Cultural Bias
Rowlandson’s account of the Native Americans portrays them as heathen savages or “wild beasts of the forest.” Her narrative conjures images of untamed beasts, “roaring, and singing and dancing, and yelling,” whose unchecked, undisciplined nature is the antithesis of all things Christian and decent. Rowlandson also uses various phrases and allusions to link the Native Americans with the Christian concept of evil. In her eyes, the Indians are “hell hounds” and “black creatures in the night,” who made the wilderness she was forced to travel “a lively resemblance of hell.”
Rowlandson’s interpretation of the Indians as savage and frightening is justifiable in some respects. After all, the events leading up to her capture were terrifying, and Rowlandson lost not only neighbors but also her sister. When describing the attack, Rowlandson depicts a scene from hell. While the town burned, the attackers “shot” some of the settlers while the enemy stabbed others with spears or ” knocked down with their hatchets.” One man was left not quite dead after being “chopped into the head with a hatchet.” While still alive, he was “stripped naked, even as he was “crawling up and down” the ground.
Rowlandson’s experiences are not the only thing that color her narrative; the prejudices of her own Christian culture also play their part. For although in the seventeenth century, skin color did not define cultural superiority, how society organized itself and the religion it adhered to played a significant role in determining whether it was civilized or barbaric. Even before King Philip’s war, the Puritan Christian settlers were judging the Native Americans against their own ridged cultural benchmark and finding them wanting. So, no matter how helpful or resourceful the Native Americans were, they would always be ‘heathen’ – and so less than ‘god’s chosen people.’
For this reason, Rowlandson simply could not acknowledge any kindness, however, small shown to her by her captors. In her memoir, she showed no gratitude to the warrior who put her and her dying daughter, on horseback when he realized Rowlandson could no longer carry the child. Instead, Rowlandson chose to concentrate on the laughter of her other captors when she fell off the horse. Nor did Rowlandson acknowledge the empathy some of the Native Americans showed after Sarh’s death when they helped to bury the little girl. Instead, she universally derided them as ‘pagans‘ and “merciless enemies.
This attitude becomes more marked during Rowlandson’s time as a slave in the Indian camps. Despite some harshness, many of the Native Americans showed her kindness and respect for her work. One warrior, on his return from the Medfield Fight’ gifted Rowlandson a Bible he had plundered. Rowlandson’s response is to complain of her distress because she had “No Christian near me.” It is as if her captors are not quite human. Certainly, Rowlandson does feel able to empathize with them as fellow humans. When Weetamoo’s baby died, Rowlandson’s could only note: “there was one benefit in it-that there was more room.” Weetamoo then gathered “a company to mourn and howl with her. ” I could not much condole with them,” Rowlandson confessed.