After his nearly decade-long journey through southwestern America, Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca had gained a perspective on Native Americans that was perhaps unique among any European at the time. Forced by harsh circumstances to abandon the role of conquistador, he instead took up the roles of collaborator, trader, and even sometimes healer as he moved between Native tribes. Living among them made him realize the differences between the various tribes, but at the same time the basic humanity within them all, as well as within himself. His experiences shaped in him a new vision for future Spanish exploration of America, one that rejected the methods of coercion and enslavement, and encouraged kindness and friendly interaction with the Native …show more content…
people. His The Relation of Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, in which he recounts his experiences, serves multiple purposes at once. Cabeza de Vaca skillfully turns his narrative of his captivity and adventures into a persuasive piece of writing, using interesting details that both entertain the reader and illustrate Cabeza de Vaca’s point of view all at once. The Relation is dedicated specifically to the king of Spain, and Cabeza de Vaca is aware of this specific, powerful audience as well as his general audience. In the opening dedication of his work to the king, he cleverly entices the reader to read on by preemptively reassuring the reader of the truthfulness of his account, writing “Novel or, for some persons, difficult to believe though the things narrated may be, I assure you they can be accepted without hesitation as strictly factual. Better than to exaggerate, I have minimized all things” (60). Before he has even begun to tell any of his stories of “the numerous, barbarous people” he met (60) or of his struggles to survive, he has promised his readers (including his principal audience, the king) of unbelievable, “[n]ovel” things within. He also argues for the importance of his narrative to the king specifically, claiming it to be “of no trivial value for those who go in your name to subdue those countries and bring them to a knowledge of the true faith and true Lord” (60). Cabeza de Vaca states the main purpose of his narrative to be a report of Native American people and their customs, and indeed the narrative includes many reports on the various tribes he came across during his journey.
These reports are filled with interesting and entertaining details that put exciting, exotic images in the reader’s mind. Aware that his readers had never seen Native Americans and that most likely never would, Cabeza de Vaca made sure to fill his pages with the most shocking and foreign aspects of the natives’ cultures. Of the Capoque and Han people he met, he writes, “The men bore through one of their nipples, some both, and insert a joint of cane two and a half palms long by two fingers thick. They also bore their lower lip and wear a piece of cane in it…” (61). Of their eating habits, he writes, “Three months out of every year they eat nothing but oysters and drink very bad water” …show more content…
(61). Cabeza de Vaca also includes details of the Natives’ interpersonal customs, again being sure to choose the most unusual and interesting details. He explains how in the Capoque and Han tribes, husbands are not allowed to have any contact with their wives’ families, and that “If a man and his in-laws should chance to be walking so they would meet, they turn silently aside from each other and go a crossbow-shot out of their way, averting their glance to the ground” (61). Later, he writes, “They have a strange custom when acquaintances meet or occasionally visit, of weeping for half an hour before they speak” (62). He goes on to explain why he has chosen to highlight these customs, writing “They have other strange customs, but I have told the principal and most remarkable of them” (62). He proves that he is aware of what his readers desire from an Indian captivity story, and he delivers. While he is always apt to point out a bizarre or unusual detail about the natives he encountered, Cabeza de Vaca also makes a point of emphasizing their basic humanity and their moral values. He points out that medicine-men in among the Capoques and Hans “may have two or three wives apiece,” (a custom that is decidedly unchristian and perhaps off-putting to some of Cabeza de Vaca’s European readers), but immediately follows by writing that “The several wives live together in perfect amity” (61). Of the same people he also admiringly writes, “These people love their offspring more than any in the world and treat them very mildly” (61) and goes on to describe the year-long process of mourning they practice after a son has died in the village. He writes of another tribe he meets later, that when two men within the tribe get into an argument or fight, “No matter what the disaffection, they do not resort to bows and arrows” (64). Besides these details, Cabeza de Vaca also repeatedly makes note of the kindness and fraternity with which the various tribes treat him, mentioning that various tribes “always treated us well” and “shared with us what they had to eat,” even when food was extremely scarce (62, 64). At other points, he tells of trading with the natives and overcoming numerous language barriers to communicate with them. Despite knowing “six Indian languages,” he found that because of the immense language diversity between the peoples, most of the time he and his men “passed from one strange tongue to another” in their travels. Even still, he finds ways to communicate with the people through hand signals, and as he writes, “You would have thought, from the questions and answers in signs, that they spoke our language and we theirs” (66). Details such as these illustrate Cabeza de Vaca’s everyday dealings with the native people as equals. The reader of his narrative does not get a sense of savages being observed from a safe distance, but of people working together to understand each other and to help each other survive. His experience with the natives and his observations of their customs and values led Cabeza de Vaca to an optimistic vision of the future for these people. While entertaining readers and reporting to his king on the “strange” ways of these “barbarous” people, he also argues for them. Specifically, he sees them as potential new members of the Christian faith, and hopes to convince his readers to see them the same way. He reports that wherever he went, he would explain through his makeshift sign language the basics of Christianity to the people, and that “They apprehended so readily that, if we had enough command of their language to make ourselves perfectly understood, we would have left them all Christians” (66). He goes on to report that after he explained Christianity to the natives, “from then on, at sunrise, they would raise their arms to the sky with a glad cry, then run their hands down the length of their bodies. They repeated this ritual at sunset” (66). This show of eagerness to adopt Christianity among the natives seems to inspire Cabeza de Vaca, and he writes, “They are a substantial people with a capacity for unlimited development” (66). When Cabeza de Vaca finally reaches fellow Christians near the end of his journey, the occasion is tragic and disheartening rather than joyous, and the cruel irony of the situation is not lost on him.
After frequently invoking God’s name as a source of strength and resolve during his journey, and after finding hope in the possibility of converting the natives he has met to Christianity, he finds the first Christians he has seen in over eight years to be murderous and deceitful enslavers. Cabeza de Vaca seems to bitterly relish the irony. When he first hears news of nearby Christians, he writes, “We gave many thanks to God our Lord. Having almost despaired of finding Christians again, we could hardly restrain our excitement” (67). In a narrative that switches often between objective observations of his surroundings and personal introspections into his thoughts, this sentence comes perhaps closest to establishing a feeling of drama. No longer simply reporting facts here, Cabeza de Vaca withholds information (at least for a few lines) so that the reader may feel the dejection and disillusionment he felt after having his hopes raised initially. Cabeza de Vaca and his men speed up after hearing the initial news of Christians nearby, and he writes, “[A]s we went, [we] heard more and more of Christians. We told the natives we were going after those men to order them to stop killing, enslaving and dispossessing the Indians” (67). The clause “we heard more and
more of Christians” has a more bitter, sarcastic sound once the reader understands what was included in the “more and more” Cabeza de Vaca and his men heard. When the Christians attempt to tell the natives following Cabeza de Vaca that he is of the same race and country as the Christians, Cabeza de Vaca reports that “The Indians paid no attention to this…. they replied that the Christians lied: We had come from the sunrise, they from the sunset; we healed the sick, they killed the sound; we came naked and barefoot, they clothed, horsed, and lanced; we coveted nothing but gave whatever we were given, while they robbed whomever they found and bestowed nothing on anyone” (69). It is impossible to know how much Cabeza de Vaca’s pen and hand interfered with the Native Americans’ original words, but in any case the reader is left with an image of a group of unchristian, uncivilized natives reciting distinctly Christian values and regarding Cabeza de Vaca as a Christ like figure, while condemning the “Christians,” as Cabeza de Vaca names them, as unchristian in every way. The passage is powerful in that it at once illustrates the innocence of the Native Americans, their inner potential to become Christian, and the injustice and tragedy of their fate at the hands of the Spanish enslavers. Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca’s Relation can be called the first captivity narrative, and with the privilege of inventing a genre comes a certain freedom. However, Cabeza de Vaca did have certain boundaries that governed his writing. His primary audience was the king of Spain, and his stated intention in writing the narrative was to recount his observations for the benefit of future conquistadores. Cabeza de Vaca’s narrative has a more definite purpose as well. “Clearly, to bring all these people to Christianity and subjection to Your Imperial Majesty, they must be won by kindness, the only certain way,” he writes at one point (67). He frames his narrative around this thesis. The narrative itself is unique and very readable because it contains never-before-heard descriptions of Native American cultures and their customs, along with a gripping story of captivity and survival, tropes that would become common in captivity narratives such as this. Using the platform of a unique new genre, Cabeza de Vaca pleads to his readers for kindness and respect to Native Americans in the ultimate goal of bringing them to the light of Christianity and the embrace of the Spanish crown.
