Broken Spears & Bernal Diaz
Two Accounts: Broken Spears and Bernal Diaz In every historical event there tends to be conflicting sides, each member has their own point of view based on a plethora of statistics. These statistics include but are not limited to, socio-economic classes, race, geographical boundaries, gender, etc. When two cultures interact for the first time there is bound to be some discrepancies over what truly occurred. These discrepancies are portrayed quite well through Bernal Diaz’s The Conquest of New Spain and The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, either side showed similarities, but at the same time they showed even more metamorphoses, making it nearly impossible to say either account holds more water than the other. The Aztec and Diaz agreed on two major points, the high ranking of Montezuma/Motecuhzoma and the accommodations the Spaniards were given, while variances included the light in which the Spaniards were depicted, and the motivation for the journey to Mexico. The Aztec’s and Diaz’s rendition of the account both portrayed the significant power the great Montezuma/Motecuhzoma possessed. In Diaz’s account, “they were not allowed to look him in the face, and as they approached they had to make three obeisance’s, saying as they did so, ‘Lord, my lord, my great lord’ ” (Diaz 604). This makes the reader realize how much power the great Montezuma/Motecuhzoma held within the city. Furthermore, mirroring this, told in the account from the Aztecs, “fine bracelets, necklaces with large stones, ankle rings with little gold bells, the royal crowns, and all the royal finery everything that belonged to the king was reserved to him only” (Broken Spears 10) were mentioned. This further illustrated the importance of Montezuma/Motecuhzoma through wealth and belongings. The great Montezuma/Motecuhzoma was so dominant that not only could other Aztecs not look him in the eye, he also retained all of the finest chattels. For the Spaniards to have been so