Cabeza De Vaca Narrative Analysis

The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca is an autobiographical account of the eponymous Spanish explorer’s eight year journey of survival in a strange land which provides a detailed description of the vast terrain, multifarious wildlife, and the diverse cultures of the early Americas. The importance of this unique piece lies within the writing’s function as a gateway providing a glimpse into the cultures of the indigenous people of the Americas as the first recorded confrontation and intermingling between the Europeans and the Native Americans. Cabeza de Vaca was one of the first few Europeans to live among the Native Americans and actually adapt to the cultures of the Native Americans. However, the Spaniards’ steps towards this partial cultural assimilation were driven by the unconscious, evolutionary incentive of survival. This driving force taints and complicates these survivors’ attitude transformations and cause Cabeza de Vaca’s opinions to fluctuate throughout the narrative. …show more content…
Shortly after the narrator refers to the Native Americans as fellow humans, Cabeza de Vaca continues to express this sense of fellowship in his concern for the Native Americans after they fled their homes due to the arrival of Spaniard explorers. After seeing the condition of the natives, a sight which “greatly disturbed and saddened” the Spanish survivors, the narrator states that they promised these peoples’ behalf to their fellow Spaniards “to tell them that they should not kill them or take them as slaves, nor should they take them out of their lands, nor should they do them any harm whatsoever” (Cabeza de Vaca 155-156). Cabeza de Vaca shows sincere interest in the welfare of the Native Americans which is consistent with the prior humanitarian attitude towards the