Christians Being Savage By Mary Rowlandson

When Christians began coming to the new land, they perceived that Native Americans to be savages, those of monstrous, no faith in god, uncivilized, and barbarian mannerisms. As tension grew between the Natives and the new settlers over the taking of land and mistreatment of Natives, lead to a series of Indians wars and most notably the King Philips War. During one of the attacks carried out by the Natives during the King Phillips War, Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan was captured and held captive for 11weeks. Her preconceived ideas of Natives being savages seemed to have slightly changed during her time spent held captive and in her ability to survive amongst them. Through her description of the Natives in her writings, it shows that the division

“It’s a solemn sight to see so many Christians lying in their blood, some here, some there, like a company of sheep torn by wolves.” She metaphorically describes the Christians as sheep, which by nature are calmer, non violent and can be easily tamed. She uses wolves to describe the Natives, which are aggressive and violent by nature. Natives were thought to be violent by nature and by lack of faith and structure in their societies’. This comparison of the Natives and the Christians clearly shows her perception of them as violent and uncivilized

“One of the Indians that came from Medfield fight, had brought some plunder, came to me, and asked me, if I would have a Bible, he had got one in his Basket. I was glad of it, and asked him, whether he thought the Indians would let me read? he answered yes”. One Native was kind enough to give her a bible that she most greatly appreciated. The Native having no use for it could have just thrown the bible away but instead decided to give it to Mary. This gift to her gave her the spiritual healing she needed to get through this ordeal. This is not the characteristic of a savage or monstrous human, but that one of who is kind hearted and respectful of the beliefs of others. Living in the wilderness and having to hunt for food are a few of the reasons the Christians deemed the Natives to be savages and less than human. What the Christians viewed as savagery, were the Natives traditions and ways of survival. For Mary, she must adapt and learn to live the way the Natives do to survive in the wild, for she has always lived indoors with furnishing, in comfort. “I asked him to give me a piece: What, sayes he, can you eat Horse-liver I told him, I would try, if he would give a piece, which he did, and I laid it on the coals to roast; but before it was half ready they got half of it away from me, so that I was fain to take the rest and eat it as it