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family, he has many personal experiences with the Indians during his journey westwards. Thus, he tends to perceive the Indians positively.
4.2.2.2 Barbaric
The history of the Native Americans and the Whites explained that due to the fact of some different perception, the Whites had once considered the Indians
as a deceitful “savage” Paul et al., 1990, p. 8. The first experience that Catarina de Escobar has with Indians is nothing but an ambush of the Toboso Indians in the
middle of their journey towards Chihuahua. This horrible experience contributes great dread to Catarina de Escobar’s mental and thus, the term of “savage” or
“barbaric” has subdued her mind and perception about the Indians. It is lucid that Catarina de Escobar, in her 14
th
year, has had the terrifying experience with the Indians and that experience engraves her thoughts and emotions with bad
perception about the Indians in general. “‘Oh, we shall all die, I knew we should never have come to this horrible country Mi padre, I want to go back home,
please, I cannot stand this anymore It is too awful—those terrible savages—they are going to kill us, …’” p. 151. This is the evidence that indicates Catarina de
Escobar’s disappointment and immature personality. Catarina de Escobar’s immature personality is not prepared for this kind of
horrible experience and as the impact of that and the causal gender diversities; her emotional responses preoccupy her way of thinking. It is different from John
Cooper who tends to be unemotional even when he has undergone the worse experience with the Indians, instead. Catarina de Escobar’s Reacting Part creates
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firmer barrier with the Indians that is expressed through her emotions and cynical thoughts when she deals with anyone related to the Indians.
The second experience Catarina de Escobar has with the Indians is nothing better than the ambush she has had previously. As she rides along herself on
Marquita’s back to the far south, she is captured and about to be cruelly ravished by a band of Mescalero Indians. It happens until John Cooper comes to save her
life from the captivity. Seeing Catarina de Escobar is tied on the pole and the chief of the Mescalero tries to undress her, John Cooper makes a rapid attack against
the bandits. Eventually, after some fierce battles with the band of Mescalero, John Cooper has successfully annihilated all of them with painful gun shots. Catarina
de Escobar, with distracted cry, tells everything happened to her to his father after she and John Cooper have reached her home. “‘Oh, Father, I thought I was going
to die—there were some terrible Indios, and they captured me and tied me, and they were ready to take me back to their village—and he—he saved me…’” p.
374. From the complaint to her father it can be seen that Catarina de Escobar expresses her disappointment and emotional reactions towards what have
happened to her. Catarina de Escobar’s second experience in fact contributes a worse
impact on her perception that the Indians are barbaric as they act like savages who will gladly attack innocent people to take their possessions and with no reasons
make their ways with the women as they please. The terrible experience she gets previously and this one are worse rather than what Catarina de Escobar can help
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with. Thus, her Reacting Part, with no exception, will reasonably persecute all the matters or persons with the barbaric Indians.
The barbaric Indians once again engrave worse abhorrence to Catarina de Escobar’s thoughts and emotion by invading the de Escobar’s house. With a
reason that they will have their vengeance with the previous dwellers who have settled before the de Escobar family come, they plan to attack the family, rob them
away and take the women as their maids. The reason for attacking the family on purpose is that the previous dwellers of the house have punished their former
leader to death due to the fact that they lose in a battle and the leader fails to escape. Soon after that, the former dwellers move to Madrid before Don Diego de
Escobar’s family come. Those bandits are about to avenge their former leader’s death, despite the fact that they know that the family has moved to Madrid pp.
377-389. This fact once again contributes bad Reality to Catarina de Escobar’s perception that the Indians are barbaric.
Catarina de Escobar’s expression of her cynical thoughts about John Cooper who has been living with the Indians and the Mescalero Indians is
reflected when she recalls the moment of her being captive in the front of a mirror. “‘Dreadful savages,’ she repeated the words aloud to her reflection in the mirror.
‘And yet, he and that wolf of his were savages, too. How they both fought to kill those filthy Indios who were going to carry me off to their village…He—he was
like primitive god…” p. 376. This part explains the hatred and the reflection of Catarina de Escobar’s perception about the Indians. Catarina de Escobar’s cynical
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perception is basically influenced by the dreadful experiences she has got with the Indians.
“Dreadful savages” is the term that she refers to those Mescalero Indians who have kidnapped her. This is the impact of her perception that arouses her
thoughts and emotions so severely that her Reacting Part grows bad to them. Catarina de Escobar also considers the way John Cooper and Lobo fight those
Mescalero Indians with astonishment. Both of them can defeat the whole band of the bandits. In spite of her astonishment, she recalls him off savage. This is the
explanation of Catarina de Escobar’s making her perception about the Indians. All the queer Realities Catarina de Escobar has with the Indians give
severe effect to her perception about the Indians in a more distinctive predicate that they are barbaric. John Cooper is the one whom Catarina de Escobar accuses
for he has been living with the Indians all the way in his journey. Catarina de Escobar thinks that John Cooper is similar to those Indians. She is afraid that John
Cooper will do the same way like those Mescalero. All the reflections of Catarina de Escobar’s perception are expressed through her responsive utterances and mind
to John Cooper from the very first moment they meet until he takes her into the wilderness.
Much to John Cooper’s relief after Doña Inez advises him of what he should do to prove that he is not a savage and that he is dependable to be her
husband, John Cooper takes Catarina de Escobar to the jungle and to the Jicarilla Indians’ fortress. Unfortunately; Catarina de Escobar has misinterpreted John
Cooper’s intension. In spite of his good will, Catarina de Escobar considers him as
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savage due to the fact that he takes her into the distant place away from her house, spending the night in the jungle, sheltering inside the cave and finally takes her to
the fortress of Jicarilla Indians. John Cooper action is unacceptable for Catarina de Escobar for she often possesses negative thoughts that John Cooper will take
benefits from her. She also considers his action more to be a barbaric deed. “‘Yes, you will tie me, and then you will have your way with me—you horrible savage,
you beast, you animal’ she panted” p. 397. This misunderstanding is apparently caused by the queer deeds that John Cooper does in order to make her fall in love
with him. Even though Catarina de Escobar cannot find any single proof that he tries to make a benefit on her, she embarrassedly hides her misperception by
mocking on him eventually.
4.3 The Relationships that John Cooper and Catarina de Escobar Build with
the Indians
The discussion of the relationships that John Cooper and Catarina de Escobar build with the Indians will undergo two ways of relationship theory: peer
and social relationships. The first discussion focuses on the peer relationships of both John Cooper and Catarina de Escobar and the second discussion is focused
on their social relationships with the Indians. The discussion of relationships is contributed to the actualizations of John Cooper’s and Catarina de Escobar’s
perception about the Indians. It explains the actions that both John Cooper and Catarina de Escobar take after they make their perception.
The theory of relationships represents two kinds of relationship that a person may build with others; the first is peer relationship and the second is social
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