Jose Marti Essay

634 Words3 Pages
Jose Marti, a universal writer. Jose Marti, known as the National Hero of Cuba, was a historical figure that has marked the life of all Cubans. In my own experience as a Cuban I could say that Jose Marti accompanied me throughout my childhood and his books were, and still are, of great importance and value to me. Since I was a child I was taught Marti’s work from the easiest poems to the most complicated to understand. Jose Marti advocated for human rights through the teachings of his writing. There was always a moral in his poems and stories. In Cuba, there is not a single person that does not know his books. He was an artist who managed to express his principal concerns and also his political and sociological ideas about everything that in one way or another called his attention throughout his life. Although Jose Marti died fighting for the independence of Cuba, he was also a fighter for human rights. He lived in an era where Cuba was governed by the Spaniards. At that time, slavery prevailed. In his book “Simple Verses”, Jose Marti described in one of his poems the slave’s barracks. It is not until the end of the poem when he mentions himself as spectator of the murder of one slave and he “swore to wash the crime with his blood”. That means he was going to fight against slavery. That poem was written when Marti was very young and since then, he advocated for human rights. He kept his promise and fought for the freedom of his country and for slaves. However, he valued human rights not only in his country but universally. An excellent example is in the same book of poems, he says “The slavery of men is the big sorrow of the world”. In fact, slavery of men was the cruelest event of history and it happened worldwide in different times within history. That is why Jose Marti tried to create principles such as solidarity and compassion in people since they were
Open Document