Positives and Negatives of Relationships Between Cultures

The relationships between Americans and Indians began centuries ago with the first settlers and continue to this day, but as we know they certainly have changed. The European Americans were naive to believe that they could come to this “New World” and take whatever they saw fit as theirs, but without this narcissistic attitude we wouldn’t have the history we study today. In this essay we are going to examine the writings of Alvarez Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Mary Rowlandson, John Smith, and William Bradford to see where their relationships began, how they developed and how they have changed throughout history.

For years the Indians lived in this country with little or no problems, but as we read this was soon to change. They were characterized in unflattering ways often described as savages, beasts, and uncivilized and as we examine the texts will see both sides come to light. We are also going to examine the positives and negatives that were experienced, the treatment of both the Indians and the Americans, and the relationships that existed.

In The Relation, Alvarez Nunez Cabeza de Vaca writes of a very established and humanized race of Native Americans; they had rules and laws, found ways to benefit from their lack of resources, and established town-like villages. From their customs and traditions, to the way they treated each other they were quite a civilized people. Along with Cabeza de Vaca, Thomas Mayhew helped shine a friendly light upon the Indians as well as John Eliott who spent 15 years preaching and learning from the Algonquin Indians; however these were exceptions to the normal treatment that was experienced.

Cabeza De Vaca writes that for the eight months they lived with them “the Avavares always treated us well. We lived as free agents, dug our own food, and lugged our loads of wood and water. ” (32). Living among the Indians was not always an easy life but, they were not prisoners and contributed to the village. He also writes of the loyalty that existed among them “It would be unnecessary to command them to bring food, in thinking that all; for the Indians were always diligent to bring us all they could. ” (35). “And presently there came 600 Indians with all the corn they possessed…

They also brought whatever else they had. (35). In the writings of Cabeza de Vaca there is also a negative example set by Alcaraz. He wants to take the Indians as slaves and doesn’t see them as friends so he lies to them that this is what Cabeza de Vaca wanted and tries to get them to obey him. However, they knew what kind of person Cabeza was and his relationship with them so they knew this wasn’t true. Next we are going to examine two stories, The General History of Virginia…. , and Of Plymouth Plantation; the stories of both John Smith and William Bradford together to focus on two very important Indians in American history, Pocahontas and Squanto.

Both of these Indians played a vital role in helping the Americans not only escape death, but also taught them how to survive with farming and maintaining a peaceful existence with the Indians. Pocahontas aspired to create productive cross culture relationships between native and non-native Americans, but this proved extra difficult because she was a young Indian woman. Squanto on the other hand was a highly intelligent and versatile native of Patuxet who had long established relationships with European Americans. He was often mistaken as weak, but was able to see past the distrust and animosities of both the natives and non-natives.

Unfortunately, Pocahontas and Squanto died before they might have done something great for relations between natives and non-native, but what they did manage to accomplish was a great feat and is still celebrated and studied to this day. The journeys to America seemed like a great idea, but not only were they met with the trouble of starvation and disease, but they also had to contend with the reality of the Indians. John Smith’s trouble began when he was captured by the Indians, but as we read it appeared as if they had begun a peaceful coexistence that soon turned ugly.

He was fed well and treated okay, but it seems they had bigger plans for him when he was brought in front of their chief to be killed. It was at this time that Pocahontas took it upon herself to save him by laying her body upon his head, a sacrifice at that time that seemed unrealistic and dangerous. Amazingly enough a couple of days later Powhatan came to him and “told him now they were friends, and presently he should go to Jamestown to send him two great guns and a grindstone for which he would give him the country of Capahowasic and forever esteem him as his son Nantaquoud. (52) We can see by this quote not only did Smith survive, but was regarded as an important member of the tribe from that point on.

William Bradford writes that after the horrible trip to this new land it became painfully obvious that there wouldn’t be a friendly welcoming party. When they arrived in the New World they expected to be attacked by the Indians “these savage barbarians, when they met with them (as after will appear) were readier to fill their side full of arrows then otherwise”. (60) So every night they would build a barricade for protection, from both the weather and their enemy.

If it wasn’t for their faith in God they would have turned around and gone home with the amount of adversity that they had faced. They did fight with the Indians, but at some point they started keeping their distance and only stole their tools which were later returned to them by Squanto and Samoset. This kind act then helped them to negotiate a long-lasting peace agreement. Bradford described Squanto as “a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectations. ”(Findling 80) Squanto taught them to grow corn and was a key factor in making the first Thanksgiving celebration a possibility between the Europeans and the Indians.

Last we are going to examine A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson to see both a positive and negative example of the Indians. First they experienced hostility from the Indian when they burned and destroyed Mary’s village. They certainly acted like savages in this story killing anyone that they could and imprisoning anyone that was left alive. She writes, “He begged of them his life, promising them money and they told me that they would not hearken to him but shot Tim in the head, and stripped him naked, and split open his bowels. (119)

The villager’s reactions to this site including hers were to hide and try to stay alive. Rowlandson writes that she would’ve rather been killed than taken alive, but upon seeing these options she choose captivity so that she could tell of her experience. The Indians did show her some kindness once in a while. When she was no longer able to walk holding her wounded child they set them upon a horse, but soon showed their true colors once again like “inhumane creatures” when she and her child fell off the horse as they went down a steep hill.

The Indians laughed at her, they were not fed for days, were only given water, and when the child was ready to die she was told to take it out of the wigwam. They did show her some humanity by burying the child and not leaving it in the wilderness to rot or be eaten by animals. It appears in almost all the texts that we have read so far this semester that the relationships with the Native Americans have been negative with the exception of a few. The European Americans came here as a way to escape religious persecution and ended up punishing the Indians that they met during their travels for their struggles.

We can see that the Indians were not always kind to the European Americans, but in their defense it wasn’t always their fault. Many settlers came to this country with the idea that they could have anything that they wanted because this was the start of their “New World”. Unfortunately, it came at the price of many people losing their right to the freedom they so anxiously anticipated. The Europeans had a sense of entitlement to the lands that were already occupied by the Indians and the knowledge they stole on how to survive here successfully.

There could have been peace among the Europeans and the people living here, but because they forced themselves into the lives of the Indians there was a lot of war and death. If the situations had been approached with a humbler attitude the two worlds probably could have coexisted without such anger and pain.