Cabeza de Vaca survived by using intelligent strategies that kept him alive just barely. Cabeza used his great communication skills for survival. He was also an amazing healer. Another reason is he had amazing talent with navigation. Overall, Cabeza was a strategist, and he was very smart.
Thomas More’s “Utopia”, Bartolomé de Las Casas’s “Destruction of the Indies”, and Michel de Montaigne’s “Of Cannibals” have the commonality of discussing mysterious territories which have certain conditions in several aspects of life which their present audience is unaware. The three authors describe foreign places with vastly different values and social standards, but they all describe the treatments or relations of the indigenous people by Europeans and outsiders, as well as the natives’ reaction to these treatments. More, Las Casas, and Montaigne reveal their personal views through descriptions of the different groups of indigenous people, and all suggest that their “advanced” societies are not necessarily better than those with different
In this section his initial thoughts show through. “But losers matter, especially in the history of early America.” Many different regions of early America are examined in their years of early conquest when native populations started their descent. The biggest theme throughout the section is the effect that conquistadors and explorers had on the native population in their search for gold and glory. The information that is given is not typical of what is learned of early America, but tries to really focus on the most important figures of the time and there voyages. For example, when talking about the Plains nations and there explorers, Coronado and De Soto a tattooed woman woman is brought up who had been captured by both explorers at different times and different places, but little is known about her. “Of the tattooed woman who witnessed the two greatest expeditions of conquest in North America, and became captive to both, nothing more is known.” This point captures the main idea of the theme and what many know of this time. Horwitz aims to point out the important facts, not just the well known
As far back as Rigoberta Manchu can remember, her life has been divided between the highlands of Guatemala and the low country plantations called the fincas. Routinely, Rigoberta and her family spent eight months working here under extremely poor conditions, for rich Guatemalans of Spanish descent. Starvation, malnutrition and child death were common occurrences here; rape and murder were not unfamiliar either. Rigoberta and her family worked just as hard when they resided in their own village for a few months every year. However, when residing here, Rigoberta’s life was centered on the rituals and traditions of her community, many of which gave thanks to the natural world.
... hardships he must face. Differing from other Spanish explorers Cabeza does not use violence as a means of spreading his word and eventually gains utter respect from the Indians he interacts with and even the respect of Indians that he has never met. Toward the end of the sixteenth century, Spanish explorers spread a wave of bloodshed and disease through the New World killing almost all of the natives indigenous to the land. Cabeza de Vaca stands apart from his counterparts in the fact that he used peace and kindness to win the hearts of the natives and successfully converted the Indians he met into Christians.
Anthropologist and other Friends is an article by Vine Deloria. This article is about Native Americans and their struggles – mainly with anthropologists. Deloria is very quick in this article to express his hatred towards anthropologist because of the way they “study” the Native Americans. After reading this article one may find three main points to focus on: the significance of the writing, the criticism one may feel towards the writing, and the arguments against the anthropologist laid out in the writing. There are many significant points and findings in this article.
