Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

The Mayflower

Good Essays
371 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Mayflower
Over the summer, I had to read the book, “The Mayflower” by Nathaniel Philbrick. When I first started to read this novel I thought it was going to be boring and a waste of time, but after finishing the book, my opinion has changed. I originally thought that the Native Americans were cruel people who killed innocent people for no reason. Since I read this book, I see that’s not true. In this novel, a sachem decided to befriend the pilgrims who came to America on the Mayflower. He saw the pilgrims settle down and decided it was time to learn about them and trade with them. When the pilgrims first arrived at the new world, they saw Native Americans who attacked them and tried to kill them. Once they moved locations, they were still nervous about the Natives. When one of the members of a near by tribe came to make peace, the pilgrims were scared. Once they saw they were not going to harm them, they made peace and traded frequently. The only problem with this was that once they began trading, the Native Americans developed “White Man” ways. They taught the pilgrims how to farm and what to grow. Everything was going well until the other colonists began to come in ships from the old world. When they reached the new world, they were friendly with the Natives, but traded guns and other weapons that the Natives would eventually use against them. The colonists became greedy. They took all of the Natives land and in return gave them guns. When the Natives couldn’t take it anymore, they fought back. Therefor, when the colonists gave them guns, they pretty much dug their own graves. The Natives were normal peaceful people. When the colonists came, they messed everything up. The fact is, the Europeans made the Natives savage. The Europeans were the cruel ones. After finishing this novel, I learned a lot of things. But most importantly, I learned that the Europeans were the cruel ones, while the Natives started out friendly. If it wasn’t for the Europeans being greedy and wanting more food and land than what they needed, none of the wars would have happened.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    If not, tension always arises, creating a recipe for conflict and war. In New England, when the English settlers came, tensions emerged among the settling communities as well as the Native American communities. Land was a key factor in the tensions, driven by increasing English settlers and inter-tribal politics; the Pequot people carried the burden of what Philbrick terms as “European-style genocide”. The devastating brutality of the resultant conflict led all sides to seek accommodation and end the conflict. In both books, the themes, ideas and the driving forces that dictate the course of actions are similar, only that they happen at different centuries (Philbrick…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1491 Book Review

    • 518 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1491, which was published in 2005 by Vintage Books, is a subversive study that immensely alters most people’s understanding and knowledge of the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans in 1492. The nonfiction historical novel by Charles C. Mann explains about a new generation of researchers’ conclusions about the history of Native Americans before the arrival of Columbus. Mann uncovered many of the untold facts that have never been taught in traditional school. The primary point Mann is trying to make known is the natives population was larger, and the societies were more cultivated than what most people believe.…

    • 518 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To back this theory up in Ronald Takaki’s book From a Different Mirror For Young People he says on page 33 paragraph three “William Tucker went to a Powhatan village to make a peace treaty. After they had signed the treaty, he persuaded the Indians to drink a toast- then served them poisoned wine, killing an estimated two hundred” this just proves our point showing how low the colonists stopped to get rid of the native Americans. But the real question is who really is the savage, well the definition of a savage is fierce and violent. It might just be our opinion but we think that colonists, in general, showed more violence toward the native Americans than they showed to the colonists. This period in American history is a truly interesting and complex time filled with many tragic moments but with an equal amount of heroic but over all the bad trumps the good and leaves us with a good story and opportunities to see from a different perspective. But more important it leads to a new way of thinking and the beginning of a truly amazing…

    • 1721 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If you had to leave America, move to another country you know very little about, and do not know the language, the culture, or anything about the land, how would you feel? Would you have expectations for the natives? In the book Of Beetles & Angels a family from Ethiopia, moved to America and attempted to immerse themselves in the American ways. They are slain with hurtful words and treated badly but are truly lovely to Americas’ people. By critically reading, you will notice many things you might not have if you were just reading it to get the grade. Some things someone may notice are how people from different cultures interact with others, how the central culture treats different cultures, and the stereotypes used to describe Mawi’s life in his book.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When in reality it was the Spaniards who were the true savages for treating Native Americans as an evil creature due to their religious views. It was sad to read about how Indians families were torn apart and many choose not to have kids because of this. I was disgusted by how the Spaniards would cut off native women’s breasts and throw their infants to a pack of dogs. The teachings of Popes prepared the ground for the mass Genocide of Native Americans because they taught genocide because anyone who would go against their God would be killed. There are many major statements in this book. One of which is the statement that history books have incorrect information on the conquest of the Americas by the Spaniards. This is important to understand because it shows how young students are being taught wrong information as well as being taught to think that Native Americans are horrible people when the reality was that they were the victims in the situation. Another important statement addressed in the book was how it explained the mistreatment of Native American by the…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cabeza De Vaca Analysis

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Although Las Casas’s book was short, it was an incredibly painful read that became tiresome. His style of writing was repetitive and dull. The whole book could literally be summed up in one sentence, “The Spanish were cruel bastards that went to the New World demanding gold then killed, enslaved, and exploited the Indians because they thought them inferior.”…

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    resulted in the death of so many colonists was the Gorilla warfare going on continuously…

    • 948 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mayflower Compact

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. On the Mayflower, there were two groups that were comprised. There Pilgrims, which was only 41 of them who were called Separatists. They wanted a new life in America so they could freely practice their religion. The rest of the passengers were called “strangers,” which included merchants, craftsmen, skilled workers and indentured servants. The Pilgrims and the “strangers” were different because the Pilgrims went to America for religious freedom. But the “strangers” were there because the Pilgrims brought them in order to increase the chances of economic success. These groups were similar by all of them being common people.…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    These people thought this “new world” would have gold, so they set sail to find it. While sailing, The Sea Venture was destroyed, they lost most of their supplies. When the colonists got there they started searching right away, they left their muskets by the shore while in the water but then they got shot by arrows and they didn’t have their guns to shoot back. When they did get their muskets, they take forever to load and the indians could shoot 10 arrows by the time they reload.They thought they found paradise so they settled. They built jamestown, with huge walls around so the indians couldn’t enter. They were starving so they turned to cannibalism and dug up peoples graves and ate them. They also resorted to eating their horses. Then terrible…

    • 161 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Mayflower was at least 12 years old when it undertook the voyage. The maximum amount of people on the Mayflower was 140. Many of the families built smaller cabins in the Mayflower.…

    • 58 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Dbq 1

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It was inevitable and unavoidable that violence and dispossession were outcomes of the centuries-long confirmation of Native Americans with European settlers and their American descendants. European settlers were relentless whenever they were introduced to things that were appealing to their eye. If they wanted it, then they would go get it due to the superior mindset of the Europeans.…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mayflower Book Report

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages

    American history is so much more interesting now than it was when I was growing up! I have just finished reading Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick. First of all, I was surprised to see a book on this summers New York Times Best Seller List about a subject so long ago. I would have thought the story about the Pilgrims had been told enough times no one would bother writing another book. Philbrick has written an enlightening account of the 17th century events that shaped our country. It was a story that is well written and enjoyable to read.…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The discovery of North America brought many benefits for the Europeans but very little benefits for the native people of North America. The Columbian Exchange which involved the exchanging of diseases, animals and plants ended up being very helpful for the Europeans that came over to the new world but was not as helpful for the native people. The native people’s population suffered majorly from the introduction of new diseases from the Old World that the Europeans brought over with them.…

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hollitz Chapter 1

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Although often viewed as inferior, savage and helpless, many historians are starting to discover the intelligence and wisdom the Indians had and shared with the colonists that came to America so long ago. As the settlers slowly began to create a new world on the already inhabited North America, they were plagued with starvation due to a severe drought in the area. Due to the dry lands and the settlers expectations to “rely on Indians for food and tribute,” (Norton 17) they were disappointed to find that the Indians were not so keen to handing out food and help to the strangers that have just come onto their land and begun to settle in such a time of severe weather and starvation. As time goes on, both the Indians and the Englishmen realize they both have what the other needs; tools from the white men and crops, land and knowledge from the Indians. As a result, the chief of Tsenacomoco, Powhatan, and colonist, Captain John Smith on an ideally peaceful, mutualistic relationship to ensure the survival of both civilizations. This agreement will leave the groups in cahoots for 100 of years leading to some disastrous scenarios and betrayals.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the start of the seventeenth century, Native Americans greeted European settlers with much excitement. They regarded settlers as strange, but were interested to learn about the new tools and weapons Europeans brought with them. The native people were more than accommodating to the settlers, but as time passed, Europeans took advantage of their generosity. “Once these newcomers disembarked and began to feel their way across the continent, they forever altered the course and pace of native development.” Native Americans and Europeans faced many conflicts due to their vast differences in language, religion and culture. European settlers’ inability to understand and respect Native Americans lead to many struggles that would eventually erupt into violent warfare.…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays