1. Granted that Machiavelli’s own historical context is remote, how far does his pattern of contrasts between political ideals and concrete realities apply today?

One of the biggest thing to take from this is the use of fear as power. Being feared is what holds weight. This concept from Machiavelli, is still current today, all around us. Fear is a primary reason people do the things they do. A great example is the current gun debates going on today, there is a fear pitch on both sides. One side is using fear that having guns will cause more accidents and school shooting and so forth, meanwhile the other side of the debate, wants guns because the fear of not having guns and being vulnerable to many things. Fear is the root of the topic, just like with Machiavelli’s uses fear to employ power. That tactic is still widely used today in our government.

2. Sister Juana de la Cruz cuts off her hair to force herself to learn more quickly, although she knows that among young women, “the natural adornment of one’s hair is held in such high esteem.’ Finally, she enters the convent (where woman had their heads shorn). What other works have you read that emphasize the importance of a woman’s hair? Why does it seem to have so much symbolic value in such a range of cultures and times?

I am not too deeply versed in why the hair of woman is of such importance throughout history. However, I do know that in the bible in Corinthians I believe it mentions about woman having a lot of hair it is glorious (something along those lines). Also in Muslim culture, the women keep their hair covered, more so it wasn’t until the last twenty years ago, when women started cutting their hair really short. From what I understand, is a woman’s hair is very important and has a sexual image, which is why I believe they cover their hair in some places. Rapunzel is the only story I can really think of that has anything to do with a woman’s hair, where her hair used for a ladder, that doesn’t really have anything to do with this topic.

3. Bear in mind that the Aztec warrior’s highest duty is to bring home live captives for sacrifice. Give the Song for Admonishing a careful reading and decide–without researching the entire Cantares Mexicanos–what possible meaning might be assigned to the figurative terms “flower’ and “song.’

I believe that the song is being used a form of praise and prayer to the gods for battle and for the sacrifice of the captured. Flowers are possibly used for battle to represent power or how great of a warrior one is.

1. I believe that at its core politics doesn’t change much, and for that reason I believe that a lot of Machiavelli’s texts do apply to today’s politicians. When power and influence is at stake I believe a lot of human nature takes over. Machiavelli gives examples of this in his chapter of ‘Why Men Are Praised or Blamed.’ He talks about how a prince with only good qualities is desired, but due to the human nature it’s simply not possible. So a good prince should ‘hide’ his vices from the public to retain authority. I feel like this is reflected in politics quite often. Politicians paint a portrait of themselves for people to see but when we get behind these ads often the real picture has been skewed.
2. I believe this has such symbolic value because it doesn’t seem to matter what culture you’re a part of; it’s generally accepted that men have short hair and woman have longer hair. Everyone understands this symbol as an attack on the status quo. Sister Juana cuts her fair in prudence to show that she is dedicated to learn more, and to learn it faster, then any man. I can’t think of many works that I have read that have dealt with woman’s hair, but I’m reminded of the musical ‘Hair’ when thinking about this. It’s the 70’s and hippies are being ridiculed and criticized for letting their hair grow long, like a woman’s. To the same affect these ‘hippies’ are growing their hair out as symbolic attack on the status quo. They don’t believe what society is telling them, and stand out to show they don’t believe in the current status quo being set by our culture.
3. I believe in this story the song is the upcoming battle the warriors are about to participate in. I really understood the flowers to be the people of the tribe that they want to take captive for sacrifice. To me it’s as if the Mayans are comparing battle stealing a bouquet from your neighbor’s flower garden for your sweetheart. Referring to the princes as being poor I believe this is really a type of trash talk, the reader doesn’t believe the other prince has the power to protect his people from coming battle.

1. Nicolo Machiavelli was a brilliant man who dabbled in all the social science fields, and then some. He was a philosopher, politician, writer. But, in my opinion, even genius’s in the 1500’s ideas may be outdated in modern history, with some exceptions, because we’ve had 500 years of talking about it and exploring about it, so for example Machiavelli’s belief in violence being necessary for stabilization of power. His name has even been used as an adjective in modern English for overpowering someone of a threat to you: “Machiavellian.’ However, Machiavelli was named perhaps the father of modernity, by Leo Strauss, as his book “The Prince,’ seems to characterize the behavior of modern politics. So whereas I disagree with Machiavelli’s proposed political ideas, his beliefs are not without fans in the modern world today.

