Hardwork and Religion

Even just glancing through the speeches, anyone would notice how important religion is to these nobles. It is clear that the Spanish have had a significant effect on the Nahuatl with almost every other word being some sort of reference or thankful statement to God. Probably because I am not accustomed to this sort of reverence in writing today, the writings seemed overly emphasized with references to God and His blessings. I think we all can agree that these primary sources highlight the religious fervor in Nahuatl society, but as the introduction mentioned, these writings are “idealized.” 

I read through some of the speeches that focused on child behavior and what was to be expected of them. These noble writers seemed to promote that the children of the newer generations were not as respectful and prone to “misdeeds” than children of previous times. I was sort of laughing to myself a little after reading this, because I would like to think that my own grandparents would probably write about how times have changed the current generation as well. But back to the topic….looking at these primary sources with a more focused perspective, I believe that we as readers can also see just how roles were divided and what was expected behavior towards others. Although idealized, the nobles write in a respectful manner with every greeting started with a courteous remark in a religious fashion. 

I really liked the speech about children and what was expected of them, as I mentioned earlier. I found it especially interesting in the speech the older man gave about a boy’s roles being that one should rise early and work. The work ethic of the Nahuatl is really emphasized even at very young ages. Idleness is not revered, and people seemed to always have chores, although separate for boys and girls, that were important to the community as a whole.

The values are definitely clear: hard work and religion are central, or atleast an idealized level to try and achieve for the Nahuatl. Shifting gears a little, though, I couldn’t ignore the final source: the murder entry. Of course, the murder of the wife was written as justifiable because she had committed adultery. There was no sense of remorse for this act by the husband, indicating how adultery was probably more “sinful” than even murder. I wish there was an entry of a woman dealing with a husband who had committed adultery to compare to see what differences between women and men’s roles in a marriage consisted of. Maybe adultery was only discussed in terms of the wife….however, this speech really expressed how adultery was looked down upon.