as well. Money buys things, not happiness, and there are acts which, when performed, separate us from our humanity. I think being in touch with one’s own humanity is an especially important part of living a truly good life.
--Kimberly J
#1.Mendoza was a slave trader who used to capture Guaranis and sell them to Spain and Portuguese as slaves. He wasn’t a good person at all, he also killed his brother in anger. But then he realized that he has committed a sin so he went to Jesuits missionary for repentance. Later on, he became the member of that missionary and started living happily with the Guaranis peacefully. When Portuguese colonists wanted to enslave the Guaranis, they refused to leave their place and chose to oppose. Mendoza started to provide military training and took up arms to fight against the colonists. This is a very difficult decision for him; he went against his religious promises; and father Gabriel who wanted to save Guaranis in a peaceful way by prayers. I believe Mendoza did the right thing because the colonists were devoured who didn’t cared about people but only their own profit. The movie shows that there were lots of political issues going on and Portuguese just wanted to acquire the land and made money out of it by trading slaves from it. It showed the struggle with which the people had to live through to save their homes. I don’t think this was a good way to live a life where you had to struggle for your existence. There could be some peaceful way to solve this issue with mutual benefit, instead of attacking and killing those people. The film made it clear that in those times, the innocent people had to suffer because of colonist’s selfish motives. The good way to live life is loving everyone and treating every human, every race, ethnicity equally. According to movie, ‘God is love’ then why there was no love for the Indians and why they were considered as animals. The Indians did a good job by fighting for their rights even though they were defeated but they had the courage to stood up against the huge army to defend them. Similarly, after becoming Jesuit and promised to live a non violent life, Mendoza ended up becoming a violent person again but in a positive manner this time to help Guaranis. His way of living life became good because at least at the end he did a lot for their welfare and even lost his life for a good deed.
ReplyDeleteGagan.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnswering question #2:
ReplyDeleteMost of people in the film have the attitude of courage. They try to move forward not looking down; especially priest Father Gabriel and Rodrigo Mendoza. At the begining of the film, the Guaraní people ties the priest to the cross and sends him to the falls for his death. When priest Gabriel and two other priests finishes burying that priest. Priest Gabriel decides to start his journey to Guaraní community. The death of the priest doesn’t prevent priest Gabriel from completing his goal which he wants to convince Guarani community to Christianity. After overcoming the obstacle of climbing, he reaches to Guaraní community. He sits down and plays his oboe. He is almost death by Guaraní’s archery. Fortunatley, his music could capture the Guaraní and they allowed him to live.
To Rodrigo Mendoza, after killing his brother under his anger, he gets into depression. Priest Gabriel comes and challenges him. Then Mendoza joins with priest Gabriel and other priests to come to Guaraní community. He has to carry the burden all the way to Guaraní community. About half of the way to reach to Guaraní community, one of the priests cut off the rope of the burden because he thinks that it is enough challenges that Mendoza has to suffer; however, Mendoza reties the rope again and continue his journey. His behavior shows that he is consistent with his goal which he hopes to have a good life. Finally, they reach to Guaraní community. Guaraní intends to kill Mendoza who used to be a slave trader, but they don’t kill him and cut off the rope for him instead. Mendoza cries, and then laughs. It seems like Mendoza has just taken off his past; and starts a his new life. Mendoza becomes priest under priest Gabriel and helps Guaraní community and Grabriel to build the mission.
Both Rodrigo and priest Gabriel are so brave that they are not afraid of being death in order to reach to their goals of having a better life not only for themselves but also for other people.
Yen, D
#2. Courage can be defined in many different ways. This is because fear is different for all people. People often demonstrate physical courage and mental courage to overcome these fears. A lot of courage was shown in the film from many of the people such as the Jesuits, the Indians, Gabriel, and Mendoza.
ReplyDeleteMany of the Jesuits risk their own lives to protect the Indians. They are courageous in fighting to help protect the innocent lives of the Indians from being slaves. Their consistency and determination in defending the Guarani people, despite the killings of other Jesuits, shows that they were very courageous and willing to risk their lives knowing they could be killed, along with the Indians.
The Indians’ way of being courageous was defending their people, their land, and what they believed in. They wanted the capturing and the enslaving of their people to stop. The Indians’ way of being courageous was protecting their people.
Through the film, Gabriel firmly believed that fighting was not the answer to solving this problem. He felt that through wisdom, prayers, and going about the issue in a peaceful manner would solve this issue. I feel as if Gabriel’s way of being courageous is by not striking back when he and the people were being attacked. Even when flaming arrows where being shot at him, he just continued to walk peacefully. His mental courage is what helped him to not strike back. To turn the other cheek is very courageous and that is what Gabriel did.
Mendoza’s ideas of courageous changed drastically throughout the film. He, too, once captured these people for slavery. After he realized what he was doing, he demonstrated courageous by forcefully showing the colonist that capturing the people of Guarani was wrong. He was persistent in defending the Indians and he did so in a very bold and fearless manner.
Marielle Laude
Mendoza changes dramatically from a villain to a hero. You can tell from the beginning of the film he doesn’t care for the Guraini he just wanted to capture them and enslave them so he can trade them to make money so he can live a better life. When he finds out his girlfriend is in love with his brother they get in a fight he gets so angry he kills him. He is now is depressed and doesn’t seem like he care for life. He goes through a cure punishment and joins the mission. While with the mission he grows and sees life in a new light. He seem more happy and at ease in the mission. He grows to care about the same people he wanted to enslaves and trade for money. After Portugal takes ownership of the land they want to enslave all the Guraini. Mendoza doesn’t stand for it and train all the Guraini to fight the Portugal military. In the beginning he was cocky and selfish, by the end of the movie he is a hero and doesn’t want the Guraini to be slaves. I think to live a good life the film wants you to care about other and do what you believe is right. To live a good life you have to treat others with respect and kindly. The film also seem like to live a good life you have to be religious.
ReplyDeleteEddie C
Answer to the question number 2
ReplyDeleteThe Mission is a rich, challenging one that explores the spiritual and the temporal, and the relationship between them. It contains moving images of despair, penance, and redemption that are among the most evocative filmed. It offers a positive depiction of Catholic missionaries as selfless champions and defenders of indigenous peoples and their ways of life rather than as oppressors or imperialists.
In South America in the 17th and 18th centuries, various religious orders established missions to convert the indigenous peoples to Christianity, to civilize them, and to provide a sanctuary from slavery. The most successful of these missions were run by the Jesuits for the Guarani Indians.
The film explores important issues of courage. All of the characters in the film show to be courageous, but they have different goal and idea. Father Gabriel is the head Jesuit at a missionary. He fights for hope and for what he wants to be.
Guarani Indian people show the courage to fight with people who try to destroy their living place and they have the courage to fight for their spirit and not to slave. No matter they win or not, they encourage one to another to fight with invaders in order to maintain their integrity.
Rodrigo Mendoza is an ex-slave trader who becomes a Jesuit. He was accused of killing his brother. He is courageous to struggle his life in reaching his purpose. He carries some stuff climbing up the mountain to the place where he wants to be. If he did not have the courage, he would not have had energy to climb up that high mountain.
So, every character in the film shows to be courageous, and all fight for their goal and spirit.
Sunheng E
ReplyDeleteI had above Answer.
(Answering Ouestion #2)
ReplyDeleteEveryone is courageous by their own definition. There are some who exhibit more courage than others, but their level of tolerance and their level of fear is different from that of someone more cowardly. Even the more fearful people sometimes have more courage than another. It all just depends on who the person is and how they think of things.
The indians are incredibly courageous in the sense that they will defend the people of their village no matter what it costs them. If they lose their life fighting for someone else then so-be-it. At least they did what they felt was courageous and right by them.
The priest was courageous in the sense that even though he knew there was a chance of the indians not accepting him and killing him, he still believed in bringing the word of God to the village to better educate them and save them from their "sins". That, to him, was a courageous act; Sacrificing your own life to make someone else's life "better" so to speak.
The men who turned against their own people to fight for the indians were also courageous in the sense that they knew what would happen to them if they turned on their people and they didn't care.They knew what they were doing was right, and that's all that mattered.
In the end, I came to the conclusion that all who felt who was doing the right thing by their own definitions was courageous.
Question 2.
ReplyDeleteI think that everyone in the film exhibited courage in some way or another, but in different ways. The first character we see exhibiting courage is Father Gabriel. After burying the priest that was shown floating do the river to the falls tied to a cross, Fr. Gabriel climbs up the slippery cliffs to the Guarani community, to convert them into a Christian community. When he reaches the top of the cliffs he begins playing his oboe, when he is met by many holding weapons, yet continuing to play his oboe and not cowering he exhibits a peaceful courage and they let him live. We later see him showing courage when he is fighting for Guarani community with the Church and state officials to be allowed stay at their mission. The last time we see him exhibiting his peaceful courage in the film is when the Guarani community is preparing for war. Instead of fighting or leaving the people in the community he stays and leads a mass, leaving his fate up to God.
The next person we see in the exhibiting courage in the movie is Rodrigo Mendoza. His courage is first seen behind a sword that he eventually uses to take the life of his brother, for which he is sent to prison. Fr. Gabriel convinces him to come with him and the other priests on the journey to the Guarani community. Here we see Rodrigo exhibiting courage by facing his past mistakes of not only killing his brother, but killing and capturing others in the community that he was going to. He carries his heavy amour up the slippery cliffs and the steep muddy hills all the way to the top where he is met by the very angry king and men of the community. The king holds a knife to Rodrigo’s throat, but instead of using the knife to take his life the king cuts the rope holding Rodrigo’s amour, (which might metaphorically stand for all his past mistakes) causing Rodrigo to cry and then laugh. Rodrigo later joins the priesthood and exhibits courage by standing up for the Guarani community, against the Church and State officials, to be allowed to stay at their mission along with Fr. Gabriel and the other priests. The last time we see Rodrigo showing courage is behind a sword again, but this time he is fighting for what he believes is right, which is fighting for Guarani community to keep their mission.
The King of the Guarani community exhibits his courage by trusting the priests enough to join the community and convert their religion. He exhibits courage when he stands up against the church and state officials to keep the mission. The priests show their courage in same way, trusting that they would not be harmed by the Guarani community and then later fighting for them to be allowed to keep their mission.
--ashley f.
(Answering question # 2)
ReplyDeleteI think most of the people in the film exhibited some kind of courage, this is because each of them had their own believes and views of what they loved and what they viewed of the world. Throughout the film Gabriel is a man of peace, but he has courage and it is based on his religious commitments. He does not want war, he does not want to fight, but that does not mean he does not have courage. Gabriel sticks to his religious views and that’s what makes him a strong man. He also gives guidance to Mendoza and shows him a how to live a good life. He teaches him in becoming a man of good and encourages him in doing what is right. Gabriel is their for Mendoza, and believes in him when no one is their to actually care. This shows plenty of courage in Gabriel.
Unlike Gabriel , Mendoza, is a man of war. He fights back based on what he believes is right. He is a man of strong views and he is not afraid of anything. After killing his own bother he realizes that what he did was not right and starts to change into a god man throughout the film. His courage is what he is known for. Mendoza helps the Indian tribe fight back because he believes that it is wrong for the Indians to leave the Mission.
Finally, the Indian tribe, I believe they had the most courage, they were brought to the missions not knowing what was their for them and they were taught religious views. In the film they were told to leave the mission, they refused to do so and feeling betrayed they fought back. This shows courage because they fought back in what they believed in and what they called their home.
Lilian G.
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ReplyDelete1. In the beginning of The Mission, Mendoza began as a wealthy, heartless, proud, Indian slave hunter who murdered various indigenous people from the region of the Falls on former Spanish (now Portugal) territory. Through his occupational hunts, he acquired the good life consisting of wealth, status, and respect, but his job could not protect him from the betrayal and heartbreak of those aspects of his good life. Mendoza thought he was living the good life with his fiancé and younger brother, but his first view of the good life began to deteriorate and diminish after his fiancé and younger brother fell in love with each other because obviously he lost the love and admiration of his fiancé and resented his brother. In fact, two primary incidents evolved his first view of the good life: his brother’s death and his arrival at the Falls of the Indians for penance. When Mendoza caught his fiancé sleeping with his brother, they broke out in a sword fight and in the heat of passion, Mendoza stabbed and killed his younger brother. Witnessing the anguish and pain his former fiancé (along with his own guilt) displayed at the bleeding corpse of his brother, Mendoza experienced an epiphany regarding his very own humanity. Hunting the Indians made him unconsciously abandon his regard for human life, even his loved ones—of his own younger brother. Therefore, he withdrew from his former good life, drowned in his guilt for his brother’s murder, and then searched for penance.
ReplyDeleteAs Father Gabriel offered Mendoza penance in the form of traveling back to the Falls with Mendoza lugging a mass of armor and heavy metals, Mendoza’s views began to change. The luggage represented the immense guilt he carried and the former glory of his first good life; he would not release the baggage even through the roughest parts of the journey. However, once he arrived at the top of the Falls, one of the Indian males chopped off his baggage, threw it into the waters, and Mendoza cried—whether of relief or happiness. He accomplished his penance, shed his guilt and former way of life, and looked to help the Indians. As he lived with the Indians and witnessed their way of life, he became a Jesuit who in turn was accepted by the Indians. The Indians showed him their version of the good life—life full of love with friends and family, content with just the necessities of life, rich culture, tradition, pride, personal empowerment, and faith. Mendoza accepted his new way of life as his new good life—one filled with love and faith. In fact, the Indians marked him as a member of their society.
When the Missions returned home to convince the Eminence to continue protecting the Missions and the Indians, Mendoza witnessed a similar version of his old slave hunter self in Don Cabeza, an Indian slave trader. He realized his views have changed dramatically from hunting human beings and making profit off of them to loving the Indians and protecting them at all cost.
