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Native American influences on modern U.S. cultures
Narrative techniques
Native American influences on modern U.S. cultures
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1. Using the assigned reading from Rowlandson, and then EITHER the assigned reading by Columbus OR Cabeza de Vaca, discuss the tone and the purpose of each piece. Which piece best fulfills its purpose? Why? How does the first person narrative form help the purpose? “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” is the story of Rowlandson’s capture in 1675 by American Indians during the Kind Philips War. Her writings are very detailed as she describes her experiences. It is a blunt, yet frightening piece. You can sense her fear toward “those (as I may say) ravenous beasts” (Rowlandson, 2013, p. 129) as she writes “I had often before this said that if the Indians should come, I should choose rather to be killed by them than taken alive, but when it came the trial my mind changed” (Rowlandson, 2013, p. 129). The purpose of this piece was to give the reader a better understanding of the social relations in her society. Cabeza De Vaca’s “The Relation of Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca” has an objective tone as he describes the Native Americans and their culture. He...
On February 10, 1675, Mary Rowland was captured in Lancaster, Massachusetts. While being held captive, she narrated her experiences and tried to affirm her Puritan beliefs throughout her survival of being in captivity. She’d rather go with the “ravenous Beasts” than die because she wanted to “declare” of what was happening to her throughout her journey (70). Mary Rowlandson believed God was omniscient, forgiving, and omnipotent and it shaped her perception of the world in an affirmative way throughout all the chaos and suffering.
In "The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca", Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca’s fight for survival, while being deprived of the basic necessities of life, proves there is a change in him from the beginning of the narrative to the end. This transformation, though, affected multiple aspects of de Vaca, including his motives, character, and perspective of civilization. Cabeza de Vaca’s experience is crucial to the history of America, as well as Spain, because it was one of the first accounts that revealed a certain equilibrium between the mighty and superior Spaniard and the Indian, once the Spaniard was stripped of his noble stature. The idea of nakedness is consistent throughout the narrative and conveys the tribulations he experienced and a sort of balance between him and the Indians. The original intentions of conquering and populating the area between Florida and a northern part of Mexico quickly shifted Cabeza de Vaca’s focus to the need to survive. His encounter with different Indian tribes and ability to get along with them (no matter what the means), and then prosper as a medicine man, shows that through his beliefs in Christian faith, and in himself, he turned the failure into an unexpected success.
In “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson,” Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan mother from Lancaster, Massachusetts, recounts the invasion of her town by Indians in 1676 during “King Philip’s War,” when the Indians attempted to regain their tribal lands. She describes the period of time where she is held under captivity by the Indians, and the dire circumstances under which she lives. During these terrible weeks, Mary Rowlandson deals with the death of her youngest child, the absence of her Christian family and friends, the terrible conditions that she must survive, and her struggle to maintain her faith in God. She also learns how to cope with the Indians amongst whom she lives, which causes her attitude towards them to undergo several changes. At first, she is utterly appalled by their lifestyle and actions, but as time passes she grows dependent upon them, and by the end of her captivity, she almost admires their ability to survive the harshest times with a very minimal amount of possessions and resources. Despite her growing awe of the Indian lifestyle, her attitude towards them always maintains a view that they are the “enemy.”
In Mary Rowlandson, “A Captivity Narrative”, Rowlandson recounts her experiences as a captive of the Wampanoag tribe. The tribe took captives from Lancaster in 1676 because of the ongoing violent altercations between the English colonists and Native Americans during King Philip’s War. Since many of the Native Americans brethren had fallen in battle, they saw it fit to take English folk captive and use them to take the place of their fallen brethren, trading/ransom pieces, or killing them in revenge. This was becoming a common practice for the Native Americans to attack villages and in result, some English started fleeing the area or started to retaliate. Rowlandson was a Puritan wife and mother, in her
...ve Indians. From the copious use of examples in Winthrop's work, and the concise detail in Rowlandson's narrative, one can imbibe such Puritans values as the mercy of God, place in society, and community. Together, these three elements create a foundation for Puritan thought and lifestyle in the New World. Though A Model of Christian Charity is rather prescriptive in its discussion of these values, Rowlandson's captivity narrative can certainly be categorized as descriptive; this pious young woman serves as a living example of Winthrop's "laws," in that she lives the life of a true Puritan. Therefore, both 17th century works are extremely interrelated; in order to create Winthrop's model community, one must have faith and closely follow Puritan ideals, as Rowlandson has effectively done in her A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.
Texas Indians were very unique in their culture and way of life. The Texas Indians had a unique social order; physical appearance, acquired subsistence in many different ways, and had many unique cultural practice. As a result, many historians study the native Indians in Texas with awe and amazement. With a deep and interesting analysis of the Texas Indians, historians can understand the people; and their way of life. Based on the text, “La Relacion” which was written by Alvar Nunez de Vaca, an analysis of said subject can be conducted.
