I agree one hundred percent with the original answerer.
The Wompanoag ARE portrayed as "devilish creatures," . . . for the most part. I say
this because one of my very favorite research papers I did in my college years was on
this literary piece and how ironic it was that Rowlandson included so many incidences of
compassion from the Wompanoag. Therefore, take this with a grain of salt, . . . or at
least for an opposition paragraph someday at the beginning of a
paper.
Let me give a few examples that might guild that
opposition paragraph, however. First, one of them actually gives Mary Rowlandson a
Bible out of the kindness of his heart:
I cannot but take notice of the wonderful mercy
of God to me in those afflictions, in sending me a Bible. One of the Indians that came
from Medfield fight, had brought some plunder, came to me, and asked me, if I would have
a Bible, he had got one in his basket. I was glad of it, and asked him, whether he
thought they would let me read? He answered,
yes.
Very appropriate, of
course, that she gives GOD the credit for giving her the Bible (considering the graphic
context of the story). Yet another example of compassion is Rowlandson's "light" load
she was given compared to the other captives:
In this travel, because of my wound, I was
somewhat favored in my load; I carried only my knitting work and two quarts of parched
meal.
Other members of the
tribe give her good amounts of food at various times during the narrative (such as horse
liver, peas, cake, venison, nuts, broth, horse feet, beans, biscuits, and meal) just to
"comfort" her. And, of course, there is the fact that her "master" of the Wampanoag
"showed me the way to my son," again, not necessary.
My
final conclusion was that, although the Wompanoag showed compassion, it was no different
than the compassion a white master showed to his African-American slaves on the
plantation. Yet, the compassion still exists, . . . for what it's
worth.
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