Indian Selection

Talking to the moon

I chose this selection because I thought it personified the issues that were art the heart of the Indian culture from the start. I think that these issues, as we learned in US History were that the white people did not respect the indian people or their bond with nature and believed they were superior due to the fact they belived the indians did not use technology and that their lands were being wasted whiel in turn the indians belived that nature was worth more then the factories and such that could be built on it. In the novel a while man Joseph matthews goes to spend time by himself with nature in order to become in touch with it and loose his dependance on technology. I was partially amazed how when he is out in nature he looses his dependance on nature even though he raelaizes that with technology so many things would be much easier. I think this is due to the fact that he sees that he can survive the toughest challenges without anything but nature

Of plymoulth Plantation

Picture Extension:

Url:

http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/english/coke/bradford.htm

Excerpt:

Thus it pleased God to vanquish their enemies and give them deliverance; and by His special providence so to dispose that not any one of them were either hurt or hit, though their arrows came close by them and on every side [of] them; and sundry of their coats, which hung up in the barricade, were shot through and through. Afterwards they gave God solemn thanks and praise for their deliverance, and gathered up a bundle of their arrows and sent them into England afterward by the master of the ship, and called that place the First Encounter.


Reflection:

This story had a great impact on me. I was immediately immersed due to the fact that some people would just get in a flimsy wooden boat and sail 3000 miles across a stormy ocean to an unknown land just to escape religious persecution. I found it fascinating how even back then a few men were able to accomplish such a daring thing. Once they reached land, however I was struck with how methodical they were in establishing a base. Also when they encountered Indians they immediately slew them with no attempt whatsoever to make peace. How when I continued reading I was informed that they took pleasure in this and believed that god wished them to do this. I found it somewhat ironic that in an attempt to escape religious persecution they sailed 3000 miles only to kill Indians, believing that god wanted them to do that.