The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles by John Smith, portrays the enormous troubles the settlers were faced with by the Native Americans. He explains how he was captured by Indians and also saved by a young Native American girl, Pocahontas. He vividly describes the ceremonies and rituals of the Natives performed before his execution. However, the execution never occurred due to the tremendous mercy showed by the king’s daughter who blanketed John Smith’s body her own. Pocahontas went on to persuade the Native Americans to help the settlers by giving them food and other necessities. Despite her efforts to reach peaceful grounds, her people were still bitter and planned an attacks on the colony. Nevertheless, Pocahontas saved them once again by warning the settlers of attacks. Pocahontas went on to marry an Englishman and traveled to England. She resembled the prosperity and good that was to be found in an untamed land.
The Black Legend and White Legend: Relationship Between the Spanish and Indians in the New World
The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson is a personal account, written by Mary Rowlandson in 1682, of what life in captivity was like. Her narrative of her captivity by Indians became popular in both American and English literature. Mary Rowlandson basically lost everything by an Indian attack on her town Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1675; where she is then held prisoner and spends eleven weeks with the Wampanoag Indians as they travel to safety. What made this piece so popular in both England and America was not only because of the great narrative skill used be Mary Rowlandson, but also the intriguing personality shown by the complicated character who has a struggle in recognizing her identity. The reoccurring idea of food and the word remove, used as metaphors throughout the narrative, could be observed to lead to Mary Rowlandson’s repression of anger, depression, and realization of change throughout her journey and more so at the end of it.
Mary Rowlandson was a pretentious, bold and pious character. Her narrative did not make me feel sorry for her at all, which is strange since she really did go through a lot. During the war, the Narragansett Indians attacked Lancaster Massachusetts, and burned and pillaged the whole village. During the siege Mary and her six year old child were shot, she watched her sister and most of her village either burn or get shot. She was kept as a captive, along with her three children and taken with the Narragansett’s on their long retreat. The exposition of the story is set immediately. The reader is perfectly aware of Missus Rowlandson’s status and religious beliefs. She constantly refers to the Narragansetts in an incredibly condescending way, to the point that you know that she does not even consider them human. She paints them as purely evil pe...
...his cauldron of powerful themes were heavily evident in the ways in which Spanish conquistadors treated Native peoples of the Americas. In the book Wonder and Exile in the New World by Alex Nava the elements of wonder, exile, deprivation and to an extent religion are shown to be driving forces that led to many beneficial and negative transgressions. The analysis of the adventures of Cabeza de Vaca and Las Casas proves that such elements do have the power to revolutionize a person’s way of life. In all, by understanding the different themes and concepts entwined in Nava’s book it is easy to comprehend a new appreciation and identification about the fact that many components throughout history have been at play in shaping today’s modern world.
Interestingly although she feared and reviled the Indians she states that not one of them offered the least abuse of unchastity to her. Her captors never sexually molested or violated her. Rowlandson learned to adapt and strove to make it thought her captivity alive. She learned how to gather food for herself. Tolerate the ways of the Indians, and make clothes for the tribe. She even decided to stay with the Indians when given the chance to escape. “Rowlandson refused them choosing to stay put and let God choose when she was fully redeemed and ready to be released”
One of the early works were the accounts and recorded stories of many Spanish conquistadors who discovered new lands, people and life in the occidental continents. An example of this is "The Account" by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, a point of view of the 'New World' from the eyes of a foreigner, contrary to modern Latino/a literature which is written from this racial group themselves. In his work he writes about the travels from Spain to Trinidad, the strong stormy weather, its consequences and the details of the encounters and life with the indians. This exposes the fact that Latino culture is not directly from Spanish origin but also is from a more primitive and native base. "The Account" also narrates the events were the tables are turned between the racial groups, we can see this especially when the indians capture Cabeza de Vaca and other Spaniards and they are mistreated by these natives for their intrusion. Eventually they learn how to be part of the tribe but still se...
The will to survive under excruciating circumstances is human instinct; therefore Mary Rowlandson learns in order to survive, she must play along the lines of the Native Americans while grasping her faith in God: “I should choose rather to be killed by them than taken alive, but when it came to the trail my mind changed; their glittering weapons so daunted my spirit, that I chose rather to go along with those (as I may say) beasts, than that moment to end my days…” (129-130). The theme of survival plays a serious, if not the greatest role in Mary Rowlandson’s “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson”. Survival is depicted for one through King Phillip’s war in Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1965-1966 between the English
Though this would mean their actions, as cruel as Rowlandson believes them to be, are in actuality God’s transgressions. By incident, readers are inordinately confronted with this seemingly paradoxical situation in the fifth remove again. Mary Rowlandson comes close to being rescued as the English army had chanced upon the Native American captors. Unfortunately, the river ruined that opportunity, and Rowlandson in her recall of the fluke, writes