human
essay about bolivar's personality, achievements, downfall, and final legacy.
assistant
#Simon Bolivar: The Man and The Myth Essay
Simon Bolivar is regarded as the George Washington of South America. He was a Venezuelan revolutionary who fought against Spanish colonialism and established independence in six Latin American states. In 2013, inspired by the grandeur of his life and her family history, Peruvian-American writer Marie Arana released a biography about Bolivar the Liberator. Arana discusses Bolivar’s personality, achievements, downfall, and final legacy in this lecture before the Library of Congress.
Firstly, Arana states that despite certain similarities between Bolivar and Washington, she rejects the Pan-American narrative that North and South America’s revolutions were fundamentally the same struggle against imperialism. Bolivar’s uprising was not only against economic exploitation but also against Spanish racial segregation. Despite 300 years of racial mixing, up until that point, Spain was still registering births according to racial pedigree and penalizing darker castes.
The revolution was floundering until Bolivar realized that the only way to achieve success was through interracial cooperation. He rallied black people, Native Americans, mulattos, mestizos, invalids in hospitals, pirates, merchants, and freed slaves to his cause. Bolivar fought a revolution and a civil war simultaneously, and Arana argues that this is a vastly different narrative than the one that defines North America.
Secondly, unlike most biographers, Arana starts her lecture by presenting Simon Bolivar the man rather than enumerating his phenomenal achievements. Bolivar had a palpable physical presence, legendary stamina on horseback, superb conversational skills, and an insatiable desire for women. He freed six nations and possessed unprecedented power, but he was impulsive and had no patience for disagreement. Arana wishes her listeners to see Bolivar as a human being susceptible to weakness, not only Bolivar as the historical colossus.
Thirdly, Arana discusses Bolivar’s other difference from Washington: his glory did not last until death. Bolivar was a brilliant military tactician with a gift for improvisation, but qualities essential during military campaigns have liabilities in peacetime. As a politician, Bolivar made hasty decisions and frequently compromised his ideals. Bolivar eventually realized South America was not ready for democracy and self-governance due to ignorance and systematic disenfranchisement.
He decided the government needed a firm executive hand and began making unilateral decisions. He attempted to ratify a life-long presidency and create a hereditary third chamber. Support for Bolivar waned, and he was forced to resign. At 47, he died from tuberculosis in poverty and exile. Arana argues that Bolivar’s supreme power and swift disgrace is a pattern that is constantly played out in South American politics.
Fourthly, Arana considers Bolivar’s posthumous legacy. A hundred years after his death, he was already mythologized as the ideal Latin American persona. He lives on as a swashbuckling national hero, and his incredible accomplishments are lionized as past mistakes rescind into the background. He is credited for disseminating the ideas of the Enlightenment and showing Latin America what it could become. Arana argues that his story will reverberate through history because Bolivar’s is the classic story of an imperfect man with a sincere heart overcoming impossible circumstances.
In conclusion, Arana presents a complete portrait of Simon Bolivar as the man and the myth. He was a flawed human being who became a despot and died in exile. He also traversed 75,000 miles on horseback to liberate six nations, and he did it by achieving unprecedented interracial cooperation. In his death, Bolivar has become a symbol of daring and freedom.