The Sovereignty and Goodness of God by Mary Rowlandson recounts her experience of being captured by a group of Native Americans. Rowlandson's description of this trek is very subjective and reflects his personal beliefs as well as the values ​​of the time. This becomes especially clear to the reader in his descriptions of Native Americans and their practices. Rowlandson portrays Native Americans as an uncivilized people who have no rights to the land they occupy. She achieves this by dehumanizing them through her descriptions and presenting them as a “savage” and “pagan” people. This is a clear reflection on his religious beliefs and it can be inferred that Rowlandson believed that the Puritan belief system was the only "true" way to live and that Native Americans had no share in "civil" society ". Say no to plagiarism. . Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay One of the main ways in which Rowlandson shows his belief that Native Americans are not fit for civil society is by metaphorically presenting them as wild animals and thereby dehumanizing them. An example of this appears early in the narrative (after the initial attack in which she is captured), when Rowlandson describes seeing "...so many Christians lying in their blood, some here and some there, like a company of sheep torn apart by wolves. All stripped naked by a company of hellhounds, roaring, singing, declaiming and insulting, as if they wanted to tear out our hearts; yet the Lord, by his omnipotence, has preserved a certain number of us from death…” (70). This passage reflects both Rowlandson's religious and societal beliefs. It can be inferred from this part of her account that she views herself and other Christians as a domestic herd of quiet and peaceful animals or more precisely as the herd of God's chosen people, while the Native Americans are presented as the wolf destroying these “innocents”. " sheep. Later in the quote, she turns the Native Americans into hellhounds and presents a chaotic and horrific picture of the destruction inflicted on the village. What is striking about this particular passage is the way it dehumanizes the Native Americans while describing them as ungodly He accomplishes this on two different levels by saying that the Indians are like wolves, and more subtly by using biblical language emphasizing the fact that Rowlandson and his people are creatures of God. and that the natives are hellhounds This reinforces the idea throughout the narrative that Native Americans are not suited to civil society, but are a violent and savage people who would kill members of the chosen people of. God There are many examples of Rowlandson's dehumanization of the Indians, based on religious beliefs, throughout his narrative. Another such example is found in his description of his first night with the Indians and how “…. the songs, the dances and the cries of these black creatures in the night… made this place a vivid resemblance to hell” (71). This passage also illustrates Rowlandson's ability to portray the natives as wild beasts. The language emphasizes the fact that these people do not practice civil ceremonies, but rather behave like savages. What is even more striking, however, is his comparison of the entire scene to hell. She actually says the Native American ceremony is akin to her religion's conception of hell. This illustrates Rowlandson's inability to see beyondhis own puritan values ​​and to see the tradition at work in the Indian ceremony. She is unable to accept other belief systems and cultures without making comparisons to her own personal belief system, which affirms not only the importance of those beliefs in her society, but also how unaccepting her society was. not values ​​different from his own. It could be argued that the reason Rowlandson portrays the natives as terrible, "savage" people is because they have just destroyed their village and killed many of their friends. Certainly, this justifies the indignation she felt. However, from the description she gives, it seems that there is more than just anger towards the Indians: there is a belief that they are an inherently inferior people. This is evident in the way she dehumanizes Indians, but never fails to emphasize that they are a pagan people. This once again reaffirms the fact that she considers herself on a higher moral platform than Native Americans. This ingrained belief that her society is God's chosen, and therefore morally superior, becomes evident when she notes "God's strange providence in preserving the pagans..." (79). She is genuinely amazed that God would preserve a class of people who are in her opinion "savages", which clearly reflects her belief that the Puritan people are the only ones who can rightfully claim this Earth because they are chosen by God. . Rowlandson's point becomes even clearer when she recounts some "remarkable passages of providence..." in which she once again betrays her disbelief that "God strengthened [the Indians] to be a scourge for his people” (104-105). Once again, we are reminded of the fact that his puritan society is ordained by God, while the natives are merely an affliction to this civil culture. All of this betrays the fact that Rowlandson and others in his society considered themselves a superior civilization and that those who differed from their beliefs were "heathen" and unfit for civilized society. Additionally, the belief that native people were a “scourge” on society underscores the fact that the Puritans viewed them as expendable people, with no right to the land they lived on. The fact that Rowlandson never stops to examine the idea that all men may be God's people and have the same right to live on the earth, but instead can only see the Indians as in a “wild” light, further confirms this idea. A problematic aspect of this account is that it cannot provide any other perspective on the matter. Rowlandson is never able to step back and consider the capture in the context of other events happening at the time. All she is able to see is the fact that the natives committed an atrocity against her people, but she never considers the atrocities committed by the Europeans against the natives or even the fact that the Indians inhabited the land before the Puritan settlers. This could perhaps be explained by the earlier discussion of her being unable to see Indians on an equal social platform, which leads her to feel no remorse for their plight - all that she is capable of seeing, he is a “pagan”. “wild” people. Through his narrative, we can see that Native Americans strive just as hard as their society to thrive and survive, but there is never an objective look at this fact. The only examination of this issue is through the religious prism of Rowlandson, who only suggests that the Indians struggle because they are not a "civilized" people and,)..