The Unredeemed Captive

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The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story From Early America Written by John Demos Published by Vintage Books in April 1995, in New York Book report by Meg Murphy After reading this book I think the thesis is about finding out who you are through the experiences you have in your life. John Williams and his family were abducted in the beginning of the book by Indians. Two of his children were murdered before the journey happened right in front of John. Then during the journey his wife grew too weak and her Indian master “at one stroke” (Demos 29) killed her. The book talks about the Puritan's stereotype views of the Indians and how the only way to 'redeem' oneself if captured was by escape or by being freed. John and all but one of his children, Eunice, were “redeemed”. Eunice was adopted into an Indian family where she ended up growing up. Eunice's capture evaluates how this stereotype only increased Eunice's repulsion of how her father viewed the Indians, making her adopt their way of life and marry one of them and which is why she remained "unredeemed". She was called the "unredeemed captive" not because her farther did not try to get her away from her captives, but because of the fact that she did not want to go back home. Throughout the book it talks about how John tries everything to get his daughter back. No matter what he does or says though her Indian family won’t give her up. They tried for ten years. By that time though Eunice had forgotten all of her English and already married to François-Xavier Arosen, a Mohawk man and had a made a family together. One examples of the countless attempts to bring her home was when John Schuyler led an expedition to Canada where he confronted Eunice directly. Through multiple translators, Schuyler asked Eunice to come back home to Deerfield. She didn't respond to his request, she remained perfectly

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