From A Son Of The Forest Analysis

For my analysis I decided to read and comprehend “From A Son of the Forest” by William Apess. He was the first Native American to have a published autobiography. William was the son of a Native American women and a white man, which was becoming more and more common during this time period. Other than the information provided in his autobiography, little is known of Apess’ life. He was the leader of the first Indian Rights movement, and was an activist in civil rights. Not only was Apess’ a writer and an activist, but also a preacher. He was married to King Philips granddaughter, the Wampanoag leader. This writing shares information on Williams early misfortunes. In “From A Son of the Forest” Apess discuss a few of the hardships he experienced as a small child. One of the few was the abuse his grandparents put him through. “my grandmother went out one day; she got too much rum from the whites, and on returning she not only began to scold me, but to beat me shamefully with a club…”. (page 133) Not only did his grandparents beat him, but they were also drunks according to this quote. Thankfully his uncle saves his life, and frees him from his grandparents. William had strong faith in his Christianity and he expresses this throughout his writing. His Christianity is a stout detail of his

He expresses the struggles he had throughout the years in denying sinful actions, and his age during this time period is strongly influenced him. “I was easily led astray, and once in particular, I was induced by a boy, (my senior by five or six years) to assist him in his depredations on a water melon patch belonging to one of the neighbors.”. Many people are easily convinced to do the wrong things by their elders, and William was no stranger to this. He was drifted from his believes on many occasions by sins, but eventually found his way by attending the Methodist