Father Laforgue, like all the French Jesuits, has traveled over to the 'New World' on a mission to convert as many of the Native Americans to Catholicism as possible. He believes that by converting all those that he can, he will become a martyr to his people and go directly to heaven when he dies. He also believes that these 'savages' are controlled by the devil, and by converting them he will be successfully saving their souls. Laforgue wants to understand the Indians in order to "save the savages' souls." But he has a severely skewed vision. The lodges the Indians build for shelter at night

All of these differences in culture and religion created vastly different perceptions of one another. Both groups thought of themselves as the superior race. The Jesuits were dogmatic and unswervingly convinced that they were right to try and convert the Natives, while the natives were convinced that the Jesuits were trying to capture their spirits and destroy them. The Native Americans perceived the Jesuits as private, deceitful and greedy in their ways. They did not believe them to care about anything but themselves, which created a distrustful anger inside of the Native Americans. The Jesuits thought of them as dirty creatures with no moral values who were possessed by the devil. This created a greater necessity to try and convert all the Native Americans that they could.

Father Laforgue and Daniel endure many hardships. Rough terrain and freezing weather are the minimal hazards in this journey, in comparison with protecting themselves from the enemy Iroquois Indians and their fellow Alogonquian. Some of the Indians believe that the "Black-robe", as they call Laforgue and the rest of the priests, are sorcerers sent to capture their spirits, which creates more of a difficulty for the French Jesuits. During their journey, Daniel falls in love with one of the Indian girls and tries to become part of the tribe they are traveling with so he could marry her. Daniel begins to become more like a Native American, while losing sight of the Christian values and beliefs through every passing day.

The Native Americans and Jesuits had differing views on the concept of public and private as well. The Native Americans shared everything they had with one another and did not believe in personal property. They all ate together, slept together and lived openly. Before the French settled the land, they did not have any concept of what private property meant. When the Jesuits would not share their belongings with them, they viewed that as a hostile act. The Native Americans believed that when the Priests were praying alone, especially in sanctuary, that they were up to no good. The Native Americans viewed all the French as greedy and selfish for not sharing their goods. But that brought on tradin

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Approximate Word count = 1495
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)