Pablo_Neruda

Pablo Neruda 1. The author describes “la palabra” as being everything you ever wanted. He describes words as being everything he loves. For example, he loves the sound of the words going up and down when someone is singing. He describes words as being colorful, as being animals like fish that jump in and out of the water, and as being something essential, like the food that we eat. “La palabra” is very important because without it, we would not be able to survive. 2. When the author wrote “todo esta en la palabra,” I think he meant that every word that comes out of our mouths is permanent and is exactly what we wanted to say and nobody can change that. It also means that, in some circumstances, if you change one word in something that you just said, you can change the entire idea. 3. The author mentions the Spanish Conquest of the Americas because it is a symbolic event in history that we should not take for granted. Basically, Neruda says that we have been given the privilege of using the words that we do today by the Spanish conquistadors. “La palabra” is very important to the author because it all derived from the first conquistadors. For example, Neruda writes that they went through mountain ranges looking for potatoes, corn, and gold always with a voracious appetite. He also says that the conquistadors were dropped in the real world without any help and they left us a lot of things, including “la palabra.” Eduardo Galeano 1. In La Cultura del miedo, the author describes the United States as being some sort of paradise. He said that we are scared of the collapse and the unpredictability of the economy, of causing racial tensions, and of causing social furies. I think he was trying to say that we all try to live in a safe and perfect environment, but that is not possible and we are still scared of many other things. For example, if you smoke, then you will get cancer, if you eat too much, you will get high cholesterol, and if you drink, you will get into accidents. 2. The author’s idea of an official history needs to be the true facts. He said that the traditional and true history of America is a history of incessant dignity. I think he titled this fragment “El Secuestro de la Historia” because he is looking at the young generation today and how they do not know their real history. Basically they are only being told about the rich people, the white people, and the people who were in the military from the past. He thinks that they should be told about every group of people so that they know the real history of where certain things came from. At the end, he says that if we don’t teach history the right way, then in the future, the minds of everyone are going to be very weak.