A frightening image helped promote support in the slaying and subjugation of Native Americans

Natives were seen as a threat not only to the “innocence” of Puritan settlers, but to the most vulnerable and cherished aspect of their society

Warnings and desolate landscapes portrayed the land as empty and lacking in cultured society

Natives were without clothing, primitive in their weaponry, and in colonial eyes, this made them less than human.

Native customs were often portrayed as ludicrous and sometimes terrifying.

Often, Natives were written of as evil cannibals who only wanted to feast on human flesh

Another way of representing the Native was as a sort of idiotic simpleton who wanted to freely give their land away to settlers.

The famous story of Natives gladly giving their land and food away to settlers is not quite the way things happened, according to historical texts.

Settlers often thought it acceptable to “take” native women from their families, among countless other atrocities.

An image from the recent media…how much of our view of indigenous culture has changed?

What does this mean for us today…?  Over the centuries, European settlers, specifically English settlers have done infinite damage to the culture of Native peoples and their lands. We can se in the literature of the times, as well as in today’s work, that these colonist mindsets are not easy to erase from the world, but Post-Colonial Theory helps us to notice when it occurs so that we are no blind to its influences.