To live a good life, I think The Mission says to learn from mistakes one made in life to evolve and better oneself. In addition, penance is a crucial experience to reach a greater level of the good life—to be able to see the good in life itself—and learn from the beauty of life.
-Priscilla Chen
Will Mohring
ReplyDeleteAnswering #1
At the beginning of the movie Mendoza already has what he considers to be the good life. He has a wife at home and a good paying job trading Gaurini slaves to Spain. He is perfectly content with his life until it starts to fall apart before his eyes. His wife decides to let him know that she is not in love with him anymore. Soon enough he walks in on his wife and his brother, and when his brother chases him out of the building Mendoza took his own brothers life.
He seeks repentance from Father Gabriel in which he is made to climb up rock faces dragging a heavy bag of armor over and over again. As he is exhausting himself doing this, he is spotted by the Gaurini. As they surround him and put a knife to his throat, Mendoza finally gets a glimpse into what he has done wrong. The Gaurini decide to spare him even though he has taken so many of their people into slavery.
Mendoza spends the rest of his days actually living a good life. He takes up residence at the mission and commits his life to God and serving the Guarini people. It was a remarkable transformation from the selfish, greedy person he used to be. In the end he helped the Guarini defend themselves when Portugal tried to invade their mission.
Mendoza took a complete 180 in turning his life around. His original idea of a good life was money in his pocket, food on the table, and a wife at home. And that was to be maintained at any cost. He soon realized that those things cannot be had selfishly and devoted his life to helping those people that he had previously tried to destroy. That ended up being the good life for Mendoza in the end.
(Question 1)
ReplyDeleteWhen Mendoza was introduced, we saw that he was a mercenary and that he wanted to enslave the Guarani. He believes that the good life is one where he has power and wealth. He cares not for anyone else but himself. The first instance of this was when he accidentally saw his brother sleeping with his fiancée. Although he cared deeply for both of them, he killed his brother in a duel. After his brother’s death, Mendoza fell into a state of depression. He looked as if there was no more reason to live. It was at this point where Father Gabriel stepped in to help him.
Mendoza accompanies Father Gabriel and the Jesuits when they go back to the Guarani. As they travel through the jungle, Mendoza is carrying a bag of weapons. He would often drop them and then he picks them back up, but he doesn’t seem to bothered by it. Even though these acts seem harsh, it eventually leads Mendoza to find that will/purpose to live. When he arrives at the village, one of the villagers cuts the rope holding the weapons symbolizing the burden that he has been relieved of. This is the first step to his recovery as well as understanding what it means to live a “good life.”
Mendoza is now living with the Guarani, and he has now grown attached to their way of life. He is moved by their acceptance of him despite the past crimes that he has committed. He then takes a vow which subsequently makes him a Jesuit. He slowly starts to realize what the good life is. It is a vast difference compared to the one he lived before. He is no longer interested in wealth and power. He touched by the innocence of the villagers. He enjoys most of his time with the kids of the village telling stories. Even a child’s smile is enough to make him feel happy.
It is the simple life that Mendoza enjoys the most because it is all about care. The villagers are not concerned about anything but each other. This shows us that a good life is not one of material things. It is instead one that makes you and the ones around you happy. His choice of choosing to defend the village even against Father Gabriel’s wishes is an act of courage. He is willing to sacrifice his own life for the ones who made him see the error of his ways. Realizing one’s own errors is perhaps the single most important part in learning to live a good life.
Jordan Castillo
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ReplyDeleteI think courage is show through out the movie that many have should courage in different ways and certainly they all showed courage.
ReplyDeleteThe Indians showed courage by standing up for what they believed in. they stood up fore their people and their land ands their beliefs. They decided to defend their land even if it meant they were to sacrifice their life in the process of doing so.
For father Gabriel he showed courage by not giving up even with the Guaraní people ties the on of his priest to the cross and sends him to the falls for his death. He still decides to attempt to get to know them so that he could convert them to Christianity. Which he eventually achieves this goal through many obstacles.
Rodrigo Mendoza, was courageous after killing his brother which was brought on through anger, he decide to take the challenge that father Gabriela put forth to him which was to carry his burden all the way to the Guarani community. One of the priests did indeed feel sorry for him and decided to cut of the rope but Mendoza retied it and continued on with his journey. He eventually reaches the Guarani community where he was going to be killed by them but he instead the Guarani’s decide to cut of the rope which cause Mendoza to cry and laugh. By Mendoza going on this journey he taken under the wing of Father Gabriela who has him help build the mission and take care of the people in the Guarani community. He also shows courage when he decides to help the Indians fight for their land and does not give up.
Both Father Gabriel, Rodrigo Mendoza, and the Indians show courage through out this movie at different points but it is for the purpose of their beliefs, land and all of their hard work to create such a community that is loving, warming, trustworthy. Though this is so every community has it problems but are eventually resolved.
@-Priscilla Chen
ReplyDeletewhen you state:
"To live a good life, I think The Mission says to learn from mistakes one made in life to evolve and better oneself. In addition, penance is a crucial experience to reach a greater level of the good life—to be able to see the good in life itself—and learn from the beauty of life."
I started to reflect on the movie more and started to realize that maybe father Gabriel and Mendoza shared the same view about Christianity but different views on what was right and wrong when it comes to defending their beliefs. As you saw towards the end of the movie when Mendoza ask for father Gabriel blessing and refused to give him that blessing because he felt that they didn't need to fight and that they could resolved this issue through time.
#2
ReplyDeleteI believe that throughout the film Mendoza, Gabriel, and the Indians are the ones who exhibited courage. All of them had different views on what courage is but all demonstrated it in a different way.
In the beginning Rodrigo Mendoza went from being a slave trader, to killing his own brother over a woman whom he fell in love with. After this happened he turned his whole life around and redeemed his lifestyle from the past to helping the Indians he once enslaved. Rodrigo adapted to the lifestyle of the Indians and realized that they deserve a fair chance in life and he was there to help and protect them from the Spain and Portugal. Rodrigo courage shines though from him being able to change for the better and fight for what he believes in.
Gabriel helped bring faith into the lives of the Indians, throughout the struggles faced from Spain and Portugal’s greed which left Gabriel having no other choice to obey. Gabriel feels that two wrongs don’t make a right. Even though Gabriel feels that what is going on is extremely wrong he does not believe that fighting is not the answer for the problems because he knows it isn’t going to fix anything. So Gabriel shows a huge amount of courage by not trying to provoke the other side even though he feels that the political situation that is going on is wrong.
The Indians show a great amount of courage by trying to fight for what they believe in.
The Indians let Gabriel and his brothers come in and teach them faith and they put trust into strangers. Being that they are all one and letting strangers in and opening there arms to them to teach them something new and putting all there trust into them is a very hard thing to do. Even after the Indians were told that they would have to leave the missions they did not obey and fought to protect their people and what they felt was wrong. The Indians never backed down on their beliefs and to me that is great courage.
So even though these are all different views of courage, I truly believe that all three exhibited courage throughout the film.
