A seemingly large misconception when looking back on Colonial history is the idea that the Native American’s were these super-oppressed people that always got taken advantage -of and were never really able to do much in response to their oppressors. While the way that they were viewed and treated was certainly deplorable it is often overlooked at how they to as a people acted. Now you obviously have some peaceful tribes that were just minding their own business and living life and only turned hostile due to the oppression of the Europeans, but you also have some tribes that were already more rough around the edges and went about raiding and killing other tribes. While I don’t believe the main intent of Mary Rowlandson’s writing was to show us that some of these people were terrible prior to European settlement, I do believe it does shine a light in that direction. In her writing, she describes some of the awful things that her captors are willing to do to women and innocent children, provoked by nothing more than minor annoyance, this isn’t something that people are likely going to do just because of their interaction with another group of individuals unless it was somewhat already innate in their culture, to begin with. My point is that while Rowlandson’s writing does a great job at showing the importance of trusting in God to get you through the worsts times in your life, it also serves as a good piece of hindsight to view the history of the Native American’s and the European Settlers in a more finite way. 

David Stephens