2. The way I see it, hair is revered because it’s a distinguishing part about being a woman, and traditionally gender roles are very strong with women being smart and noble and men being hardworking and the provider. Growing hair takes patience and time, as well as good health, so a womans’ hair is like a visual of her womanhood. However, when being a woman isn’t a priority to some individuals, and a greater identity is being strove for, like a career in the armed forces, or like how Pocahontas cuts her long beautiful hair to fight for her people, or being in a convent, when one can learn being a woman is more that what’s on the outside.

3. It sounds like a song about war and glory and cowardice; the first line mentions the song and the beating of drums to wake his friends, so I think that means waking them for war. And I think the flowers are God’s gift to those that fight for him on earth, whom he rewards when they go up to heaven after fighting. I do think there is a reference to god and his greatness, with the imagery of “where the flood and blaze are spreading, where the sprit eagle shines, and jaguar growls,’ (pg1). And then the closing statement is very invoking, “Offer your shield, stand up, you eagle jaguar!’ I think he means offer your fight to the cause, much like the Aztec warriors. Or maybe the flowers are the live captives they sought for sacrifice.. whatever the flowers are, they’re a revered thing.

1. As I understand it, Machiavelli is pretty well known as the great granddaddy of political science, focussing far more on what it takes to maintain power over people than on the wellbeing of a nation of citizens. He describes some pretty cut-throat tactics.
Most of us are probably recovering from midterm election hangovers at the moment and there has been plenty of evidence in our view of how far reaching those Machiavellian patterns of contrast between political ideals and concrete realities really do apply. The most obvious example that comes to my mind is the mass coercion that has recently take place by big money from both parties to either keep their guy in or get their guy in. Getting out the vote is important on many levels, but the barrage of commercials that we all just survived was unreal, and it was controlling! I’m an enthusiastic voter, but that election was ballistic and it interfered with my life in a negative way. However, even though it wasn’t good for the people necessarily, all of that fighting had to happen so that there could be decisions about who will “rule”.
Machiavelli is credited with the seed of the much debated idea that ends might justify the means, as in that it may be necessary to approach difficult scenarios in ways that might be immoral, violent or disturbing if the intended result will be considered worth it. Other Machiavellian concepts include a wide array of devious tactics that may have to be employed in order to rule effectively. He suggests that if you’re in charge, you might have to take people out. I think that if you look at intelligence operations, negative advertisements, and war itself you will see evidence of all of that.

2.  The first thing I thought of in regards to this question was Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. The character Fantine becomes so desperate for income that she is forced into prostitution and the selling of her possessions and even her teeth and hair. This is seen as particularly tragic because of the quality of her hair and teeth. Hugo even says that Fantine had gold and pearls for her dowry, but the gold was on her head (presumably the quality of her hair) and the pearls were in her mouth (teeth). These events, and the shaving of her head are closely associated to Fantine’s death following an assault. It’s almost as if when Fantine sold her hair she had given up hope of living life and just began selling herself for parts until the end.

I think the symbolism of a woman’s hair across cultures is a complex issue and I don’t dare try to simplify the issue or boil it down at all, but among many other things I think the reason hair has such a significant place in the stories of women in liturature is because of the link between feminine beauty and a woman’s worth. Hair is beautiful, almost undeniably, across the earth. Women are valued for beauty and maternity and sexuality, almost undeniably, across the earth. To loose ones hair is to loose value as a woman, and perhaps in some circumstances this is an extremely liberating thing.

https://msmagazine.com/blog/2011/03/16/my-favorite-feminist-sor-juana-ines-de-la-cruz

3.  The best I could make of it is that flowers might be the warriors who have died with honor and song might be whatever god is going to then take care of their souls or what the Aztecs may have thought of as a soul. So perhaps this is from the perspective of that god, who is clever with the knowledge that these warriors have fallen and are going to be taken and is asking those still in the war to seek honorable deaths and respect those who have been killed?

