Andres Resendez’s work A Land So Strange interprets Cabeza de Vaca’s journey across America as “an extreme tale of survival” in which he was able to bridge two different worlds in order to survive. Resendez’s central argument is that Cabeza de Vaca transformed over his journey across America from a conquistador with conquering intentions to a medicine man that advocated for diplomacy and alliance with the Indians. Resendez’s interpretation of Cabeza de Vaca’s transformation and commitment to a more peaceful and kind conquest aligns with Cabeza de Vaca’s personal account at surface level, however; when Cabeza de Vaca’s intentions are evaluated from his personal account on what happened, it becomes evident that Resendez did not interpret Cabeza
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For six years he unsuccessfully did hard labor for the Indians in exchange for food. However once he escaped his master and landed on the Island of Ill Fate his path changed. On the island the natives wanted to turn Cabeza de Vaca into a physician. At first he believed it to be ridiculous because he honestly did not know how to heal. However, Cabeza de Vaca’s group of survivors developed a healing ritual where they would make the sign of a cross over the ill person’s head and then recite a Pater Noster and Ave Maria. Despite not being a medicine man he goes along with the insitance of the Indians because he has not changed and he is still the weak man who first refused to leave the ship. He is not choosing to become a medicine man because he feels divinely chosen. Instead he became a medicine man because he let the natives control him. Resendez transitioned Cabeza de Vaca into being a medicine man because of his earlier practices of healing natives on Malhado, which aligns with the primary source. In David Frye;’s translation of the primary text of Cabeza de Vaca Relacion De Vaca reveals that since God our lord had been pleased to spare me through all my hardships and illnesses and lead me at last to their company, they resolved to flee. He is so that he believes Dorantes, Castillo and Estevancio fled their enslavements because of Cabeza
For six years he unsuccessfully did hard labor for the Indians in exchange for food. However once he escaped his master and landed on the Island of Ill Fate his path changed. On the island the natives wanted to turn Cabeza de Vaca into a physician. At first he believed it to be ridiculous because he honestly did not know how to heal. However, Cabeza de Vaca’s group of survivors developed a healing ritual where they would make the sign of a cross over the ill person’s head and then recite a Pater Noster and Ave Maria. Despite not being a medicine man he goes along with the insitance of the Indians because he has not changed and he is still the weak man who first refused to leave the ship. He is not choosing to become a medicine man because he feels divinely chosen. Instead he became a medicine man because he let the natives control him. Resendez transitioned Cabeza de Vaca into being a medicine man because of his earlier practices of healing natives on Malhado, which aligns with the primary source. In David Frye;’s translation of the primary text of Cabeza de Vaca Relacion De Vaca reveals that since God our lord had been pleased to spare me through all my hardships and illnesses and lead me at last to their company, they resolved to flee. He is so that he believes Dorantes, Castillo and Estevancio fled their enslavements because of Cabeza