William Apess

Choose one of the following and respond to it by Thursday, April 20 at 7:00 p.m.

1. How does Apess’s autobiography compare to those of Rowlandson and Franklin? In particular, how does Apess represent his “character” (himself) and the character’s development through time? Is this character—his trials, his morals, his changes, his rationale—similar to or different from the self-presented characters of Rowlandson and Franklin?

2. How does Apess’s representation of American Indians compare to other representations that we have read throughout the semester. Move beyond the basic good (Apess) vs. evil (say, Rowlandson) dichotomy and explore carefully how American Indians are represented. How are American Indians compared to whites? How does religion figure into all of the representations? Do we trust Apess more than others because of his heritage?