The Unredeemed Captive by John Demos is a fascinating story about religion and conflict between different countries and cultures. The book explores the historical events surrounding John Williams and his family, who have been taken into captivity. During that time, England and France were at war. Deerfield an England territory is one of the villages affected by the war. The war resulted from the allegiance of the French and Native Americans in an attempt to exile the English from the North American territory (Demos, 1995). During the war, many villagers lose their lives, and those who survive are abducted. The minister of Deerfield, John Williams, his family, and other villagers are abducted and kept in captivity. Together with his family and the captured villagers, William undergoes various hurdles that see him lose his wife and get separated from his daughter Eunice. Eunice is abducted by the Mohawk warriors and taken to Canada, where she is adopted by one of the Native Americans (Demos, 1995). Religion created unbridgeable gaps in the relationship between the English, the French, and their respective Native Allies, as the difference in their religious beliefs made them unable to relate with each other.
French and England viewed religion as an integral part of their life that they were willing to shed blood and suffer because of their religion. The French believed in Catholicism while England was protestant. When the French, with the support of the Indians, attacked the England colonies, the puritans were forcibly confined and enslaved by their captors. The captives were provided two options they were to be valued as a payoff or assimilated into the native or French culture (Demos, 1995). Those who accepted assimilation would renounce their native faith and accept the captors’ religion. Those that refused were subjected to harsh conditions and among them was Rev. Williams. William refused to be assimilated and saw captivity as a journey to spiritual nourishment. Puritans believed that suffering was part of salvation, and through suffering, they would be redeemed to enter heaven. William and other villagers who refused to be assimilated endured the harsh conditions their captors subjected to them. Williams’s wife died during the journey, and he was also separated from his children. After some years, he was released from captivity, and upon returning home, he was reinstated as a religious leader (Demos, 1995). To him, the suffering he underwent while in captivity was a price he had to pay for his salvation; thus, he willingly endured the suffering.
The Puritans believed that their faith was the only true faith. Puritans had a negative perception of the Indian culture and religious beliefs. They believed that the Indians were agents of external malpractices (Simmons, 1981). The Puritans believed that their religious belief and practices were superior to the Native American religion. They wanted to convert the Native Americans to Christianity, which the Native Americans were not interested in. This fueled a lot of contempt among these two tribes, as Native Americans were against the conversion practices that the partisans tried to use to lure them into their religion. The puritans wanted the Native Americans to give up their cultural practices and traditional lifestyle and adopt the puritan religion and beliefs. Even in their belief in the devil, the puritans believed the devil behind the Indian culture was weaker than Satan (Simmons, 1981). They believed that their religion was superior and that the Indian religion was just an illusion. The puritans believed that the Bible and the appointed minister held answers to all their questions. When they saw the religious practices of the Native Americans, they considered them ungodly and unacceptable (Simmons, 1981). The puritans had little tolerance and respect for the French and Native Americans’ different religious beliefs. This fueled a lot of conflict between the Native Americans and the puritans as the puritans condemned and rejected their religion.
The assimilation of Puritans into the native culture was considered a grave sin that would result in God’s punishment. Due to the different religious ideologies held by the English puritans and the French allies there was a lot of attacks in the English villages. When the Deerfield village was attacked, many people lost their lives, and those that survived were taken captive by the French and the Native Americans (Demos, 1995). The captors eventually released the villagers, but Eunice, the daughter of Williams, was left behind. This brought a lot of devastation to William, as he did not want his daughter to be assimilated into the native religious beliefs and practices. William made every effort to free his daughter, but all this did not bore fruit. He later discovered that his daughter got married to a French Indian man. Eunice wanted to stay with the Native Americans and had even converted her religion from puritan to catholic. She was baptized and changed her name to Margarite (Demos, 1995). Eunice, who had been kidnapped as a child, had lost all knowledge of her native culture and had adapted to the Indian culture. Ehen her father asked her to return to England with him she refused. Eunice’s assimilation to the Indian culture defiled the puritan beliefs of living according to God’s desire and was considered a grave sin as God would punish her for abandoning the right way.