Mendoza was a mercenary and a slave trader, who worked for money. His pride quickly came to a fall with the betrayal, which led him to kill his beloved brother. Soon he became enslaved by his own sins--guilt and fear. Mendoza's lost of purpose put him on the verge of demise. With the help of Father Gabriel, he was granted another chance at life through penance. He repented and redeemed himself after trudging and hauling the weight of his own baggage to above the falls and being released by the Indians. Time in the mission gave him a new perspective on a good life inspired by faith and love. Rodrigo traded in his sword of man for the Word of God; then he became a Jesuit to live in humility and serve without rewards. In the end, he chose life over death by sacrificing himself to protect the Guaranis.
ReplyDeleteI think the changes in Rodrigo's views show how things of the world are external, vanity, and temporary. For one to live a "good life" is love, which are internal, virtuous, and eternal. Rodrigo was being love; therefore, he was loved.
Responding to question 1:
ReplyDeleteTo me, Mendoza's initial views of the good life were based on selfishness and pride. Before he became a Jesuit, he was a mercenary and a slave-trader. Being a mercenary meant being a soldier for money and being a slave-trader meant enslaving and trading people regardless of their permission (although I don't know anyone who would ever approve of being enslaved), also for money. He also killed his brother out of selfishness and anger when he found out his girlfriend had fallen in love with his brother. He was also greatly affected by his pride, being deeply offended and defensive when a stranger quietly laughed at him about the fact that his girlfriend left him for his brother as he was passing him by. I think twice in the movie, he defended his pride when people laughed at him. But throughout the movie, after he was in prison for killing his brother, his views changed slowly. After his repentance and acceptance into the Jesuit community, he become more selfless and compassionate towards the Guarini, when initially, he was hostile towards them and were only interested in capturing them as slaves. He did not want to ever wield a sword again unless it was to help and protect the Guarini from the Portuguese. By the end of the film, I think Mendoza’s views of living the good life changed from selfishness and pride, to selflessness and compassion towards other people.
Response to @laudemarielle at September 18, 2010 1:57 AM
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that you said that “courage can be defined in many different ways,” but then said (essentially) that the essence of courage is overcoming fears. This seems to imply for me that, by your definition, it is the differences in fears that give different “definitions” of courage. I would argue that by your description, you have described one definition, with several different examples.
That said, I’m not sure your definition actually covers the motivations we saw in the movie. Certainly there is fear that is overcome, I agree with you there, but I don’t see that as the primary reason any of the people were courageous.
I personally would define courage more as the ability to do what one believes is right, even when it is difficult, or opposed. Maybe even especially when it is difficult or opposed, since doing what is right, when it is easy, isn’t particularly courageous. I think we see quite a lot of this definition of courage in The Mission. Father Gabriel is courageous by not disobeying his vows, but still standing with the Guarani, so that he does not live in a world where “might is right” and love does not prevail. He knows it is wrong to turn the Guarani back to the forest, but he also feels it is correct to stick to his Jesuit vows of obedience. He finds a way to courageously follow his beliefs. I am sure you are correct that he would have fear to overcome to do this, but I don’t think that was his primary evidence of courage in this case.
Likewise, Mendoza follows his heart, even against his newly-made vows, because he believes it is the right thing to do – even though he is certain to lose his life in doing so.
I think the cardinal has false courage. He writes in his letter that he is severing a limb (the missions) to save a body (the church) – which he surely does believe is “a” correct thing to do. But in his heart, he clearly knows that it is wrong to commit this act. He doesn’t have the courage to stand up for the human beings he ends up condemning to death and slavery. He chooses instead to have false courage by doing the wrong thing for humanity, in order to do the “right” thing for the political interests of the Catholic Church and State.
I agree with you that there are different sorts of courage, and it was interesting to explore a couple of definitions with you. Thank you!
--Kimberly J
In the beginning of the film, Mendoza mercilessly hunts the Guarani in order to sell them to plantations for wealth. His view of what constitutes the good life is having gold, his beautiful fiancée, and his brother. But as the movie progresses, his good life falls apart. Carlotta, his fiancée, is in love with his brother, Felipe. Subsequently, Mendoza kills Felipe in anger after having caught him together with Carlotta. Losing his brother and his fiancée, he sinks into despair and loses the will to do anything. Mendoza believes that he deserves no penance or redemption. Maybe he thinks this because he sees himself as a monster after having killed Felipe and perhaps even for being a mercenary and a slave trader.
ReplyDeleteIt is six months later that Father Gabriel finds him in his self-imposed “exile” at the church. There, Father Gabriel challenges Mendoza to choose his penance and to try it. He accepts and finds the will to continue living to attain redemption. And so Mendoza chooses to climb all the way up the falls, where the Guarani live, lugging his heavy bundle of weapons and armor held together inside of a net. The net may even be one that he captured Guarani in. Mendoza then labors up the falls, exhausting himself to his physical limits many times. Although it is immensely difficult, Mendoza makes it all the way to the top. There he meets the Guarani that he hunted and it seems as if he might be killed—and it even looks for a moment as if he wants the Guarani to kill him. But instead of killing him, the Guarani cut the ropes of the net from his back and throws his burden down the falls, symbolically absolving him of his crimes against the Guarani and for murdering his brother. Mendoza then begins to cry and laugh. It is at this stage that Mendoza starts to transform his views of the good life.
The Guarani welcome Mendoza into their community and he lives among them. Somehow, staying with the Guarani, Mendoza sees that he is living a good life. He works together with them, he plays with the children (which seems to bring him the most happiness), he helps them farm, and he even removes a thorn from a Guarani mother’s foot. The simple life of working, laughing, playing, and living among a community made Mendoza happier than he was at any point in the movie. Although he had not much in the way of material wealth, he was content. His view of the good life is that it is filled with forgiveness, love, and giving.
When Carlotta told Mendoza that she loved Felipe because it was his type of love that she needed, Mendoza responded by asking her about his needs, to which she replied that he needed too much. To live a good life, I believe The Mission asks us to think not only of ourselves, but of others as well. There is joy to be had in giving, not just receiving. Mendoza learns this while living with the Guarani, helping them and receiving healing in return. There is also the journey of seeking forgiveness and learning to forgive oneself—to accept what you did wrong and to better yourself after it. Not only that, because Mendoza was still happy even though he lived a simple life with little money, I believe that The Mission is saying that you don’t need material wealth in order to live the good life, you just need love. It may even be that living a simple life is what helps you discover what makes life worth living.
- Kristi Phan
Cameron Padilla
ReplyDeleteQuestion Number 2
All the people in the movie meant to have the most courage that they could have but they all had different ways of showing their courage. Gabriel showed a lot of courage by not fighting back to the Spanish army and had a church ceremony during raid. Gabriel showed most of his courage when the Spanish army had their slaves shoot flaming arrows at the church during the service and did not run but walk away from the fire.
The Cardinal showed a lot of courage because during the trials to close the missions, the Spanish and the Portuguese were giving the Cardinal a really hard time to shut them down. The Cardinal stood up for himself by saying and going to the different missions to see if the mission will change his mind about closing them. During the stay at the mission the Cardinal told Gabriel to leave the mission because they were going to be closed down and they are going to be enslaved or killed during the raid. The Cardinal showed courage by giving Gabriel a warning to leave the mission and not to fight the Spanish and Portuguese army.
Mendoza showed courage throughout the whole movie. He first showed courage by dragging the rope bag full of armor. There were multiple times when Gabriel would try to help Mendoza during the time he was dragging the rope bag. Mendoza showed a lot more courage during the trial because he stood up and called the Spanish speaker a liar. He also showed courage by being the one that wanted to stand up to the Spanish when it came down to saving their missions. These are the ways people showed courage, although they weren’t the same, they made a difference.
Laura Wright
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2
Courage comes in many different forms due to each person’s strengths and weaknesses, beliefs and values. The movie was targeted mainly to test people to stand up for what they believe is right. And this movie showed just how far they would go to do that.
Gabriel is very persistent, patient, and calm when he was faced with difficult situations. The missions were very important to him, he felt that they could change people, even the most savage of beings. His courage helped him spread his message to many, some of which could have easily killed him.
The Cardinal had to make the decision whether to give land and enslave people to Spain or keep the missions in Portugal territory safe. His courage to go to the missions and give the tribes a fair chance risked a lot of hostile Spaniards. He ended up deciding to end the missions resulting in a fight between Spain and the missions.
Mendoza is a firm believer in what he feels is right. Although he started off on a wrong path, it was his journey to rock bottom and the help from Gabriel that made him realize that what he did wasn’t right. His willingness to change showed tremendous courage. Growing closer and closer to the mission he realized that these people aren’t animals and don’t deserve to have the their home taken away and be put into slavery. So when it came down to the fight he would fight to the death.
Courage is very powerful, when someone has enough of it, they can change everything.
Respond to Laura Wright
ReplyDeleteYou have some good points about courage of
characters in the film. Courage is a key
success for every one in the film whether each
of them can be successful or not, they are
courageous to be complete their mission; they
have feeling of strength by encouragement.
I agree with the point that Laura made, “The
missions were very important to him, he felt
that they could change people, even the most
savage of beings. His courage helped him spread
his message to many, some of which could have
easily killed him.” Of course, no matter he
risks his life, he have the courage to fulfill
his mission. So courage is powerful. If they
have had no courage, they would have been weak,
not brave to fight for what they want. In the
battle field, if one has no courage, one would
lose in the battle.
Above all, courage is a key to be successful
in life.
Sunheng, E
Bianca Aguilar
ReplyDeleteAnswering # 1.
At the beginning of the film Mendoza's views on " the good life", are what he has. The perfect wife, a good(as he sees it)well payed job, good status among others. He is very proud of what he has accomplished, and what he does. At first he doesn't hold any remorse or feels bad for what he does. His job is king The Guarini people and enslaving them and selling them to the Spanish. This, he sees as nothing wrong, that it is good to take those people and enslave them. But then his life comes down around him. His wife announces that she want to leave him, that she does not love him anymore. After her confession, he soon walks in on his wife with his brother, and soon after takes his brothers life. Now as his life fell apart rapidly, he decides to seek help. He then goes to see Father Gabriel, asking for his help. So Father Gabriel, makes him Climb up the rocks on the side of a cliff while holding a bag full of weapon armor, I believe. Upon reaching the top of the cliff, father Gabriel sees the Guarani people, and stops with them. As Mendoza starts coming up, and the Guarini inhabitants see him, they rush him and hold a knife to his throat, preparing to kill. But the decide to let him live, regardless of what he has done. This action really opened up his eyes, and made him realize that what he was doing was wrong and cruel. So after that moment he took a permanent residence at the mission, and begins his life there for the rest of his days. He starts to make himself a part of the Guarani lifestyle. He lives in the community, and works and protects them just as any other member does. He helped them when Portugal attempt a take over of their territory. Living through this, he realized that the life he believed was "the good life" was the complete opposite. And the life that he was living now was the real "good life". This transformation was a real great one considering that he used to be a rude, slave trader. This transformation shows that what most people consider a "good life", like having money, power and wealth, high status, can and most times will crumble faster the it took to build. But that the actual "good life" does not have to include that. All you need, is friends and family to support, help and defend you. Love and care to and from those around you, and then you will have "The real good Life".
@Ashley f. September 18, 2010 4:19 PM
ReplyDeleteWhen you talk about Mendoza’s first act of courage is behind a sword, I don’t really think that was really an act of courage. In fact I believe that it was an act of cowardice. Instead of trying to face the problem, he chose to eliminate the problem by simply killing off his brother. He also did it out of sheer anger and without any thought at all.
Most people’s initial definition of courage is usually one that is heroic. For example, when someone runs into a burning building to save someone else, but courage is also defined by how well one can face the emotional aspects of life. It takes a lot of will power to do this, and when Mendoza chooses to kill his brother out of anger, he failed miserably at trying to be courageous. I think that Mendoza’s first instance of courage was choosing to join the Jesuits on their journey, which you have mentioned because Mendoza is willing to challenge himself to make up for his past mistakes.
Everyone in the movie had their own instance of courage, but the one thing they all had in common was that they were all willing to step out of their comfort zones, and that is what courage is all about, in my opinion. Of course that doesn’t mean they weren’t scared, as fear is usually the preceding feeling before courage. Aside from that, I pretty much agree with all that you’ve said.
Jordan C.
@Jordan Castillo: "Realizing one’s own errors is perhaps the single most important part in learning to live a good life."
ReplyDeleteI do agree with this statement. There was also a particular scene in the movie that was profound to me, which was when Rodrigo read the passage on love from the KJV: "Though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains...and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor...and though I give my body to be burned...and have not love, it profiteth me nothing."
Will Mohring
ReplyDeleteIN RESPONSE TO AMBER…
I think that you gave some great examples of courage in your comment on the movie. The indigenous people were courageous in their dedication to each other as was Father Gabriel in establishing the mission regardless of the potential for rejection by the Guarini people.
While I think these are good examples of courage, I do not believe that everyone is courageous by their own definition. Everyone may want to view themselves as courageous, but the fact is that there can only be one definition of courage. Under the logic that everyone is courageous by their own definition, they could also all be a man by their own definition or a dog by their own definition.
Courage is doing the right thing in the face of adversity, and not everyone exhibits this trait. For instance, the arch bishop in the movie demonstrates cowardice rather than courage by caving into the demands of Spain and Portugal.
There can only be one definition of courage. And what is not courageous would either be neutral or cowardice.
Response to: Laura Wright, bebelanee September 19, 2010 2:25 AM
ReplyDeleteIn your response to question two about courage, I agree that “courage comes in many different forms due to each person’s strengths and weaknesses, beliefs, and values.” Specifically, Mendoza showed his own courage by having the willingness to change. To further the argument, it was completely difficult for Mendoza to change because he had to evaluate all his former beliefs and question his own humanity. His decision to undergo a complete 180 about his beliefs shows his courage because his new beliefs conflicted entirely with his old conflicts. In addition, I think he feared for his humanity after killing his younger brother. Since he heartlessly murdered various Indians and did not even give a second thought about killing his brother, Mendoza feared for the lost of his own humanity. When Mendoza hunted Indians, he saw them as chattel to make profit, however, his brother’s murder prompted him to question that belief and later he opted to diminish his first beliefs and adopt new ones—ones that he also courageously defended. He overcame his fear of losing his humanity when he decided to face it and help the Indians. His decision to change—to completely challenge his former beliefs about the worth of human life—displayed the strength it took to defend all he knew from himself. In the end, he was willing to die and defend that human life—including those of the Indians—that were precious and important.
However, it is not to say that Mendoza was a coward to abandoning his former beliefs (that Indians were profit and life of material wealth depicted the good life) because he challenged his former beliefs and decided to develop new beliefs that he definitely defended.
Response to Bianca Aguilar
ReplyDeleteYour take on question one, about what the real good life is, was very factual to me. After reading the question I didn't know how to explain the answer clearly,so I didn't answer that question. But your explanation of what his definition of "the good life" was before his loss and his lesson learned, and what his definition of "the good life" after his loss was very true and worded nicely.
After reading your forum and refering back to the movie, his life definitely was good. He had a beautiful woman and the love of his family (brother); as well as the fair paying job, but once all three were lost it did cause him to re-examine his lifestyle and whether or not it was as good as it felt. I do feelit's sad that one had to hit rock-bottom to realize how wrong he was about his lifestyle, but better late than never, right?
Question #2
ReplyDeleteI believe that courage can be seen in many ways and there are different meanings to courageous acts. I think that a lot of people in the film exhibited courage. I believe that Mendoza, Gabriel and the Indians faced a lot of courage in the story. The Indians were courageous enough to trust Mendoza and Gabriel into their lives and territory. They were also very brave when it came to fighting for their land and what was theirs despite the type of weapons that they had. Mendoza showed an act of courage simply by undergoing his first beliefs and changing his perspective of how things should be. In the beginning of the story he was part of a group who performed all the cruel acts that had to do with the invasion, like killing the Indians and trying to take over their territory. Gabriel showed an act of courage when he was willing to stay with the Indians and adjust to their form of life. To help them out and go against what the missions were about. Therefore, that is why I believe that courage can be demonstrated in many different ways. Each person views of courage were different and it is clearly seen by their life story and their actions. I believe the way I do because there are many ways to show what you want and courage is one of those. Courage is not overcoming dares or doing things like physically fighting an enemy. It can be defined in many different ways like overcoming hardships that struggled with, doing what’s best for you even though it means going against your beliefs and your culture, and being able to change things around in your life to make it better. Some of the characters in the movie had to do all that. That shows courage because many people don’t have the strength to do it even if it’s for the good of them or those that surround them.
Response
ReplyDeleteg_deol said... September 18, 2010 12:37 AM
What makes you say he was not a good person? Yes he killed his brother out of anger, but anger in itself isn’t always wrong. His brother stole his wife, which many people would also consider wrong. Who wronged who? Maybe it was righteous and justified for Mendoza to kill his brother?
You also talk about how the colonists were only interested in profits, but profit brings comfort and security, and that profit would support many families and people, perhaps how they went about doing things were wrong, but perhaps not. You speak about them as if they were completely wrong; you have to think about how everyone has different views and ideas about different things. Everything is open to opinions.
You call the colonists selfish. They weren’t all selfish the way you are saying though. In one scene you see the soldiers saying “none of us want to do this”, they just did what they were told by a FEW individuals who perhaps were selfish.
At the same time, I think it is important to look at something. We see a movie, and in the movie we are shown all sides and views of a situation. Those soldiers and colonists, how many of them really knew that much about the native people? Of course some did, but many were raised or taught that the guiani were simple savages and beasts. How can someone be judged as wrong and selfish, when that is the only thing they know? Like I said above, once the soldiers saw what it was like, many of them didn’t want to do it. They only chose to perhaps to protect themselves and to support their families.
Look at things from different views, don’t be so close minded about situations, and remember that everything is open to opinion.
-David Brosius
Answering question 2
ReplyDeleteEveryone means to be courageous, even if they end up being cowardly. In my opinion, courage is in the mind, not just in physical actions or words. If someone thinks they are being courageous, in some way or another they are. Some forms of courage may not be ethical, and many people might disagree with them, but that doesn’t make it uncourageous. I think that all of the characters in the film meant to be courageous, but they had different ideas about what that meant, so in their own ways, they all showed courage.
Like the Indians that steered their boat off of the water fall to take some of the enemy with them, fighting and dying for their people and what they believed in, that was their idea of courageous.
Meanwhile, the Spanish and the Portuguese who were trying to kill and take over the missions, their idea of courageous was to do that and to fight.
Mendoza’s idea of courageous seemed to be always to do what he felt like. First he caught and captured slaves, then he became a priest, then he became a fighting priest. His idea of courageous depended on his ideas and the environment around him.
The Cardinal showed his idea of courage by deciding to end the missions, even though that isn’t what he truly wanted. He thought that by doing what the Portuguese wanted, and what he thought god wanted, he was being courageous.
Gabriel thought that by not fighting and by being always peaceful and standing for what he believed in, in a calm manner, he was being courageous by showing what he thought was integrity and wisdom.
To be cowardly, one would have to not only not live up to what the courageous thing is, they would have to do something against it.
-David Brosius
Question #1
ReplyDeleteMendoza’s views first changed when he discovered that the women he was in love with was in love with his brother. At the beginning of the film he appeared to be a heartless slave trader, but once this situation occurred he wasn’t the same. Mendoza went from a strong man to someone who let his emotions get the best of him. Who would have thought that a women could get the best of him. Once he killed his brother he was locked up alone in jail. This gave him time to think about not only what he had just done, but the life he was living. Drenched in regret, he objected to any visitors. However, Father Gabriel offered him a chance to repent his sins and to ultimately change his life. To go from a Slave trader to monk is a huge transistion. In the beginning, he valued wealth and power. Once he became a jesuit, his values changed drastically. He began to value helping others as well as sharing his earnings. In the beginning, he was all about his money and expanding the slave trading game. But once he was taken back to the same island where he used to gather slaves, his views changed. He was now working alongside the very same people who he used to take advantage of. He was now enjoying his time with them and helping them. The good life for Mendoza used to be having power and money, regardless of what it took to get there. As his life went on a different path, the good life was now helping others and living for god. This movie is obliously a religious movie. By using Mendoza, the film was trying to show what the good life should ethically be. Mendoza appeared cold and brutal in the beginning because the film wanted to show that life shouldn’t be lived that way. But once Mendoza began to follow god, he became kind. Despite Mendoza’s power, he wasn’t really happy. In other words, his good life wasn’t all that good. Once he accecpted a life with severely less power he appeared to be truly living the good life because he was now happy. This film suggests that living for god is the good life.
