Language and Metaphores

Thinking back to our conversation in class, I was wondering about the function of language and metaphores that were laced purposefully throughout The Sparrow and in general the role that language played in The Conquest Of America. When The Jesuits arrive on their allien plannet they are prepared and in fact anticipating finding new languages. I think it is interesting to note that they spend most of the book looking to understand how language works as a window into what the plannet and the native inhabitants have to offer. On the other side of this was Columbus who went searching for something he knew to exist, found something entirely different, and yet imposed what little knowledge he had about those people and their culture to take advantage of them for personal gains (even if he said it were in the name of god and for gods glory, some of that glory goes to himself for being gods intrument...). He assumes that they do not even have a langage, that they are so primative that they cannot even communicate with the Spanish explorers.

Not only does Columus assume that they have no language, but if they are able to communicate that their societal structure is exactly the same as it would be in Europe. Everything is similar in some fashion or another, and he draws connections between words that sound familiar. For the Jesuits, they impliment biblical metaphors without even attempting to use them to understand the Runa. For example (and the most overused one in the book) was the garden. The downfall and slaughter of the Runa comes from the garden which foreigners introduce. Though this isnt exactly the use of language that the Jesuits use to encounter the Runa, they still draw connections to God and his interplay with all of his children.

Overal, I simply think it is interesting to think about how one being could encounter another that looks so similar to the self and has all the same manerisms and assume that it has no language. The Jesuits went looking for language, knew that it would be there. Language is what enticed them to travel so far away. For Columbus there was no drive for language, only the drive for money. Speculating on the money issue, perhaps that is the reason Sandoz will go back in the second book. I have not read it yet, but there would be no second book if he didnt go back..