Was José Martí a Modern Thinker? Discuss Martí’s Essay ‘Nuestra América’ in the Light of This Idea.
Was José Martí a modern thinker? Discuss Martí’s essay ‘Nuestra América’ in the light of this idea.
‘Nuestra América’ is a revolutionary essay originally published in the United States that urges Cubans to seize control of their future and take pride in the country that they have created. After his exile from Cuba, José Martí spent the rest of his life as a revolutionary and dedicated himself to ‘overthrowing the Spanish authority that tyrannized the land to which he was forbidden to return’ . As Richard B. Gray puts it in his essay, this ‘Universal Man’ was the main publicist for the Revolution and in a way is the man behind the ideas responsible for it. Perhaps the most modern and progressive thought expressed in his speech, from which all other ideas expand, is the idea that ‘trincheras de ideas valen más que trincheras de piedra’ , Marti urges people to think and apply new ideas to old problems. This might seem like a simple concept but the idea of encouraging innovation and individual ideas from ordinary people was a fairly unusual way of going about things in a time where people were expected to follow colonial rule without question. He is trying to make sure that if Cuba succeeds in overthrowing the colonial rule, they do not exchange one tyrant for another and that systems actually change and the people are given a voice. As Martí himself wrote,
‘One’s native land is something more than oppression, something more than pieces of land without liberty and without life, something more than the right of possession by force.’
‘Nuestra America’ is intended as an essay that condemns Spanish colonial rule in Cuba and defends Cuba’s right to govern itself and also warns against the problems and obstacles that can face a new republic.
One of the aspects of this publication that makes it revolutionary and cements José Martí as a modern thinker is his emphasis on national pride and Cuba’s need to look within itself for solutions and political ideas. This
‘Nuestra América’ is a revolutionary essay originally published in the United States that urges Cubans to seize control of their future and take pride in the country that they have created. After his exile from Cuba, José Martí spent the rest of his life as a revolutionary and dedicated himself to ‘overthrowing the Spanish authority that tyrannized the land to which he was forbidden to return’ . As Richard B. Gray puts it in his essay, this ‘Universal Man’ was the main publicist for the Revolution and in a way is the man behind the ideas responsible for it. Perhaps the most modern and progressive thought expressed in his speech, from which all other ideas expand, is the idea that ‘trincheras de ideas valen más que trincheras de piedra’ , Marti urges people to think and apply new ideas to old problems. This might seem like a simple concept but the idea of encouraging innovation and individual ideas from ordinary people was a fairly unusual way of going about things in a time where people were expected to follow colonial rule without question. He is trying to make sure that if Cuba succeeds in overthrowing the colonial rule, they do not exchange one tyrant for another and that systems actually change and the people are given a voice. As Martí himself wrote,
‘One’s native land is something more than oppression, something more than pieces of land without liberty and without life, something more than the right of possession by force.’
‘Nuestra America’ is intended as an essay that condemns Spanish colonial rule in Cuba and defends Cuba’s right to govern itself and also warns against the problems and obstacles that can face a new republic.
One of the aspects of this publication that makes it revolutionary and cements José Martí as a modern thinker is his emphasis on national pride and Cuba’s need to look within itself for solutions and political ideas. This