@Yen
ReplyDeleteI agree with your reasoning. To add on to your answer, I feel the Guaranis should be mentioned for their display of courage as well. After the first priest is cast off, they still give Father Gabriel a chance. They easily could have assumed he was like the first priest who they obviously had a problem with. Although they were at first hostile, they give Gabriel a chance to show them what he can offer them. I feel they displayed courage by giving Father Gabriel there trust. Not only with him, but with Mendoza as well. Instead of killing him for what he did to their people, the Guaranis give him a chance to change his ways and learn the ways of god alongside them. They watched Mendoza kill and capture several of their people. Yet they forgive and accept him. This was one of the most courageous acts in the film and it should not go unmentioned.
In response to Will Mohring
ReplyDeleteI agree with Will on that Mendoza completely changed his life around. I also believe that Mendoza found his old life of enslaving the Guarini people, was bad. Mendoza did believe that he had a great life but found that it was a greater life to help the Guarini people, instead of putting them into slavery. However, I don't think the Guarini were going to take Mendoza's life in the first place. I think they knew what he had come there for.
Cameron P.
In response to Eddie c.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Eddie that after realizing that his life was very materialistic that a new light rose out of nothing. The tribe had very little yet they sought nothing than what they already had. Mendoza lived a life that what many Americans strive to live for today. They want the best so they can be the best. Maybe they will realize, like Mendoza did, that it won't bring them happiness.
-Laura W.
Hi,Eeddiehoralek. Thank you for your response on my comment. You are absolutely right. Guaranis are courageous as well. However, I wrote: "Most people in the film have the attitude of courage" I meant that it also included Guaranis but I didin't give more detail about it.
ReplyDeleteYen, D
Kristine Carlos
ReplyDeletein response to Laura Wright:
I agree with you that Mendoza is a firm believer in what he feels is right. I also think that his stubbornness helped him carry out his courageous acts, even though before he became a Jesuit, his stubbornness got him into trouble. By him being a firm believer in what he feels is right, and by the help of Father Gabriel in pulling him in the right direction towards being compassionate to other people, he succeeded in turning his life around, changing his outlook on life, and therefore transformed his pride and stubbornness into a life full of bravery, which I believe is a step above courage.
Also, just my train of thought on what you said: you said that when it came down to the fight, he would fight to the death. I believe that although it is similar to a courageous act, the only thing that distinguishes his decision to fight to the death from being courageous is that he knew the possible consequences of fighting for the Guarini--he could lose his life. I feel like in this case, he was more brave than courageous, being fully aware of the possible outcomes of his decisions. In the beginning he killed the Guarini. By the end of the film, he would kill for the Guarini--he turned into something like a martyr.
@ Ashley f. September 18 , 2010 4:19 PM
ReplyDeleteI’m slightly confused with what you said about Rodrigo Mendoza exhibiting courage behind his sword. Do you mean that he showed his courage by killing his brother with his sword or is it that killing his brother sets off events that lead him to be courageous? If it is the former, while I do believe that Rodrigo exhibited courage, I don’t think that his first act of courage was killing his brother. Although he tried not to, Mendoza lost control of his anger and killed his brother, which isn’t very courageous.
Also, after he kills his brother, Mendoza tries to hide from the world and run from what he’s done at the local church, which is an exhibition of cowardice. But like you said, Rodrigo shows his courage when he accepts Father Gabriel’s challenge for penance by facing his past crimes: murdering his brother and killing and capturing the Guarani. Courage has many definitions, and being able to face your fears or something that causes you emotional difficulty is one of them. Here, Mendoza was able to confront his past mistakes, which he was attempting to run from.
Other than the things mentioned above, I pretty much agreed with everything you’ve said.
- Kristi Phan
Gagan, September 18,2010 @ 12:37pm:
ReplyDeleteGagan! I agree with your ideas which you described above. However, could you answer me a question that I raised up after I read the sentences which you said: “I don’t think this was a good way to live a life where you had to struggle for your existence. There could be some peaceful way to solve this issue with mutual benefit, instead of attacking and killing those people.” As you said, the colonists considered the Indians as animals. That was why they were violent and unhuman behaviors. They only wanted Indians to work and earned profit for them as a slavery. I think the circumstances in the movie is logically. That situation in the movie can’t solve in the peaceful way..Nevertheless, if you were an editor, what were the peaceful way to solve this issue in the mutual benefits? Obivously, most of us want to live in the peaceful life where there is not fighting, or competing. However, when things happen, we have to stand up to fight for our rights and freedoms. What Guaranis could do were fighting back. They only had two choices which were being slavery and being treated as animal forever or fighting against the colonist to have chance of getting the freedom. They made the decision of fighting back..
1.Mendoza’s views changed because his brother challenged him to a duel. First he was a slave capturer/trader and now he became a Jesuit because he murdered his brother and took to it heart. Now that that happened he wanted to live a peaceful life and fix his esprit de corps. His attitude towards having a good life was accepting toward whatever views and or goals the Jesuits wanted.
ReplyDelete2.Felipe Mendoza exhibited courage in the fact that he stood up to his brother Rodrigo. Rodrigo Mendoza exhibited courage when he didn’t want to live for murdering his brother in the duel. His courage pulled him through it. Each persons view of courage was intimidating in their own ways. Rodrigo was intimidated by his will to overcome the murder of his brother. Father Gabriel’s view of courage was to get Rodrigo Mendoza to be a Jesuit. He was more or less fueled by religion.
3.Father Gabriel’s faith in religion and to turn others into Christians for the sake of mental stability. They knowingly put faith into god for their deeds and/or their life well being.
@e_cmercado08
ReplyDeleteSeptember 19, 2010 10:55 PM
I agree with you in that courage can be defined in many different ways. Courage is overcoming any type of fear, whether it is small or grand. You stated that ‘courage is not overcoming dares or doing things like physically fighting an enemy’ but just as you said, the Indians were forced to fight their enemies so I feel that was extremely courageous. You also mentioned that courage could only be demonstrated by courageous acts. But I feel as if courage can even be demonstrated through cowardly acts as well. Many people hold different beliefs and the colonists fighting the Indians demonstrated this. They were fighting their enemies, the Indians, for what they believed was right in their eyes. The colonists showed courage by overcoming their own hardships. Your response was good and very well broken down.
Marielle Laude
Responding to Amber:
ReplyDeleteI agree That all of the members of the mission showed some kind of courage based on their believes and what they thought was right.
Gabriel showed some kind of courage even though he did not fight. He had courage because of what he belied and that was his religious commitments. And The Indians were had the most courage because like you said they fought in what they believe and did not hold back.
