Cabeza de Vaca & Christopher Columbus

Cabeza de Vaca

The author has a very distinguished way of writing these articles. He delivers them in a specific first person perspective in order to help us with an understading of how everything happens. He did good job of this by using the certain diction and by indicating that he is educated on the subject and knows exactly what he is talking about. It helps the viewers understand the real situation. I will explain a couple of the ways that he used in order to speak to the audience in such ways.

The author describes certain things like their weaponry by saying, "The weapons are bows and arrows, which they use with great dexterity." Also described their appearance with all of their piercing and other body art. By doing this he allowed the readers and audience to take a peak into the lives of this ancient societ. This may interest some people and historians while also giving interesting little facts that lots of people may not know about until they read this passage. It is a good choice and may appeal to plenty of people's logos.

They also describe certain customs that were in place back then and what the people were used to. For example, when a woman gets married she must take everything from her husband and bring it back to her father's house. They must bring everything. After this has taken place, the paretns may not visit the new couples house and the couple must respectively do the same. This estalishes the two separate couples in their new lives. It's a good way for the author to describe how the tribes worked in the way of getting "newly weds" out on their own. It describes how they expand, which is an important role in the growth of a civilization.

In the end, the author did a good job of describing the lifestyle of that particular section of society. It gave an insight of what the world wa really like. By being so descriptive and using such diction, while also appealing to certain ethos, pathos, and logos. They made good points and provided us with the information that many yearn for.


Christopher Columbus

The author gave us little tidbits about Christopher Columbus; jouryney through a gerat part of his travels. They included a personal letter from him to Luis de Santagel regarding his first exploration voyage. They also included a letter from Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella about this fourth voyage. This can cause good points to come about as to why he described something the way that he did and how he did so. Good idea by the author to attempt to strike a nerve with this tactic.

The letter from Columbus to Santagel may have been a bit controversial. I say this because many people believe different things about who really discovered the new world and how. Many believe that it was the Vikings while others believe that it really was Columbus. All of this brings up good points for argument's sake. This may be a good way to appeal to certain people's logos and pathos by using actual facts that people may be passionate about. By bringing up such points he kept the audience interested to finish the article so that they could be knowledgeable and and would be able to more easily plea their case in a debate. Good decision by the author.

A good idea that the author used was to provide a second letter from Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella about his fourth voyage. This provided a second point of a view from which Columbus could be observed. It showed his respect for both Fferdinand and Isabella by referring to them as "Your Highnesses." He explained the history he had with them and the past that they shared. The author allowed the audience to see the kind of relationship that they had but showing us this. This may play a big part in affecting how Columbus went on about his business after that.

The author proved that there were two different sides to Christopher Columbus. The had a personal side and a respective side. The author touched on a certain topci with these by using the exact letters that were used. They were set up so that you can see one side of the man and learn about that, and then see the other side and be allowed to get a little bit of a sneak peak into his side of his explorations. It helped give him credibility while allowing him to throw a personal touch a sense to it that only certain authors can do.