Cabeza De Vaca Rhetorical Analysis

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer who set sail for the new world in 1527. During his trip unfortunately, he lost most of his fleet and was among a handful of survivors. He arrived in North America the following year in 1528 and made a journey that started in present day Texas, following to New Mexico, Arizona and Mexico for nearly 8 years. During this time period he wrote many documents including “Indians of the Rio Grande”, where he describes the Native American culture, among other findings for his personal diary. Cabeza de Vaca describes a fruit called “tunas” and their significance among the Native Americans. This fruit as he mentions grows on cactus or “nopales” which only grow in a dry desert climate and are highly popular among present day Mexican culture. He also mentions large herds of cattle, this sign indicates that there was prior contact with Europeans in that region. Cabeza de Vaca finds it important to record not only the foods and behavior of Native Americans, but also the treatment they received. He mentions that they are seen as medicine men, although he confesses to himself that he has

Although a prisoner of the Indians, he never shared a negative point of view towards them; because overall they helped each other. Towards the end of the document, he describes going on a distinct mission with a handful of Natives in search of Christians. He goes as far to describe that he was almost seen as a Native by a few Christians they came across, due to his attire and company. A leader such as himself admits to coexisting with Natives Americans, who serve a different religion and are considered savages (according to back then). This confession once again makes his personal experience/document highly reliable because there are no filters what’s so ever regarding his