Cabeza De Vaca Summary

Cabeza de Vaca was a Spaniard that traveled to the New World in search of silver, gold, and other riches. Unfortunately, he found the Native Americans spent 8 years surviving in the their tribe. In his narrative of these 8 years, Cabeza de Vaca effectively tells Europeans of the Expedition he went on and the humanity of the Karankawas.
The author uses imagery in the article to make it visibly understandable to the reader. For example, “That was not much, but valuable to us in that… cold our bodies so emaciated we could easily count every bone and looked the very picture of death.” The author uses this example to illustrate the frightening and disturbing things they had gone through. This is important because Cabeza de Vaca wanted to explain to the Europeans the difficulty of his journey an unforgettable images he still remembered from this expedition.

Furthermore, the author uses tone to let the reader understand what he was feeling when the Native Americans ( Karankawas ) took him and the others that survived to their tribes and taught them many things.

For example, “ In the morning… they acted in every way hospitality, we felt reassured and somewhat lost our anxiety of the sacrificial knife.” The author relates frightening details of his experience in a calm and serious relaxed tone. This is an important part of this passage because the Europeans believed that the Native americans weren't humane and they were frightening creatures and out of this world species, but in reality they were just like the Europeans and meant no harm to anyone, and they were happy to help Cabeza De Vaca and the others that came along with

him.
The theme in La Relacion is to always help others in need, even though the Europeans and others thought so disrespectfully wrong about the Native Americans, they still offered Cabeza de Vaca and the other survivors shelter and food for 8 years. The Native Americans even taught them how to be Medicine Men. Without the Native Americans, Cabeza de Vaca and the other survivors would have probably not survived in the tragic accident that happened while sailing to the New World.
Moreover, Cabeza de Vaca uses these literary devices to explain to the reader his expedition to the new world and on how it was a very difficult journey. He then explains his thoughts with coming across with the Native Americans and who they weren't who he thought they were. How without them nobody would have survived. Cabeza de Vaca writes “La Relación” in first person to educated us and the Europeans on his experience sailing and meeting the Native Americans.