I found the section in the book over King Philip's War to quite intriguing from many perspectives, primarily because it caused a schism in the Indian Nations. By this point in colonial history, the English and native peoples had been living in close proximity for a generation. Many of the indigenous peoples had grown up with the English as an accepted fact of life and did not know life any other way. The fact that some natives had been raised attending English churches, trading with English colonists, and occasionally enjoying English protection is essential to understanding why some tribes snubbed Metacomet's call to arms and either declared neutrality or outright sided with the English. Religious lines also seemed to be toed in this new dichotomy of indigenous loyalties. A native Christian informant to the English was found frozen, dead under the ice on a pond, killed by his own kind who recognized his betrayal.
I found this so interesting simply because it clearly displays the complications that European colonialism imposed on native life. The perspective of the native peoples has often been oversimplified. There are many stereotypes and even caricatures that portray Indians as all feebly uniting against their 'far superior' imperialists. This shows that life for native people during this time was actually significantly more complicated than that, and that the concept of how to deal with Europeans was actually a quite controversial issue.
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You post sparked a tiny little fire that had been developing inside of me, Torre. We've talked alot in this class about what we've been taught in grade school versus what is actually true. One of the things I've been tweaking out on recently is the battle of good versus bad. Since "history is written by the winners" as I've heard, I find that I tend to view one side as being good and the other as being bad. It used to be that the Indians were bad and English good, but now I'm feeling the other way around. But this last week I can't help but feel that there are English folk who are totally against what the the Europeans are trying to do in terms of colonizing in America. I'd be interested in learning if there were any movements in Europe to stop American colonization.
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