The discovery of America to the rest of the world, otherwise known as “Columbian Encounter”, was one of the majestic period in the European history. But nonetheless it was a starting to a tragic end for the Native Americans. Axtell calls attention to how the term, encounter, is largely a misfit in this situation because the
In a lively account filled that is with personal accounts and the voices of people that were in the past left out of the historical armament, Ronald Takaki proffers us a new perspective of America’s envisioned past. Mr. Takaki confronts and disputes the Anglo-centric historical point of view. This dispute and confrontation is started in the within the seventeenth-century arrival of the colonists from England as witnessed by the Powhatan Indians of Virginia and the Wamapanoag Indians from the Massachusetts area. From there, Mr. Takaki turns our attention to several different cultures and how they had been affected by North America. The English colonists had brought the African people with force to the Atlantic coasts of America. The Irish women that sought to facilitate their need to work in factory settings and maids for our towns. The Chinese who migrated with ideas of a golden mountain and the Japanese who came and labored in the cane fields of Hawaii and on the farms of California. The Jewish people that fled from shtetls of Russia and created new urban communities here. The Latinos who crossed the border had come in search of the mythic and fabulous life El Norte.
Axtell, James. “Native Reactions to the Invasion of North America.” Beyond 1492: Encounters in Colonial North America. New York: Oxford UP, 1992. 97-121. Print.
In his essay, “The Indians’ Old World,” Neal Salisbury examined a recent shift in the telling of Native American history in North America. Until recently, much of American history, as it pertains to Native Americans; either focused on the decimation of their societies or excluded them completely from the discussion (Salisbury 25). Salisbury also contends that American history did not simply begin with the arrival of Europeans. This event was an episode of a long path towards America’s development (Salisbury 25). In pre-colonial America, Native Americans were not primitive savages, rather a developing people that possessed extraordinary skill in agriculture, hunting, and building and exhibited elaborate cultural and religious structures.
In A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Bartolomé de Las Casas vividly describes the brutality wrought on the natives in the Americas by the Europeans primarily for the purpose of proclaiming and spreading the Christian faith. Las Casas originally intended this account to reach the royal administration of Spain; however, it soon found its way into the hands of many international readers, especially after translation. Bartolomé de Las Casas illustrates an extremely graphic and grim reality to his readers using literary methods such as characterization, imagery, amplification, authorial intrusion and the invocation of providence while trying to appeal to the sympathies of his audience about such atrocities.
Texas Indians were very unique in their culture and way of life. The Texas Indians had a unique social order; physical appearance, acquired subsistence in many different ways, and had many unique cultural practice. As a result, many historians study the native Indians in Texas with awe and amazement. With a deep and interesting analysis of the Texas Indians, historians can understand the people; and their way of life. Based on the text, “La Relacion” which was written by Alvar Nunez de Vaca, an analysis of said subject can be conducted.
During the era of maritime exploration and the discovery of the Americas, assumptions were made of the land likening it to not only a paradise, but one that was overrun with cannibalistic natives. These suppositions led to a desire to explore the lands and conquer the savages that posed a threat to man and civilization itself. The consequences of this mass colonization and dehumanization of the natives paved the way for literary pieces that pose as critiques of the era when viewed through a post-colonial lens. When looked at through a post-colonial perspective, a few common themes prevail amongst compared texts. Focusing on the theme of the journey, what it means, and what is at stake, Garcilaso de la Vega’s “The Story of Pedro Serrano” and Juan José Saer’s The Witness both touch on all these themes with great severity, dissecting the purpose of the journey and what it means to be a civilized man.
“Cabeza de Vaca was born into the Spanish nobility in 1490. Little of his early life is known, except that he made his career in the military. In early 1527 he left Spain as a part of a royal expedition intended to occupy the mainland of North America.” http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/cabezadevaca.htm
Whether this short story was an attempt to describe childhood experiences or the persecution of the Native Americans, Hemingway wrote a riveting short encounter that captivates the readers’ minds and highlights the injustices inflicted on a Native American culture. It is clear through the story that colonized cultures often encounter a loss of identity, and adopt a different one that is bestowed on them from the dominant or parent colonizer. The oppressed have to deal with demeaning and difficult situations, but by educating readers and characterizing the wrongs, Hemingway opts for changes in the future. Hemingway paved the way for social change of Native Americans in a time that was lacking it.