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American Indians and Aliens

Indian Captivity

- Mary Rowlandsonnotable escapee who wrote about her experiences.Alien Abduction

- Similarities1. Physical Imagery

a. Being taken to a new world.b. Ex: 1973 Pascagoula, Mississippi Abduction

2. Mortificationa. Root word mort lit. deathb. Ex: The Adoption of Mary Jemisonby Robert Griffingc. Running the Gauntlet forcing a man to run through a path surrounded by

men beating the runner with clubs, etc.

3. AmbivalenceMixed feelings towards captorsa. Ex: Mary JemisonEventually accepted Indian way of life and, when given the

choice, lived with the Senicas.b. Alien abductees, though, are almost universally filled with fear/hate toward

captors.

4. Sex and Differencea. In Indian narratives, this wasmostly- made up or exaggerated.b. Much more prevalent in alien abduction stories, probably because they were

mostly made in the 20thcentury.

5. Spiritual Transformationa. In the cases of Mary Rowlandson and Mary Jemison, the former became a

stronger Christian because of her experience, and the latter adopted Indian

spiritual customs and traditions.

b. In the case of aliens, they are sometimes portrayed as bringers of peace andspiritual transformation.ArchetypeA collectively inherited unconscious idea or pattern of thought that is universally present in

individual psyches.

- American Indians and Aliens are similar in narrative because they are basedon the samearchetype.

- Alien abductees are most likely experiencing something psychologicalthey believe thealien abduction story because they have a pre-existing notion of what a believable alien

abduction story should look likean archetype.

- Psychology: Carl Jung proposed that we all have a collective unconscious. The ego isconscious, and complexities are personal and unconscious.

- Patrick Jungs Hero Cycle:o Special circumstances surround the heros birth

Ex: Hercules and Supermano Recognition of the Hero

Hercules killing the snakes sent to kill him; Supermans strength as a childo Great Deed

Twelve Labors of Hercules, Superman trying to kill Lex Luthoro The Fatal Flaw of the Hero

Achilles Heel, Kryptonite, Samson and Delilah

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o Death of the Hero Both Hercules and Superman die

- Abraham Lincoln as an Archetypical Heroo Born on a log cabin, but most people were at the timeo Lincoln-Douglas Debatesonly a series of flukes that made him president. (?)o Lincolns life wasnt as heroic as media made it out to be.

- Archetypes basically describe civilization. The pre-existing thoughts of the human mindinfluences everything we doStructuralist Theory