2. Sister Juana de la Cruz cuts off her hair to force herself to learn more quickly, although she knows that among young women, “the natural adornment of one’s hair is held in such high esteem.’ Finally, she enters the convent (where woman had their heads shorn). What other works have you read that emphasize the importance of a woman’s hair? Why does it seem to have so much symbolic value in such a range of cultures and times?

I could not think of any other works that emphasizes the importance of womens hair. I could only think of my aunt and grandma that had breast cancer and them telling me their stories of when they first went out without wigs on and how they felt. My grandma wore a wig at all times she said, because the one time she did not wear a wig she felt people pitied her when she went around town. My aunt on the other hand, thought it felt empowering when she showed up at work without hair. She felt free. So its interesting the differences in feelings.

3. Bear in mind that the Aztec warrior’s highest duty is to bring home live captives  for sacrifice. Give the Song for Admonishing a careful reading and decide–without researching the entire Cantares Mexicanos–what possible meaning might be assigned to the figurative terms “flower’ and “song.’

I’m not honestly sure what the flower’s could mean. I thought that maybe this song was about getting men more amped for battle. And that the flowers were maybe warriors who have passed? I’m just honestly taking a wild guess. But thats what I felt that I was reading, was a story about trying to get warriors ready for battle, and discussing the warriors who have fell in the battles.

1. Granted that Machiavelli’s own historical context is remote, how far does his pattern of contrasts between political ideals and concrete realities apply today?
   I don’t think his ideas are far off from reality today. He had a bad view of those who were in charge and ruling everything. Still, today, many individuals still feel this way. There isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t hear of someone “high and mighty’ bashing another individual over something that isn’t even worth a breathe. Individuals are very deceiving and they will say or do mostly anything in order to win or come out on top of something.
2. Sister Juana de la Cruz cuts off her hair to force herself to learn more quickly, although she knows that among young women, “the natural adornment of one’s hair is held in such high esteem.’ Finally, she enters the convent (where woman had their heads shorn). What other works have you read that emphasize the importance of a woman’s hair? Why does it seem to have so much symbolic value in such a range of cultures and times?
   I couldn’t come up with any stories that emphasize the importance of a woman’s hair. However, my first thought went directly to the Amish community where I’m from. I’m not 100% sure of the reason, but Amish women do not cut their hair. They always have it in a bun, but is it covered with fabric (I’m not sure what the correct term is.) In their culture, it is not appropriate to wear their hair down. To their culture, it shows respect.
3. Bear in mind that the Aztec warrior’s highest duty is to bring home live captives for sacrifice. Give the Song for Admonishing a careful reading and decide–without researching the entire Cantares Mexicanos–what possible meaning might be assigned to the figurative terms “flower’ and “song.’
   I am not too sure what possible meaning the “flower’ and the “song’ may be. If I would have to guess, the flower is to show that life is beautiful and it’s a reality. It shows that what is there, is actually there. The “song’ may be a way for the Aztec warriors to know when it’s their time to begin their duties that day, or week, or whenever the song is played.

1.  Granted that Machiavelli’s own historical context is remote, how far does his pattern of contrasts between political ideals and concrete realities apply today?

I think his pattern of  contrasts between political ideals and concrete realities really do apply to today’s world. Now is a good time to talk about this since elections are going on and you can see examples of this all over the media. There is a lot of negative energy put into elections in order to make the one person look better than the other. Sometimes, this method does work and sometimes it doesn’t but the success rate of this approach does not make it right. According to Machiavelli, he describes the perfect ruler in such a way where saying anything bad about him/her would be a lie. The ruler would respected and known as a person who was true to his people. This kind of political leader just isn’t common these days, and people are okay with that kind of campaigning. It is okay as long as the people are happy with their leader which also isn’t that common these days either.

2.  Sister Juana de la Cruz cuts off her hair to force herself to learn more quickly, although she knows that among young women, “the natural adornment of one’s hair is held in such high esteem.’ Finally, she enters the convent (where woman had their heads shorn). What other works have you read that emphasize the importance of a woman’s hair? Why does it seem to have so much symbolic value in such a range of cultures and times?

