Violence
In modern American entertainment, violence is revered as an almost holy and unrivaled tool in making people spend their money. For example Eminem and his wildly popular songs filled with guns, drugs and masochistic sex. He is one of the most successful rap artists of our time. What makes his songs so captivating? Why are millions of people so drawn into his lyrics? And what about the unending wave of war movies Hollywood continues to produce? Why do we spend two hours watching men blow each other up? Perhaps, the reason could be because the human mind is intrigued by violence. This is nothing particular to 21st century Americans; it has been proven to be a characteristic that crosses time and nationality. James Fennimore Cooper and Mary Rowlandson were no strangers to this concept. As a matter of fact, both authors learned to use the human infatuation with violence to their advantage. In their own right, both Cooper and Rowlandson attempted to achieve their individual goals in a written work by creating a lasting impression on their audience through the depictions of violent behaviors.During the mid 1600s, the time period in which Mary Rowlandson lived, the Church was begi
She discredited the Christian Indians saying they "have no potential for being saved, that in effect they lack the souls that distinguish God's human creatures from all others" (p. Although Last of the Mohicans revolved around a factual event, Cooper added much action and excitement on top of the violent massacre scene to draw his readers to the novel. After her release, she produced a narrative that described her personal account of her captivity among the Indians during Metacom's War. Her narrative was considered to be the first "captivity narrative" explaining her encounters under unfamiliar grounds with bloodcurdling creatures. Because Cooper was writing in a time where Indians were no longer a threat, he was not compelled to condemn them. The Europeans were not interested in "the sovereignty and goodness of God. She willingly discusses the account where "a Praying Indian, so wicked and cruel, wore a string about his neck, strung with Christian fingers" (p. Mary Rowlandson in Europe to expose the hostility and violence in her writings. Even though Mary Rowlandson's intention was to publicize the sovereignty of God and expose the evilness of the Indians, while Cooper wanted to entertain his audience with no feelings of hostility towards the Indians, both authors used violent descriptions to achieve their goals. Cooper's primary purpose for writing the novel was to entertain his audience. Also, the Indians were portrayed as "noble" savages in the novel. The objective of the added scene with the baby and its mother took place to define the violence and made it more memorable and "entertaining. Her audience then becomes curious to see as to how she survived. Contrary to Rowlandson, Cooper illustrated the potential development of civilization of the Indians through the characters, Uncas and Chingachgook.
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