Puritanism And The Native People - Coursework Example

Puritanism and the Native People William Bradford sees Indians as noble savages who should be punished for treating other people in bad ways. Though William Bradford is portrayed as a very pious man, his Christian values are not portrayed in his behavior towards the Indians and less fortunate people. On one hand he praises God for His care during the journey while on the other hand, he comments that it pleased God to smite a young man with a terrible illness, which seems to imply that he had a revengeful heart contrary to his Christian belief where we should not rejoice during other peoples misery, though they have wronged us.

The man in the story had been offending and speaking in an evil manner to the people on the ship but this did not mean he died for revenge.Mary Rowlandson sees native Indians as bad Indians and this is because they burnt her home, killed her friends and family and took her into captivity, and this could have been a cause for her to create bitterness in her heart towards them. She does not seem to have been treated with the cruelty that her other prisoners are given probably due to the fact that she complies with what she is told to do.

She acknowledges that it is God who has made every positive thing to happen. She notes that the Indians had been preserved by God to facilitate the punishment of her backslidden members of her family and people due to the evil things they have done. She acknowledges that God is ready to save always and gives an example of her spiritual reawakening after such a harrowing experience in the hands of the Indians. She also portrays anti Christian attitude by asserting that her race was superior to the Indians.

She does not show Christian character when she does not empathize with the death of an Indian woman’s child. John Smith attitude towards the Indians had a mixture of negative and positive aspects. He liked the Indians because they fed him and because they were gifted in the expansion of trade with Europe and especially King Powhatan who wanted to expand His Kingdom. He had a internal dislike for the Indians because he considered them to be smarter than he was and depended on their help to survive in an era that was full of violence.

His attitude towards the native people expresses the truest description because it expresses their negative and positive sides, which is right because people cannot be perfect and they have their good and bad sides.Work CitedRowlandson, Mary. Puritanism, Indians and Witchcraft, 2011. A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson