| This Thesis is an analysis of two volumes of Nahua songs, the Cantares Mexicanos and the Romances de los Senores de la Nueva Espana, and is meant to understand the emotions directed towards the Aztec Empire, and especially the dominate city-state of Tenochtitlan by the subject people. By examining the songs it becomes apparent that the subject people of the Mexica primarily expressed the emotions of anger and fear because of the coercive policies of Tenochtitlan. These emotions were rooted in feelings of hoplessness and deligitimization. The subject people believed that the actions Tenochtitlan used to keep control of the Aztec Empire were immoral and destructive. Upon the arrival of the Spanish in 1519, the Aztec Empire fell apart because large numbers of disenfranchised city-states abandoned their relationships with Tenochtitlan in hopes that they could rally around the Spanish as leaders who could force a shift in the power structure of Central Mexico.;Keywords: Aztec, Nahua, Emotions, Anger, Fear, Poetry, Song, Cantares Mexicanos, The Codex Romances de los Senores de la Nueva Espana , The Spanish Conquest of Mexico, Death, Human Sacrifice, Immortality, Fame, Courage, Morality, Warrior, Philosophy. |
