Toni Morrison once said that race is a central, defining feature of American literature. All of the significant texts show concern for the racially "other." I agree that a number of authors use race as a central idea in their writings. In Mary Rowlandson's Narrative, she defines her Puritan race by showing what it is not through the Native Americans. Furthermore, Mark Twain is one of the key components historically that make up American literature by using an outsider in Huckleberry Finn to define race in slavery. Excerpts from The Invincible Man also show how race is defined in American history by showing the stereotype of the black race. Finally, in Hemingway's, The Sun Also Rises, race defines the division of culture between Americans and Spaniards. Rowlandson, Twain, Ellison, and Hemingway assert that we define our own race in American literature by defining what we are not.
In Mary Rowlandson's narrative, defining the "other" becomes a strong instrument in defining the differences in the Puritan culture and the Native American's. Throughout the narrative, Mary Rowlandson describes her culture as being "better" by showing the Native American's race as being worse. Using strong words in describing the Native Americans such as "barbarous creatures"(Norton 150), Mary Rowlandson right off the bat excludes the Native Americans from the human race; showing that the Puritans are on a higher level than them. Furthermore, she describes Native Americans dancing around the fire and doing immoral slaughtering of humans. Mary Rowlandson sees this instance as an act of the devil and since the Puritan religion would condone such acts, she believes that even God sees the Puritans as a better race the Native Americans. Rowlandson never mentions how the Puritans have moved on the territory of the Native Americans but again seeing how the Native Americans attacked and destroyed the Puritan's homes and villages.