I was born here but my parents came here from Palestine. Although I am an American citizen, I identify myself as Palestinian American. Because of this I see new experiences and people as good rather than different. I am a child of the Americas because of my dual identity. La Relación is an account of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca’s time in the New World. In 1527 he left Spain on an expedition for the King. A year later on November 6 they had crashed by present day Galveston, Texas. Of the six hundred men he brought, fifteen had survived the trip. In De Vaca’s time his account was to be given to the King, knowing that he knew that it must make himself look good. To do this de Vaca portrays himself as a man of God stating “We did not sink because…show more content… In 1756, he was kidnapped by slave traders at the age of eleven. Equiano saw the White men as horrible people he says “the white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among any people such instances of brutal cruelty: and this not only shown toward us blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves (73). If they had treated each other badly there is no knowing what they would do to him. In contrast, on the trip from Africa to Barbados he encountered many new things that peaked his curiosity portraying himself as child. He tells us that “(looking through a quadrant) The clouds appeared to me to be land, which disappeared as they passed along. This heightened my wonder: and now I was more persuaded than ever, that I was in another world, and that every thing about me was magic” (75). We see a change in Equiano's views of his situation. He went from fearing the White men to realizing that maybe his situation was not as bad as he thought. This change shows growth in who he is by making him see how new encounters are beneficial rather than damaging. This new growth contrasts de Vaca’s views of the Indians, but Equiano’s experience also supports my dual
