t uses native ceremonial objects, such as the calabaza which emphasizes native shamanic authority and power.
- Arroyo, Silvia. "Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, or the Construction of a Hero through His Travels in The Journey of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca." The Image of the Road in Literature, Media, and Society. Ed. Will Wright and Steve Kaplan. Pueblo: Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery. Pueblo: Colorado State University, 2005. 78-81.
- Arroyo compares Cabeza de Vaca to a prophet whose journey has many parallels to Christianity. She argues that Cabeza de Vaca's main goal is to appear as an improved man, since on the surface his expedition failed. The Journey serves as a personal validation of the growth Cabeza de Vaca has experienced in spite of his apparent failures.
- Bishop, Morris. The Odyssey of Cabeza de Vaca. New York: Century,1933.
- Bishop's book is a biographical sketch of the life of Cabeza de Vaca that includes a retelling of Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion y Comentarios. Bishop sets his story in a historical context and includes a variety of illustrations including maps, the Cabeza de Vaca family coat of arms, and a facsimile of Cabeza de Vaca's legal appeal after his arrest. Bishop writes his work in the style of a non-fiction novel but takes most of his material from primary sources and historical documents.
- Bruce-Novoa, Juan. "Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter et al. 2nd ed. Vol.1. Lexington: Heath, 1994. 129-39.
- Bruce-Novoa's focus in this essay is in affirming Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion as "a fundamental text of Chicano literature" (4). He suggests a dual analysis of the work to affirm the meaning of Cabeza de Vaca's place in the Chicano literary heritage. First, he asserts the need for a "refocus" of traditional critical analytical approaches. Second, he says that Chicano critics need to "demonstrate how the text exerts a creative force on Chicano letters" (4). Bruce-Novoa is also concerned that the defining characteristics of Cabeza de Vaca's text are "in one way or another, our [Chicano] very own" (4). He believes that Cabeza de Vaca's experiences in the New World changed him forever and that his "American alterability distinguished him from other Spaniards" (16). Juan-Novoa concludes by asserting that Cabeza de Vaca's attributes are Chicano and Relacion represents Cabeza de Vaca's " metamorphosis" as a "founding" text of Chicano culture and literature (5).
- Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nunez. The Account: Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion. Trans. Martin Favata and Jose Fernandez. Houston: Arte Publico P, 1993.
- Favata and Fernandez's edition is a 1993 translation of Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion published in Valladolid in 1555. They provide extensive annotations on historic, geographic, and environmental issues relating to the text.
- Cebollero, Pedro. "The Double Discourse of Indian Mythicizing in Cabeza de Vaca's Naufragios." Hispanic Journal 28.1 (2007): 23-34.
- Cebollero argues that in Cabeza de Vaca's Naufragios there is a dual representation of the Amerindians, both as noble savages and as demons (having demonic attributes and as evil people). This dual discourse is based on evangelical and militaristic goals, and the two roles are not contradictory. Rather, the goals complement one another. Cebollero strengthens his argument by pointing out that the two representations are supported through a religious basis in historical Christian arguments, which he details in his work.
- Dowling, Lee. "Story vs. Discourse In the Chronicle of the Indies: Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion." Hispanic Journal 5 (1984): 89-99.
- Dowling's central argument is that many texts such as Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion create a tension for the modern reader because of the "chronicle's use of devices commonly associated with fiction and a reader's knowledge that what he is reading is not fiction but history" (89). He notes that the fictional element is a feature of "chronicle discourse" (such as Cabeza de Vaca's), therefore Cabeza de Vaca's work is of i