In America, our society is defined as a “melting pot”. A “melting pot” refers to the blend or melting of cultures, or a combination of several of cultures in a society. Explorers to the “New World” such as Cabeza de Vaca and William Bradford are significantly important in history and in literature. Both explorers traveled to the “New World” for different reasons. Cabeza de Vaca went on an exploration to gain more wealth, gold, learn about the land, and culture. On the other hand, Bradford moved to the Americas for religious freedom, and away from English rule. Cabeza de Vaca and Bradford both were important, remember able explorers to the New World, and both their stories tell their experience, especially their encounters with different communities. Cabeza de Vaca 's piece Castaways is a conversion and inversion narrative about this experiences especially with the Native Americans, while William Bradford 's Of Plymouth Planation is classified as providential narrative, which focuses on the God 's future plans than the interaction with different communities.
Cabeza de Vaca stories is a conversion narrative, which the conversion is the between Cabeza de Vaca 's thoughts of the Native Americans. In the beginning of Castaways, Cabeza de Vaca did not interact with the natives as much as he does later in his story. In chapter three of his book, Castaways, he says that the Indians and his group, Spaniards did not get along. Once his group reached Florida he states:
“on the following day the Indians from the village came to see us, and though they spoke to us we did not understand them, for we had no interpreter, but they made many signs and threatening gestures, and we thought they were telling us to leave their land; and on this the...
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...adford is appeared to have a prideful attitude about himself and his faithful. Thus, he does not have interest in cultural hybridity with the Natives.
Cabeza de Vaca and Bradford shared their experiences in the “New World”, and focused on their encounters with their interaction with different cultural communities. However, both of these authors have do not share their views with cultural hybridity, and results with Cabeza de Vaca’s story as a conversion and inversion narrative; while Bradford’s story is a providential narrative. Cabeza de Vaca explored the “New World” to gain riches, or gold, and gain more knowledge about the land and people. Bradford came to the America to get away from English religion prosecution. Similar to the idea of a “melting pot” cultural hybridity is the interaction of cultures, which Cabeza de Vaca demonstrated, unlike William Bradford.
The rhetor for this text is Luther Standing Bear. He was born in 1868 on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He was raised as a Native American until the age on eleven when he was taken to Carlisle Indian Industrial School: an Indian boarding school. After graduating from the boarding school, he returned to his reservation and now realized the terrible conditions under which they were living. Standing Bear was then elected as chief of his tribe and it became his responsibility to induce change (Luther Standing Bear). The boarding schools, like the one he went to, were not a fair place to be. The Native American children were forced to go there and they were not taught how to live as a European American; they were taught low level jobs like how to mop and take out trash. Also, these school were very brutal with punishment and how the kids were treated. In the passage he states, “More than one tragedy has resulted when a young boy or girl has returned home again almost an utter stranger. I have seen these happenings with my own eyes and I know they can cause naught but suffering.” (Standing Bear 276). Standing Bear is fighting for the Indians to be taught by Indians. He does not want their young to lose the culture taught to them from the elders. Standing Bear also states, “The old people do not speak English and never will be English-speaking.” (Standing Bear 276). He is reinforcing the point that he believes that they
An injured Native American was brought to him and Cabeza de Vaca started healing him by cutting open his chest and with great difficulty. After that with a deer bone he gave the person two stitches. Two days later, the Native American was healed and he gained a good reputation throughout the land. Being a expertise healer, he was able to help the Native Americans. Helping the Native Americans gave him a good reputation so the natives gave him things needed for life. For example, food and supplies.
The European explorers and colonizers and Native Americans had varied relationships during their encounters in the New World. They both feared and misunderstood each other. This fear led to the two groups often mistreating each other. However, there were always times where they depended on each other’s kindness and treated each other with care. There are examples of both in the following narratives: In the letter by Christopher Columbus, he talks about the natives being timid and how he uses them to help him. In “from Richard Frethorne, to His Parents”, Frethorne tells about the Indians destroying crops and killing people. In the Soveraignty and Goodness of God by Mary Rowaldson, the author tells about her eleven weeks in captivity by the Indians. At times, they behaved as lawless savages. At other times, they showed her kindness and care.
Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford and A Description of New England by John Smith are essentially irrelevant to one another in the way that each piece has a very different point of view. The author John Smith was a pilgrim who arrived in the Americas and wrote a description of the new land. William Bradford was also a pilgrim who arrived at Plymouth and wrote more about the realities of his personal journey. The purpose of this essay is to contrast the purposes of the writers, their intended audiences, and how each writer gives out a specific feeling.
The oral history format dictates a first person presentation which, in a religious text, creates an urgency and connection to the events unfolding in the story. The stories combine to present a tale of folly, loss, sin, forgiveness, and resurrection. In the Introduction to Arthur C. Parker’s translation of The Code of Handsome Lake, the influence of Christian mythology becomes evident. The story of “How the White Race Came to America and why the Gaiwiio Became a Necessity” is included in the Introduction. Therein, Handsome Lake explains that post-invasion the “Creator was sorry for his own people [the Native Americans] whom he had molded from the soil of the earth of this Great Island.”8 The sentiment echoes the island from the Iroquois creation myths and the creation of Adam from the earth in the Christian creation
The narrator, ever since he was young, never really stuck by the traditional family standard of living: his father decides to start a new family with someone else that is not his mother and given the freedom to choose to live with his Aunt as his parental guardian. The narrator defines his relationship that he has with his Aunt that allowed him to truthfully say that he was “proud to be her nephew and her son” (52), which displays the narrator’s perception that although he is not her direct son, he is a huge impact and part of her life. He is able to define himself as her sole son. As the story goes on, the narrator realizes the conflict that he is soon stuck between. His life is molded into a mixed culture where he would: still have strong holds to his Native American heritage along with accustoming to the white’s expectations of attending college while maintain a strong relationship with his Aunt. Through his aunt having “so much love and knowledge to share, which she passed onto [the narrator] naturally” (53), the narrator is able to witness first-hand about the Native American tradition and beliefs. As compared to Gary Soto’s work, both narrators were able to view their culture under a new light with a positive perspective. By the end of the stories, both narrators were able to associate themselves with their cultures without feeling the need to change it or contemplate over, something that is irreplaceably taught to them through the power of family. Through this process, they have materialized that they did not have to alter the structure and way of life of their family in order to find clarity with who they are. However, the difference between the two stories is that each narrator learns these lessons through different means. The narrator from “Looking for Work” learns through
Atiwaneto “Speech Resisting Colonial Expansion 1752”, in The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America, ed. Colin G. Calloway (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1994), 127
Mary Rowlandson’s “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” and Benjamin Franklin’s “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” are two different perspectives based on unique experiences the narrators had with “savages.” Benjamin Franklin’s “Remarks Concerning the Savages…” is a comparison between the ways of the Indians and the ways of the Englishmen along with Franklin’s reason why the Indians should not be defined as savages. “A Narrative of the Captivity…” is a written test of faith about a brutally traumatic experience that a woman faced alone while being held captive by Indians. Mary Rowlandson views the Indians in a negative light due to the traumatizing and inhumane experiences she went through namely, their actions and the way in which they lived went against the religious code to which she is used; contrastingly, Benjamin Franklin sees the Indians as everything but savages-- he believes that they are perfect due to their educated ways and virtuous conduct.
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.
As the values of the Indians, the natives that Cabeza De Vaca encountered on his eight year journey, that were roaming the south are compared to the moral values of the Spanish and then to the
...s others whether it is one of their own or someone completely different. This variance shows that instead of being vastly different as de Vaca often describes, the two groups were in reality equals. The best insight is de Vaca’s own words on the matter. At various times he describes the Indians as “savages”. However, at the end of his journey, he states that “Clearly, to bring all these people to Christianity and subjection to Your Imperial Majesty, they must be won by kindness, the only certain way” (123). Cabeza de Vaca’s transformation from a condescending invader to a man declaring the need for kindness towards natives proves that his ideas towards Indians had transformed from superiority towards equality. If Cabeza de Vaca’s advice to governmental power on expansion had been heeded it is possible that the horrors of future imperialism would have been averted.
...ared a common experience in the Old World as well as the New World, and both groups held in common a trust that God would provide the means necessary that would ease and hasten their struggle for peace, and their belief in freedom from oppression and persecution. Although each group’s faith is different, their cultures and traditions divergent; they met resistance to their way of life and living with an historical perspective with God and the idea of progress on their side. Every immigrant story is a progression in every realm of thought.
Cabeza de Vaca, like many other Spaniards, wanted to seek fortune in the new world, but things did not go as planned, and he eventually lost everything. Although he came to conquer in the name of Spain, he ended up living amongst the Native Americans in need for survival and became very close to them. Although originally the Spaniards were very narrow minded and believed the Indians were uncivilized and barbaric, Cabeza de Vaca shortly found out that they were not uncivilized, but quite the opposite. He saw that they were just as human as the Spaniards were and were no less than they were. His perception of humanity altered as a result of living with “the others.”
Julia Alvarez was an example of how a Latina writer identified herself in a new culture outside of her comfort zone. She, as a Dominican Diaspora, had to reinvent herself as she migrated into a new scenario. Her assimilation into the United States culture allowed her to understand and relate to the reader’s needs and points of interests. After all the effort, Alvarez kept in mind that she could not comfort to all the reality that she lived in, so she re-reinvented herself all over again to process her thoughts and beliefs into her life. She put her perspective on her writing so that the new wave of readers, even if they did not understand, could relate in some way and appreciate the differences. The sole purpose of her writings was for everyone to change their perspective from “walk to the other side of the street in order to avoid sharing the same sidewalk” to “I do not know them, but I do not avoid them because I do not know them”. She instilled in her reader’s mind how ordinary events were viewed differently through other cultures’ eyes. Her story Snow was a great example of how she portrayed her technique.
...ess the beauty of such unique ceremony.” As he told the very story with deep tones, he would raise his hand clutching a green blade. He said the oldest native gave it to him and that in the exchange the blade gave off light. In return the captain gave his most personal affect, his fathers pocket watch. His time with the natives he said was the best time of his life. The captain believed that the Indians were untainted beings; he said he could feel a connection between the people and believed that their power was routed by a natural energy, native to the land. But the Captain's stories were hard to take in full, the man had a thirst and he drank regularly. No matter how much he drank the captain only needed three hours of sleep to right him. He would wake up perkier than a horny pig and scold us till we joined him. With the captain gone. God to save us…