"The Unredeemed Captive". A report on the Author's theme and a brief summary.

Essay by PhantomlpUniversity, Bachelor'sB+, February 2003

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The Unredeemed Captive was a brilliant attempt to pull together both an interesting story with many historical facts. I ultimately believe that Demo's main purpose in writing this piece was to write a story. This book, I believe is about finding your self identity and where you belong through different life experiences and situations. From John Williams being held captive, and going back to Puritanism when released to Eunice whom stayed with the Indians her whole life, the book shows many viewpoints from different individuals.

The Unredeemed Captive shows the path of abduction and adoption of American settlers by Indians. The book starts in 1704. The Mohawk Indians are allied with the French in Canada and attack Deerfield, a small village in Massachusetts. Reverend John Williams, the minister from Deerfield, was the main target for captivity because Boston held Jean-Baptiste Gayen whom the Canadians wanted returned. Two of Williams' children were murdered the night of the raid and the minister along with his wife and other children were marched to Canada with the rest of the Deerfield captives.

The family was separated and they all realized that it might have been the last time they would ever see each other again. Indians assigned captives to a family, and were considered members of the family almost immediately after their captivity. After some years Reverend Williams returned home, began to focus on reassembling his original life and remarried Abigail Bissell, a widow from Connecticut. All of his children that were still alive were redeemed except for his daughter Eunice. Eunice, captured at the age of seven, matured and forgot all of her English and was converted to Catholicism. Although her captors were unwilling to release her, she did not want to leave her new family and return to her old. AT sixteen...