Early America brought European settlers and with them came a tendency to ostracize and misinterpret the natives who lived here. Due to the many cultural differences between the settlers and the natives, forming positive relationships that encouraged an accurate understanding of the other culture was difficult. Tensions arose from this and the Europeans and the natives fought hard against each other to claim the land as their own. In these conflicts the tendency to project ideas onto the other party increased and further worsened the situation. Similarly, the relationship between the Puritans and Pearl in The Scarlet Letter is strained by the false impressions of Pearl. She is viewed as an evil devil–child, a product of her mother’s sin. Everything
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The Europeans did not understand the practices of the Indians and held contempt for them and their culture. Though some of their practices were harmless, such as the types of homes in which they lived or the foods they ate, others were cruel, such as the systematic torture of their enemies, to which the settlers were “angry at seeing them practice so much cruelty on [another enemy native’s] body” after capturing him in battle (Champlain 6). The contempt the settlers felt towards the Indians is understandable and justified. The natives did practice illicit customs at times, so it is reasonable to expect the settlers to look down upon some of the actions of the natives. However, the settlers had their own faults. They were anxious to expand outward and settle the land of the Indians. They asked for more land so often that “the Indians began to believe that they would soon want all their country, which in the end proved true” (Heckewelder 10). The unfamiliar practices of each culture and the common need for land caused great strife among the Indians and the settlers and only increased the tendency to project ideas on the other party. The Indians soon had the reputation of being cruel, savage people while the settlers were seen as land–hungry conquerors ready to kill the Indians at any moment. The tendency to attempt to categorize other people as something that they are not is developed early on in the infancy of America and continues to be an aspect of society
The Europeans did not understand the practices of the Indians and held contempt for them and their culture. Though some of their practices were harmless, such as the types of homes in which they lived or the foods they ate, others were cruel, such as the systematic torture of their enemies, to which the settlers were “angry at seeing them practice so much cruelty on [another enemy native’s] body” after capturing him in battle (Champlain 6). The contempt the settlers felt towards the Indians is understandable and justified. The natives did practice illicit customs at times, so it is reasonable to expect the settlers to look down upon some of the actions of the natives. However, the settlers had their own faults. They were anxious to expand outward and settle the land of the Indians. They asked for more land so often that “the Indians began to believe that they would soon want all their country, which in the end proved true” (Heckewelder 10). The unfamiliar practices of each culture and the common need for land caused great strife among the Indians and the settlers and only increased the tendency to project ideas on the other party. The Indians soon had the reputation of being cruel, savage people while the settlers were seen as land–hungry conquerors ready to kill the Indians at any moment. The tendency to attempt to categorize other people as something that they are not is developed early on in the infancy of America and continues to be an aspect of society