since his books often serve as vehicles for his political manifesto, sarmiento's writings commonly mock governments, with "facundo" being the most prominent example. he elevates his own status at the expense of the ruling elite, almost portraying himself as invincible due to the power of writing. toward the end of 1840, sarmiento was exiled for his political views. covered with bruises received the day before from unruly soldiers, he wrote in french, "on ne tue point les idees" (misquoted from "on ne tire pas des coups de fusil aux idees", which means "ideas cannot be killed by guns"). the government decided to decipher the message, and on learning the translation, said, "so! what does this mean?". with the failure of his oppressors to understand his meaning, sarmiento is able to illustrate their ineptitude. his words are presented as a "code" that needs to be "deciphered", and unlike sarmiento those in power are barbaric and uneducated. their bafflement not only demonstrates their general ignorance, but also, according to sorensen, illustrates "the fundamental displacement which any cultural transplantation brings about", since argentine rural inhabitants and rosas's associates were unable to accept the civilized culture which sarmiento believed would lead to progress in argentina.