La Relacion Themes

"La Relaciуn" Themes

There were many themes in the tale "La Relaciуn." One such theme was the idea of keeping your faith. Another theme was the concept of helping others in need. One final theme of story is to not judge other people. These themes played an essential role in the story of "La Relaciуn."

First, the idea of keeping your faith was a critical theme in the story. No matter how downtrodden Ð'lvar Nъсez Cabeza de Vaca and his crew were, they continued to keep their faith. Despite the fact that most of the crew was either dead of near death, de Vaca and his navigator continued to try to find a place to land the ship throughout the night. Even after landing on the shores of Galveston Island, the crew had to rely on the Indians for nourishment. Though they were almost certainly dead, they kept the faith that the Indians would continue to bring them food.

Helping others in need was also a theme in the tale. The Indians primarily represented this theme in this story. The Indians provided the food for the dejected crew. This was very much appreciated by the sailors since they had been on rations of a half of a hand of corn per person for some time. The natives also provided the sailors with shelter. In addition to food and shelter, the Indians also offered compassion when the barge had crashed the second time and three of the remaining crew drowned in the sea.

One final theme in the allegory "La Relaciуn," was the concept of not judging people. After landing upon the island, the sailors thought that the men who inhabited the island were Christian since there were cow paths on the island. The residents of the island were in fact not Christian. However, the residents did show an astounding amount of compassion toward the newcomers despite not being Christians. After seeing the inhabitants of the island, the crew viewed