Rochelle Latouche

Essay 1: Native Misconceptions

Before I enrolled in this class, I had taken a lower level Early American Literature course at a community college. My professor featured literature primarily written by white Christians and presented a few captivity stories involving African Americans. Minority literature was hardly mentioned. To my surprise, this course has presented a more multicultural view of the beginning of America. The minority that has been displayed more frequently in this class is the Native Americans. I have read texts by Native Americans that reveal the overlooked perspectives of past Native Americans. Alternately, I have read several stories that were written about Native Americans that show the common perceptions about them in Early Colonial America. The texts written about Native Americans either portrays them as victims, villains, or heroes, which is part of an objective we covered. Because of these enlightening texts involving Native Americans, I have reassessed my ideas on which America I think should be taught.

The first piece of literature involving Native Americans that gave me insight to their depiction and role was written by none other than Benjamin Franklin. I had thought that most of the white males of the Colonial time thought negatively about the Native Americans. I especially thought that a framer of the constitution in which Native Americans are hardly mentioned would not give much thought to them. When I read Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America, my skewed beliefs about the founding fathers of our country were adjusted. Benjamin Franklin appeared to be an advocate for the Native American’s lifestyle and satirizes the early white Christians who did not practice what they preached. He states, “Savages we call them, because their manners differ from ours, which we think the perfection of civility. They think the same of theirs.” Benjamin Franklin is not only discreetly questioning our views about Native Americans, but he is essentially insinuating that we are equal on a particular level in that we both think our cultures are better. Through his remarks, Franklin acknowledges that the Native Americans could have the right way of life, because to him, they are living by the golden rule more than the Christians who are trying to convert them. This notion came as a shock to me because I did not believe that a white male would promote the “savages.” They are relatively portrayed as heroic victims. They are victims because they are frowned upon by the whites, yet they are heroic because they more often practice what they preach.

Benjamin Franklin was not the only white male who appeared to have affection for the Native Americans. Phillip Freneau displays his admiration for the Native American’s through his description of their burying rituals. He wrote, “Not so the ancients of these lands/                                       The Indian, when from life released,/ Again is seated with his friends,/ And shares again the joyous feast.” He speaks of the Native American’s burial rituals as though they are admirable and grand. He claims they share a “joyous” feast with their dead friends by being buried sitting upright. Not many white males romanticized the Native Americans practices and rituals like this. One reason Freneau may have done this was because the Native Americans were not a threat anymore; he wrote this years after the Native Americans were prevalent in America. He essentially romanticized the Native Americans. Would he have spoken so heroically about their practices if they were still abundant in America?

Mary Jemison also defied my ideas about Native American captivity narratives. When compared to Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, Mary Jemison’s appears a lot more appreciative of the Native Americans who happened to slaughter her family. Granted, Jemison spoke her narrative later in her life and decades after the initial captivity, but one would think she might be a little bitter still. When speaking of her captivity, Jemison states, “ I had then been with the Indians four summers and four winters, and had become so far accustomed to their mode of living, habits and dispositions, that my anxiety to get away, to be set at liberty, and leave them, had almost subsided. With them was my home; my family was there, and there I had many friends…” This is quite an odd statement coming from someone who was kidnapped from their family. The fact that Jemison was forgiving and accepting of the Native Americans makes me question how villainous they truly were. She did get captured as a teenager and was more able to adapt to their customs, but she still knew morality and truth, yet she somehow comes to terms with the Native American’s cruel actions. Was it because she was young or because she told her story years after the incident and had time to reflect? Was she brainwashed or did the Native Americans really have the ideal way of life? These are questions that cannot be answered but can lead to an educated guess.

Another text that defied my ideas about Native Americans was written by Samuel Occum. After reading La Relacion by Cabeza De Vaca, I felt like the Native Americans merely humored the missionaries who tried to convert them and did not truly believe in the Christian religion, or the Native Americans perhaps accepted that the Christian God was just one of their many gods. Samuel Occum changed my views because he not only devoted his life to Christ and God, but he spread the word to other Native Americans and even assisted in creating a college that would teach Native Americans Christian ways. In A Short Narrative of My Life, Occum claims that, “I had a Stronger Desire Still to Learn to read the Word of God, and at the Same Time had an uncommon Pity and Compassion to my Poor Brethren according to the Flesh. I used to wish I was capable of Instructing my poor Kindred.” Occum claims that he wanted to learn more about God and he also wanted to essentially convert his family members. His role as a Christian missionary challenged the beliefs I had about Native Americans resisting Christianity.

As I have mentioned in other posts of this class, not only have I been misinformed about the Native Americans my entire life, but I have also not heard a whole lot of information about them during my educational journey. Alternately, this class has admitted me more information about the Native American perception and perspective. Because of the variety of texts and perspectives, I have received a well- rounded view on what the roles and lifestyles of the Native Americans were in Early Colonial times.

Overall, the roles of the Native Americans varied depending upon the person who was writing about them. Mary Rowlandson depicted them as villains because they murdered members of her family and captured her. Mary Jemison thought they were family because they treated her with respect and loyalty (only after murdering her family). Ben Franklin and Phillip Freneau showed a type of admiration towards the Native Americans. Samuel Occum, a Native American himself, felt that Native American’s religious beliefs, or lack of, were skewed and tried to teach them his idea of the right way, which was the white man’s common religion of Christianity. These authors have depicted Native Americans as either heroic, villainous, or victims. I believe them to be all of the above, just like any other culture. There are the good people and the bad people, and I think that all roles should be taught so people can create their own ideas based off of various pieces of evidence.

My research drove me towards the same conclusion. I researched the Karankawas in my first post and was enlightened about their villainous acts as well as their roles as the victims. The Karankawas produced malicious acts towards the Europeans, but I cannot say that these acts were not provoked. Once again, the Native Americans were good and bad. I felt that in my midterm when I wrote about Ortiz’s poem, I may have been a little on the extreme side when I provided my conclusion about the Native Americans. They have been left out of a lot of history, but they also are not as angelic as I may have proclaimed them to be. After reflecting on the texts involving Native Americans, I realize that they are human, and they have their virtues and their vices.