“They strike open the wretched Indian’s chest with flint knives and hastily tear out the palpitating heart which, with the blood, they present to the idols in whose names they have performed the sacrifice.” (page 229).
This sentence is important to the text because it is and is followed by a description of this sacrifice that the people of Mexico and Montezuma perform. The body of the sacrificed man is eaten by animals, but the arms and thighs are eaten at their banquets. They kept animals such as tigers, wolves, and poisonous snakes in this house that the idols were kept in. This shows the beliefs and way of life that the people of Mexico followed. They worshipped their idols deeply and therefore would sacrifice any man. It was rather looked upon as evil and inhumane by Cortes and his people. This sentence further expands on an event earlier in the passage when Cortes was begging Montezuma to hear him out about his ideas of God and creation. He talks about how we are all children of Adam and Eve and how the worship of these idols must stop. He believes the sacrifices are an evil act and it needs to be abolished. Cortes then continues to say that he will send over a few religious men that have more of an understanding about God and beliefs to educate them on this. He ends his speech by saying that this was just a warning but he hopes Montezuma will change his ways.
I also found this quote to be important because it illustrated the brutality and severity of these sacrifices. It also as you stated showed the lengths the Mexican people would go to for their beliefs in their gods. In addition to what you said about Cortes wanting to send religious men over to Mexico Cortes also wanted to show both Montezuma and the Mexican people that their beliefs were evil by having a church built in their city promoting Cortes’s own religion. Montezuma didn’t respond well to this saying that Cortes disrespected his gods that have done good to him and his people and said he would not switch beliefs.
I agree with your interpretation of the quote in the context of religious significance. Human sacrifice is consistent with the pagan belief system the natives held that contradicted Cortes’ Christianity. As you mentioned, he pleads with Montezuma in an effort of conversion. We clearly see that Cortes was insistent on establishing a local Christian symbol with construction of a church but there is a deeper significance with his effort because as we discussed in class today, we can assume that it was the best method of exercised control over the indigenous people the colonizers considered primitive.