Sister Juana de la Cruz chooses to cut off her hair if she did not learn, and she wouldn’t of if she learned more quickly. There are a lot of stories in which hair represents not only a form of power but other characteristics also. In the bible and the story of Samson, the power that his hair possessed made him feel more whole and a sense of strength. When it was cut off, he lost all of that and felt very weak. Another story is Medusa in which her head of snakes represented evil and was to show fear.

3.  Bear in mind that the Aztec warrior’s highest duty is to bring home live captives for sacrifice. Give the Song for Admonishing a careful reading and decide–without researching the entire Cantares Mexicanos–what possible meaning might be assigned to the figurative terms “flower’ and “song.’

I think it all has to do with sacrificing to the Gods. The term ‘song’ is a way to give the proper sacrificial thanks if you will in order to do it correctly. The warriors were their flowers and wanted to do things right for the Gods in order to praise them correctly.

Discussion Questions 10 — Petrarch; Machiavelli; Native America; De La Cruz

1. Granted that Machiavelli’s own historical context is remote, how far does his pattern of contrasts between political ideals and concrete realities apply today?

The political ideal today would be an honest hard working person in office with the greater good of the people at the for front of all decisions. The reality is that every politician claims this description while blatantly bad mouthing the opposition. There has probably always been this contrast as a self motivated or “bad” politician will do whatever it takes to gain office and a righteous politician would seem as corrupt as the others.

2. Sister Juana de la Cruz cuts off her hair to force herself to learn more quickly, although she knows that among young women, “the natural adornment of one’s hair is held in such high esteem.’ Finally, she enters the convent (where woman had their heads shorn). What other works have you read that emphasize the importance of a woman’s hair? Why does it seem to have so much symbolic value in such a range of cultures and times?

Traditionally women are thought to have longer hair than men and be more attractive because of it. This belief that women are supposed to have longer hair and that they are beautiful because of it builds on the preconception that a women’s hair holds some power or importance. Though throughout time and cultures the cutting of hair of either gender is usually a  sign of defiance or oppression depending on who is doing the cutting. Stories such as Rapunzel where her hair is magical in nature, or that of Samson where his strength is tied to his hair, these emphasize the idea that hair is important in some way shape or form. In feudal Japan a samurai who lost his status as a noble either by becoming a priest or working in the fields would cut his topknot  as a change in status in relation to society.

3. Bear in mind that the Aztec warrior’s highest duty is to bring home live captives for sacrifice. Give the Song for Admonishing a careful reading and decide–without researching the entire Cantares Mexicanos–what possible meaning might be assigned to the figurative terms “flower’ and “song.’

This was a hard thing to figure out cause I had and have no clue. Maybe flowers are followers or possessions, and the songs are the praises of the followers or the happiness granted by possession. It seems to me that they are talking about princes and what they have that the poor do not. It is hard to know what is meant by this without reference, or prior knowledge of the subject.

1. Granted that Machiavelli’s own historical context is remote, how far does his pattern of contrasts between political ideals and concrete realities apply today?

From my understanding, I think that Machiavelli understood the very unreal, yet favorable characteristics of an ideal prince, today we could maybe compare it to a political figure, or a renowned figure in a church, like a priest.   I guess this is very apropo considering we are in the middle of an election… Every ad you hear on the radio is slandering the apposing candidate, there is never anything good said about anyone.   It is hard to trust anything.   “How praiseworthy it is for a prince to keep his word and live with integrity rather than by craftiness, everyone understands; yet we see from recent experience that   those princes have accomplished most who paid little heed to keeping promises, but who knew how to manipulate the minds of men craftily’ (The Prince/1613).   Take almost any political figure and you will see this in some way shape or form.

I thought this summed up what I am trying to say. Taken from the internet.

1. Sister Juana de la Cruz cuts off her hair to force herself to learn more quickly, although she knows that among young women, “the natural adornment of one’s hair is held in such high esteem.’ Finally, she enters the convent (where woman had their heads shorn). What other works have you read that emphasize the importance of a woman’s hair? Why does it seem to have so much symbolic value in such a range of cultures and times?

Delilah getting ready to cut off Samsons hair.

What first came to mind for me was the Bible story of Samson and Delilah… Although this story the mans hair has the value.   Samson had long hair, (I don’t know how beautiful it was, I’m thinking it was a little more on the unkempt side…)   however it gave him power and strength.   When Delilah cut it, he was helpless.   I feel as if this story, even though with a man, portrays the emphasis pretty well.   You could also go with the story of Rupunzel, when the evil witch cuts her long luscious locks it as if her womanhood was taken from her.   I think that well adorned, beautiful hair portrayed not only a more feminine woman, but also power.

1. Bear in mind that the Aztec warrior’s highest duty is to bring home live captives for sacrifice. Give the Song for Admonishing a careful reading and decide–without researching the entire Cantares Mexicanos–what possible meaning might be assigned to the figurative terms “flower’ and “song.’

I think that the symbolic terms for the two may be that the flower is the captive, and the song is the story of the capturing.   The more flowers that the Aztec brings home, the more successful he is considered and the longer his song is.   It also reminds me of old folk tales sung about people, I think it could be safely assumed that the longer your story, the more impressive your life was.

1. Granted that Machiavelli’s own historical context is remote, how far does his pattern of contrasts between political ideals and concrete realities apply today?

I think a lot of what he said is the reality of today, including the concept of the difference of morality between public and private purposes. The US has a history of using excessive means to destabilize international political figures who do not match the US interests, or possibly even choose a new leader of a nation by supporting an opposing figure through financial or military assistance. Whether or not modern political actions are being implemented with Machiavelli, it is doubtful, I would guess that many of his ideas were already common practice and he only outlined it. This sort of obviousness makes me wonder if there was an ironic tone in his writing, maybe he was merely stating how it could be with no absolute intention for it becoming that way. The Prince was even banned by the Catholic church, which asserted it was going against god, which is funny because the book outlined the Catholic church’s personality pretty well. In today’s world, the powers of a nation are often spread over many individuals, which the people trust will make the right decisions for the good of the nation. Not being in politics myself, I wonder what it is actually like for politicians, how they decide what is right and what is wrong for society, and how would they determine what wrong can justify a right. Machiavelli was a advocate for putting the people first even if that meant acting in a corrupt manner and making decisions which would not have the popular support of the people, not thinking about morality, but how it would improve the nation. I don’t think his work necessarily applies today, but I do believe some of the attributes he described a Prince would need can be found in modern and ancient contexts.

2. Sister Juana de la Cruz cuts off her hair to force herself to learn more quickly, although she knows that among young women, “the natural adornment of one’s hair is held in such high esteem.’ Finally, she enters the convent (where woman had their heads shorn). What other works have you read that emphasize the importance of a woman’s hair? Why does it seem to have so much symbolic value in such a range of cultures and times?

Hair represents many thing in cultures around the world, in Sister Juana de la Cruz case, she felt she would only deserve to keep her hair if she had the knowledge to deserve it. Therefore, she only got to keep it as long as she learned, and cut it off if she failed to learn. She believed, hair represented beauty, but beauty is less important than the beauty of knowledge. An example of other cultures would be the mythological story of Medusa, who had a head of snakes instead of hair, representing wickedness instead of beauty. The bible invokes the power of hair through the character Samson, who loses his power when it is cut off. In modern society, the female hair is thought of as a beauty characteristic, but what is interesting, is with current battles against breast cancer, females will cut their own hair in support and respect for those who lost their hair during cancer treatment. Hair symbolizes beauty, but when it’s removed it can symbolize strength and the idea that beauty is not superficial.

3. Bear in mind that the Aztec warrior’s highest duty is to bring home live captives for sacrifice. Give the Song for Admonishing a careful reading and decide–without researching the entire Cantares Mexicanos–what possible meaning might be assigned to the figurative terms “flower’ and “song.’

Well, the line “Sacred flowers of the dawn are blooming in the rainy place of flowers,’ makes me think the flowers are those who are about to be sacrificed, and the rainy place could represent the place were blood flows and the flowers bloom in the eyes of the gods. Furthermore, the line “giving a gift of flower brilliance to the eagle-jaguar princes,’ represents to me that the flowers are representing life and a gift through sacrifice to the god princes. The term song, seems to represent the screams of those sacrificed flowers, and the chanting of war cries of those who captured the flowers. I think this song could be viewed in a number of ways, but being that war was the main focus of the culture, I would assume war is what they saw as beautiful, thus describe it in a beautifully poetic way.