I agree with EddieC’s response to Mendoza’s view of the good life, In the beginning Mendoza was somewhat all about himself very selfish, he was about social standing, materialistic things, and he was even a slave trader. Mendoza even killed his own brother over a woman, seemingly with all of these things you would think Mendoza’s life would have went all downhill from there. While incarcerated, Gabriel came along and Mendoza’s views on life totally changed. Mendoza went and joined the mission, gained faith and beliefs. Mendoza went from being a slave trader to helping the people he once enslaved. Mendoza gained the trust of the Gainuri, and he fought by their side and what he believed was right. So throughout the film he had a full turn around of his lifestyle, he really redeemed his self from his past. His new standing on the good life is to have respect, loyalty,faith and fight for what you believe is right.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, everyone - some very good insights here. Kimberly, Marielle, and Thy are getting at some really important insights about possible *contents* of courage beyond a kind of formal requirement that one not back down from difficulty.
ReplyDeleteAnd a lot of you are getting at very important ideas about the true measure of a good life, and how it has something to do with getting at what's especially human in us. We'll talk about this much more when we talk about Aristotle.
Laura, you're certainly right that the European's engaged in colonial conquest would have thought about the natives as "savage" - that was a large part of how they justified the treatment. And I'm sure you don't mean to endorse the idea, but I just wanted to be sure to clarify to everyone else that you certainly don't endorse that idea (you're just quoting from Don Cabeza), just in case anyone misreads.
Just a note on the due dates: 4 a.m. Saturday is very, very early on *Saturday* morning, not very, very early on *Sunday* morning. So many of you made this mistake that I'm letting it go, but, you know.
Bianca Aguilar
ReplyDeleteIn response to Will;
I completely agree with Will's answer to Question 1. Mendoza really believed that the life he had been living was the good life, but after it all changed, and fell apart on him, he did realize he was completely wrong and changed his ways. You are right when you say,
"It was a remarkable transformation from the selfish, greedy person he used to be".
It truly was a really great transformation of life style, not just for him but for the people around him.
I believe that Rodrigo,Gabriel,and the indigineous people showed plenty of courage throughout the movie.Gabriel showed courage in a religous way,Rodrgo showed courage through his strength,and the indigenous people showed courage by fighting back and not just letting everyone walk all over them.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie,when Rodrigo went against the head guy in charge,Gabriel forced him to apologize. I say this is courage because even though Father Gabriel knew the head guy was in charge was wrong it was the right thing to do in a religous way.Father Gabriel also found courage when at the end he didn't fight but he stayed at the village with the indigenous people singing religous songs with them.He jus wanted to be peaceful and not fight back.Some people would call him a coward for that but it takes a lot of courage to not fight back in a situation that you should fight back in.
Rodrigo showed courage by converting to a jesuit and becoming apart of the missionary to help the indigenous people.He changed himself as a person completely. He went from a slave capturer to a man of god.That takes a lot of courage to change your lifestyle completely. He also showed courage by helping the indigenous people fight, even though that it was going against his religion.It's courageous to go against your own beliefs to help others but that's exactly what he did.
The indigenous indians showed courage because they didn't back down when the missionaries told them they were leaving them and when the spanish and portugese were coming. They knew that the spanish and portugese would have better and more powerful weaopons then them but they still didn't give up. They fought to the very end.
-Julice I.
Thy @,September 19, 2010 9:59 PM :
ReplyDeleteYou have mentioned your ideas very clearly about how Mendoza’s views changed overtime and how he completely transformed from one personality to another. As you said,” Rodrigo was being love; therefore he was loved”. I completely agree with this statement. Adding on to it, I think love is a give and take phenomenon. Once you start loving and caring for someone, you surely gets the same response from that person. It is a feeling that gives you contentment and satisfaction internally. It makes you feel worth and valued. It is not just about caring, but sacrificing yourself without seeking any reward in return. I believe, the way Mendoza’s views changed towards life gives a new definition of how to live a good life. Thank you :)
Thy @,September 19, 2010 9:59 PM :
ReplyDeleteYou have mentioned your ideas very clearly about how Mendoza’s views changed overtime and how he completely transformed from one personality to another. As you said,” Rodrigo was being love; therefore he was loved”. I completely agree with this statement. Adding on to it, I think love is a give and take phenomenon. Once you start loving and caring for someone, you surely gets the same response from that person. It is a feeling that gives you contentment and satisfaction internally. It makes you feel worth and valued. It is not just about caring, but sacrificing yourself without seeking any reward in return. I believe, the way Mendoza’s views changed towards life gives a new definition of how to live a good life. Thank you :)
Gagan
@e_cmercado08
ReplyDeleteThe colonist showed courageous by overcoming their own hardships. They have a different set of beliefs that they choose to fight for, much like how the Indians have their own set of beliefs that they were fighting for as well. Even if their acts are cowardly, they are seen as courageous acts in the eyes of the colonists. " .. and being able to change things around in your life to make it better." This is exactly what the colonist were trying to do. They were trying to what they felt would make them better. Their actions were considered good in their eyes but opposite in the eyes of the Indians.
Response to David's comment:
ReplyDeleteI like the first statement that you made in your forum. The statement "Everyone means to be courageous, even if they end up being cowardly. In my opinion, courage is in the mind, not just in physical actions or words" brings the word courage into a different perspective. I also agree that courage is in the mind, not just physical action of a person. But i disagree with the statement that you made about all the characters being courages. I dont think that what soem of the characters did was a courageous act like the spanish and there invasion. Overall, you gave a good idea of what you believe courage is.
Edita Mercado
@ laudemarielle
ReplyDeleteI really like what you said about courage be different defined seperately for each individual since everyone has their own fears. I agree that, that is the reason why everyones courage came across different. I also like what you had to say about Fr. Gabriel using mental courage to fight for the Guaranis. I thought that what you had to say about the movie and the how people showed their courage was very insightful and you really understood the characters courage.
-ashley
Hardyal Singh
ReplyDeleteAnswering question (1)
I think Mendoza had self –consciousness on what was consider the good life. Even thou he did some shady stuff he wanted the best for himself .He had self sacrifice and determination. He wanted to live a wealthy life regardless of what it took to live that life. Even thou he did not have status he show that by his acquiring of money he would ensure himself a chance a good quality of life. He had a creative brain. He had curiosity and what else was out there to do. He had emotion as well. From my understanding I would say that it is important to achieve status as well as money in life. He changed when he caught his younger brother in bed with his fiancé. He was divested and he and younger brother broke out in a fight. As a result he stab his brother to the ribs and killed him.Father gaberiel step in at the end and he tried to redeem himself but by then he had lost the two person in the world he had cared for the most his betray little brother and his fiance.
Hardyal response to kimberly
ReplyDeleteAnswering question (1)
I am agreeing that mendoza was interested in material wealth,prestige,social standing,power and a woman at his ready.By him killing his brother for the ultimate act of sleeping with his lover, he got a feeling of depressed afterward because he had lost the two people in the world he had cared for the most.His repentance was a way for him to console himself but it was already late.He hoped they would kill him for his past slave trading sins.He was welcomed into a community by father gabriel and given a second chance at life.In my conclusion i would say that it is better to have brotherly love in community because it benefits everyone that cooperate and thus everybody are happy.Money can buy alot of things but it cannot buy friends and love.Hardyal