Those captives that returned to England were to undergo redemption before being fully accepted. Redemption was important for the puritans’ society, especially after the captives returned to society. When the village was raided some of the captives were children. After they had been kidnapped, they slowly became assimilated into the religious beliefs and cultural practices of the Indian culture. For instance, when Eunice was kidnapped, she was only five years old, thus being raised in the Indian culture; it was likely that she would forget her native culture (Demos, 1995). The puritans understood this as they knew it would be difficult for children to keep their native faith when they were in a new environment. Thus they acknowledged redemption as an important element for those who had been assimilated but wished to return to their native faith. When Eunice refused to go back to England and married an Indian and converted to Catholicism, this sparked a lot of concern among her family as she had turned her back on the puritan religious beliefs. According to their religious belief a person would be forgiven through redemption as they would be purified from all Catholicism practices. They believed that the only way an individual would enter heaven was through salvation. By salivation, they would be able to enter heaven, as they would be redeemed. When a person is redeemed, their sins are forgiven, and they would be accepted back to the puritan religion.
The puritans’ and the Native Americans’ religion and cultural values contrasted, thus straining their relationship. The puritans knew their God through the Bible, and God elected the ministers they believed to serve him. William was a popular minister in the Deerfield village, and the puritans believed that he was an elected disciple of God (Demos, 1995). He helped them become closer to God. On the other hand, the Native Americans believed that God communicated with them through direct revelation, such as speaking in tongues, dreams, and visions. Indians believed in a powerful spirit known as Hobbamock, who entered a person and remained their guardian (Simmons, 1981). The Puritans disputed this belief as they associated the Hobbamock spirit with witches and demons. The way of life between the puritans and the Indians was different, thus creating more tension between them. The native Indians believed that their land had spiritually connections; thus, they held high value to their land. On the other hand, the puritans had no spiritual connection to the land and saw land as a form of power and wealth. This created a lot of tension among these two communities as puritans did not respect the native Indians’ spiritual connection to their lands.
To the unredeemed captives the Catholicism religion offered them a voice and choice outside the puritans’ society. Puritans believed in one God and following the commandments of God, which were outlined in the Bible. While in England territories, people did not have the freedom to choose what religion they wanted to follow as the puritans’ society strictly observed one religion. After the attack, which saw many of the villagers in Deerfield kidnapped, the people had the freedom to experience another religion apart from what they had been taught (Demos, 1995). Those captured and taken to Canada had a chance to experience Catholicism which was different from what they had been taught. They were able to dedicate themselves to God without the interference of the beliefs and values of the puritans. The children who had been kidnapped had an opportunity to explore the different religious institutions in Canada, which helped them develop a different mindset from the one they had been taught while in England.
Conclusively, religion created an unbridgeable gap between the French and England as they had different religious beliefs and practices. The French believed in Catholicism while England was protestant. When the French, with the support of the Indians, attacked the England colonies, the puritans were forcibly confined and enslaved by their captors. They were presented with two options either to renounce their religion and become assimilated to the French, native Americans religious practices or be valued as a payoff. Those who refused to be assimilated, including Rev. Williams, were subjected to harsh conditions, but they believed that suffering was part of God’s plan for their salvation. The tribe’s family adopted children who were kidnapped. Eunice was adopted by a Mohawk family and assimilated into their culture. Eunice later changed her religion to Catholicism and got married to an Indian. This created a lot of distress for her father, especially when Eunice refused to return to England. The Puritans believed that their faith was the only true faith and that Eunice would face God’s punishment if she did not redeem herself.
References
Demos, J. (1995). The unredeemed captive: A family story from early America. Vintage.
Simmons, W. S. (1981). Cultural Bias in the New England Puritans’ Perception of Indians. The William and Mary Quarterly: A Magazine of Early American History, 56-72.
write