After I read the book Indian Captive by Lois Lenski, I had to write a paper on Mary’s (the main character of the book) evolving relationship with the Indians. This year in writing I am learning how to write more of an academic style of writing, so this essay will be very different from the previous ones on my blog.

Mary Jemison, in Indian Captive, is a 12-year-old girl of 1758 Pennsylvania, but her life is turned upside down when her farm is attacked by a band of Indians and Mary and her family are taken captive. Soon Mary is separated from her family and adopted into the Seneca tribe and given the new name of Corn Tassel because of her golden hair. At first, Mary is full of fear and hatred for the Indians, but as she learns and understands more things the Indian way, Mary starts to love the Indians.

When Mary first arrives in the Seneca village, she is understandably afraid. All the frightening stories she has heard about Indians come back to her. “ Indians – She trembled to think she was alone and helpless in their hands” (61). She is certain that she will never be happy, or even content with the Indians. “She could never live with the Indians. Everything there was so hateful” (81). All she can think about is home and how foreign everything is around her. The clothes, food, and even the longhouses of the Seneca village make her feel more alone and discouraged. “The whole scene [of the Seneca village] had a bleak and cheerless aspect and Molly’s [Mary’s] heart grew faint” (62). The difference in her language and theirs is also a hard barrier for Mary to break. “How could she talk when she knew not a word of their language? How could she live in a place where everything was strange?” (72)

As time goes on, Mary becomes accustomed to the Indian ways and painfully learns their language. “…Her ears had been growing accustomed to the strange sounds and now, suddenly, she could understand. How strange it was – a new world opening” (102). She gets used to the tasteless food and rough deerskin clothes: “When I first came to live with the Indians, I hated the sight of deerskin – even the touch of it. But I’m used to it now. It’s more practical than cloth, specially in the woods” (215). She even takes pride in making her first cooking pot and first pair of moccasins. The more she understands, the more she enjoys the calm peaceful Indian way of life.

Before she knows it, Mary starts to think of the Indians as friends and trusts them unconditionally. “I believe every word they say…[Mary said] I never knew what kindness was until I came here”(206). “Was there ever a time when she had distrusted these her dear friends? If there had ever been such a time, from this day on, it was wiped out and forever gone” (276). She even starts to see things differently, and little by little she begins “…to think like an Indian, to see white people from the Indian point of view. Molly [Mary] Jemison was turning into an Indian” (124).

To conclude, the slow progression of Mary’s relationship with the Indians throughout the book is obvious, and the love that she has for them is reciprocated. At the very end of the book, Mary is given the chance to return to the English. Mary chooses to stay saying, “The Senecas are my people. I will live and die with the Senecas” (296).