Question

After reviewing "The Great Indian Debate," use the information provided in the quotes to compare and contrast Mary Rowlandson's characterization of Native Americans with Benjamin Franklin's characterization. (200-250 words)

Answer 1

After reviewing “The Great Indian Debate,” it is recorded that Mary Rowlandson, being a victim of the attacks of the Indians, then wrote a realistic description of the time she spent living with the Native Americans (it was 11 weeks and 5 days). This vivid description was written in Mrs. Mary Rowlandson’s short book titled, “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.

Answer 2

As a victim of the Indian attacks, Mary Rowlandson wrote a vivid description of the eleven weeks and five days she spent living with Native Americans. She endured hunger, exhaustion, and bitter cold, while forced to travel on foot or on horseback over 150 miles and be a servant for her enemy captors. The chronicle of her journey is the first captivity narrative found in Puritan literature. A captivity narrative is a personal and historical account of capture and captivity told in retrospect, most often by a woman. Rowlandson's thinking, deeply embedded in Puritan theology, was that she was able to patiently endure her evil circumstance through her religious faith, expressed by quoting scripture in trust of God's salvation. She was eventually redeemed by her captors and returned home. Satisfying her readers' curiosity about the torment of her captivity among heathens. The first statement of Franklin’s essay offers the challenge that the natives believe themselves to be civil, which was the same belief the colonists had of themselves. Then in the next statement, Franklin reveals his tolerance and respect by referring to the culture as “different nations.” Any conversation recounted in the essay indicates the speaker’s tribe. The more prevalent public opinion reflected an intolerance of native culture by referring to all tribal nations as one group, savages, which idea ignored all diversity in language, customs, dress, and worship.