Columbus/Cabeza de Vaca Lit. Response

Between the times of 1492 and 1504, Christopher Columbus made four voyages to find a convenient Atlantic route to Asia. During his voyages, he had a lot of hardships and many disasters occurred. Columbus writes a letter to Luis de Santangel to inform him on his first voyage. In the letter, he tells Santangel his journey and what he has been through. Columbus establishes logos in his letter. His reason for going on the voyage was to discover quicker ways to get to Asia and he tells Santangel where he has been, what he’s seen, and how close he’s getting to learning a route. Therefore, his reason for writing was recognized. Ethos was established because Columbus told him how he felt about some situations, also relating to pathos.
In the letter Columbus wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella during his first voyage, he touched all of the elements in the rhetorical triangle: pathos, ethos, and logos. I felt that was a more personal letter. Columbus uses “Your Highnesses” and refers to God often, making this letter contain more emotion. He tells exactly what he’s going through and how he feels. He says things like he is about to die and how he has nothing but gray hair on his body. Pathos is definitely established in this letter. Ethos is established because he writes this letter like it’s his personal journal creating credibility. His story is believable and sincere. Columbus gives us specific details on what he doing and what he’s going through thus establishing logos. He wanted to inform them on his voyage to Asia, which he did.
During the year of 1540, a man named Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca finished his first narrative on the Narvaez expedition back to the New World (South America). In this Narrative, Cabeza de Vaca also establishes all the elements of the rhetorical triangle. This narrative contained ethos because he shows a lot of character by expressing his feelings throughout the passage. He also explains a lot of events that happened or that he observed while he was there making his story believable. This also leads to logos. He had a purpose for writing this and it was to inform the reader on the experiences he had been through and the people and cultures that he had studied. He gives out specific details and examples for his audience in picture in their minds. The letter contained pathos because the author uses first person though he is informative. Cabeza de Vaca refers to God making the piece more personal.