As children, Tekawitha and Pauline grew up without the aid of their parents. At age fifteen, Pauline asked her father to send her away to go to live with his sister. Pauline wanted to be like her mother who was half - white and like her grandfather who was pure Canadian. Her father obeyed her wish and sent her away to her aunt. Like Pauline Tekawitha grew up with out parents. When the whites came to the Americas they "...brought sickness with them and many of the Indian people died" (Tekawitha 1). This was the case with Tekawitha's parents. They both died of a sickness when Tekawitha was only four years old. Soon after, she wen

t to live with her uncle (Tekawitha 1)

In Tekawitha and Pauline's struggle to become as holy and cleansed by god as possible they both practiced rituals to bring them closer to god. Pauline had many awkward rituals such as wearing her shoes on the wrong feet. She wore her shoes on the wrong feet to torture herself. She said "I suffer for His sake as He did for yours" (146). She also restricted herself to only going to the bathroom two times a day (147). Pauline said that she had a routine:

Being of the Catholic faith the cross and rosary were an important aspect of their lives. Tekawitha would go into the woods and make a cross out of sticks. This comforted her to make the cross because it made her "think about how much Jesus suffered for her" (Tekawitha 3). Tekawitha wore the rosary around her neck always. Within Pauline's life it seemed that the rosary held different meaning for her. The rosary meant a savior for her and she used it to get rid of something that she felt was not good. Pauline too wore the rosary around her neck just like Tekawitha. Pauline in her attempt to kill the devil actually strangled Napoleon with the rosary. She "...locked on the strong rosary chain, wrenched and twisted the beads close about his neck until his face darkened and he lunged away" (202). She said that she thought that it was the devil but gradually "it took on the physical form of Napoleon Morrissey" (203).

Pauline did these rituals to be forgiven for her sins. She thought that if she performed these rituals they would bring her to closer to God and cleanse her of her sins. Tekawitha also tortured herself, but for different reasons though. Tekawitha did such things as "...burning herself, standing in the snow, and even whipping herself with branches - to show her love of Christ" (256). Not only for the love of Christ did she do this. In Tekawitha's time prisoners were tortured. During the torture the person had to "...remain brave and impassive...enduring pain for personal and family honor" (256). So it was not only for Christ but also to bring honor. Like Pauline, Tekawitha was forced to stop these extreme practices. "She was ordered by the Jesuits to modify them" (256 ). Just like Pauline was ordered to put her shoes on the right feet by her Superior (152).

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Approximate Word count = 1686
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)