My first essay on English 4 ‘American Literature’: The most memorable story or description in the memoir — and why

Before I am going to jump in and answer todays essay topic, I would first like to say that I really like how Gary North first started this course with a Christian based literature (as always), which goes to show that this course is already fulfilling its promises. By that, I mean that they are teaching some accurate stuff, because western civilization was based on a Christian foundation, and since the history was based off of Christian foundation, so is the Literature that occurred during those times.

Some context for today’s essay; we read this literature by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, who was a spanish explorer of the New World, and one of four survivors of the 1527 Narváez expedition. During eight years of traveling across the US Southwest, he became a trader and faith healer to various Native American tribes before reconnecting with Spanish colonial forces in Mexico in 1536. Cabeza de Vaca has been considered notable as a proto-anthropologist for his detailed accounts of the many tribes of American Indians that he encountered. (a lot of this context I got from the biography we read about the author which is cool)

Finally, going into our today’s essay topic ‘The most memorable story or description in the memoir — and why’. The most memorable part for me was surprisingly closer to the end of the story where the Christian Spaniards (who were under the cover of American Indians) showed all the American Indian tribes what real love is and who Christians truly were in Christ. They were enslaved by Indians at first, but Cabeza de Vaca eventually became a trader and healer, which gained him some freedom. As a healer he wielded power and influence over the Indians. The process of their genuine conversion from the shared gospel and their great character example (not by FORCE!!) was the most beautiful part of this account. There were other spaniard travelers that enslaved some tribes, which was a devastating time for the tribe, but Cabeza de Vaca and his group still won them over by God’s love that flowed through them and healing the tribe through faith. The reason Cabeza de Vaca was able to know that other spaniard travelers came onto the island was that some of the indians were wearing Amulets on their hips (which is basically a belt), otherwise they would have never known, and would have never found them.

In conclusion, I’d like to happily declare that this is my last year of schooling and I’m really excited and I will still be putting in the amount of effort needed to understand the material. As I have already mentioned, this account was written by a spanish explorer by the name Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca who gave detailed description of the American Indian tribes. How their lifestyle was, how their agriculture was, how they grew crops, and etc. Cabeza de Vaca wrote his memoir of this trip to share how the gospel was shared and the dangerous journey that it took to get the Indians to convert to Christianity willingly, genuinely, and by choice.

Thanks for reading this essay! I hope you enjoyed and/or learned something new today. As always have a blessed rest of your day! I can’t wait to post more and share some exciting news with y’all soon!!!

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