the unredeemed captive

A detailed Summary of the unredeemed captive

The Unredeemed Captive is a fascinating chronicle of life in Puritan New England. It is journey of the abduction and adoption of American settlers by Iroquois people.

It begins in the year of 1704. The Mohawk Indians are allied with the French settlers in Canada and attack a small village in Massachusetts, called Deerfield.

Reverend John Williams, a minister from Deerfield was a special target for captivity because Boston authorities held Jean-Baptiste Gayen whom the Canadians wanted returned.

The night of the raid, two of William's children were murdered. Reverend William along with his wife and five children were taken from their home and forced to march to Canada with the rest of the captives.

Unfortunately the family was separated and this could possibly be the last time they will see each other ever again. They were now expected to become apart of new families up North. The first thing Indians did was assign a captive to a specific family. A captive was considered a member of the family almost immediately after their captivity.

After a few years Reverend Williams returned home and he began to focus on reassembling his household. He remarried a widow from Connectic

I felt that there were an abundant amount of conflicting feelings, running through this young girls head. Giving me cause to believe why she turned away her families proposals.

On pg. 108-109 we experience her thoughts and feelings and how 'she remembered his(her father)coming to the village...She beeged him then to take her away, but he had failed her utterly.'

Another possibility that was not mentioned in The Unredeemed Captive is what life as a savage was like for young children. They did have chores just like the Puritans. However, the savages treated their children in a more lenient way. Savage children had more time to be kids. Maybe Eunice enjoyed this feeling of freedom. Maybe it helped her forget about her family.

It is obvious that Eunice did want to return home immediately after her captivity. Years and years passed and as she grew older she grew to accept the fact that this was now her new family. She was happy and content with her new surroundings and Deerfield was an alien society to her. If she was to return home she would have had to relearn her native language, her religion and even family from the beginning.

Her family pleaded with her to return home. However, after numerous attempts and visits to Canada she still remained silent. Her brother Steven kept a consistent journal throughout his life, for we see many pleas and prayers for her safety as well as her retu

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Approximate Word count = 955
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous