- Published: January 1, 2022
- Updated: January 1, 2022
- University / College: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- Level: Masters
- Language: English
- Downloads: 29
The paper ” The History of Maria Kittle” is a worthy example of an essay on history. After using the search engine Google, The History of Maria Kittle was found on Wikipedia. While Wikipedia is not usually an acceptable source, the Indian Captivity Narrative normally does not come in short stories, but longer book versions. It took hours before settling for the story on Wikipedia. The History of Maria Kittle is a work of fiction. Most of Indian Captivity Narratives, with an exception of a few, were racist attempts to sway the public against Native Americans. In this story, the typical stereotypes were depicted. A woman (Maria Kittle) is kidnapped by ‘ Savages’, only after the Native Americans had acted treacherously by falsely promising safety. She is then a captive, before returning to her husband. The brutality includes a tomahawk to a pregnant woman’s head. Maria’s baby’s brains smashed to bits. Anna, Maria’s daughter is killed in the fire set to their home. The dead were scalped and stripped. The brutality was over the top. Although Bleeker intends to get over her daughters’ death by a writing of another tragedy, in reality, she only put fuel on the anti-Native American propaganda. The theme and values taught in this story are being Christian is right, natives are savages, and whites are better than Native Americans. This allowed the whites, including Bleeker, to feel better about taking Native American land. If Native Americans were bad, savage, and illiterate, then they did not deserve land as the white man did. Finally, whites were portrayed as God fearing, hard working, and family orientated. The whites loved and were basically depicted as right. Native Americans were depicted as savages; bloodthirsty, baby killing, savages. The Native Americans were seen as fighting just to kill, not individuals trying to protect their families and land. This story, like others of Indian Captivity Narratives, was biased against Native Americans.