The Dehumanization of our Heroes

Tomorrow is Columbus Day in this country (it's Columbus Day in Spain too I've learned, but that's just a coincidence, since they always observe it on the 12th). This, naturally, got me thinking a bit about Christopher Columbus. This began as the usual "why do you hate America?" style of thinking that certain talk radioists regularly deride. Typical stuff: he didn't actually discover anything, since there were folks there already; he never even landed in North America where we so revere him; he neither revolutionized the way the Earth was envisioned at the time, nor even ever realized he had discovered a new continent; he brought european diseases to the New World, and new world diseases back to Europe; he instigated the centuries of murder and oppression of the folks who were already here... all that stuff.

I then realized that, actually, none of that matters. Not, at least, as regards the holiday of Columbus Day (which most folks only think about inasmuch as it's a day off school, and you can't get mail or do any banking that day). It's the myth of the man that we are concerned with on Columbus Day, not the real human who thought he found the Indies and was convicted of brutal torture in his governorship across the water and all that. The image of Columbus in the heads of schoolkids, and most adults (even those who know better) has more in common with Paul Bunyan that with the man himself.

Columbus, in 1492 sailed the ocean blue (of course), because he was off to discover America! He lashed together his three ships, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, and set forth all by himself, having, through force of will convinced the Imperial rulers of Spain that the Earth was indeed round (some confusion here with the discovery of a new continent and the search for a western route to the Indies and their lucrative spices). He quite probably hooked a rope each to the three ships and strapped planks to his feet and became the first water-skier, blowing up a wind for himself to fill the sails when the ocean winds would not provide. He landed... oh, somewhere up around Plymouth Rock I'd guess, and said "Aha! I have discovered America! Go me!" And he proceeded to make friends with the natives who had no quarrel with him saying he'd discovered America (imagine walking next door, sticking a flag on your neighbor's porch and saying "I've discovered your house, and all its riches belong to Spain!"). He returned triumphant to Spain (though possibly a lot of folks envision it as England even if they know better). From that began 600 years of peaceful european colonization of the New World.

This is the folk hero version of Christopher Columbus, and he his unassailable with mere facts. There is a folk hero version of George Washington (with his cherry tree), Abraham Lincoln (without the depression) and a few others. The founding fathers are less crucial to our self-image as Americans than our founding mythic heroes. In this sense, in spite of his Genoese birth, Columbus is as American as apple pie (made with apples that originated in Central Asia, with a crust made of middle eastern wheat, since I'm being contrary here). Our folk heroes are not allowed to be real human beings. Paul Bunyan never lived through a hard winter, or got drunk and disorderly on a Saturday night, this could not be concieved.

So... I'm not sure exactly what the conclusion here to be drawn is. I think I feel a bit softer towards Columbus in a way. Toward the folk Columbus in any case, and I realize that the real guy didn't participate in this mythmaking, he just did some stuff, like we all do, and he got co-opted, warts removed and be-pedestaled. Can't blame a guy for that. Can blame him for stuff he actually did of course, or allowed to be. But that's a different issue. Perhaps the point is just to be aware, if you're going to talk about Christopher Columbus, there are two persons of that name that you can be talking about... and there may even be some value in the folk hero version, bravely defying the established wisdom of his time and discovering new frontiers. Not to say we should simply ignore reality in favor of usable myths, but maybe we can use the myths if we keep in mind that that's what they are. Columbus certainly has more to offer as a folk hero than does Paul Bunyan, who teaches us... if you grow up to be...um... really big... you can create the Grand Canyon.