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Originally posted by Okwaho

Between this thread and the one asking the question of why Alice jumped there seems to be the idea that Alice feared Magua more than dying as she did.Three writers seemed to believe that had she survived with Uncas dead and no one else to protect her being taken by Magua would be tantamount to the classic Victorian picture of "a fate worse than death" as follows:
chasis 22,a 2003 post, said that she would have been raped or killed.
rydergrl,a 2003 post,said that she would be abused by the women and as a slave would be passed from man to man.
Wildernesswoman, a Jan.6,2004 post,felt that she would have a life as a captive slave to the likes of Magua.
WELL Let me tell you what would likely have happened as well as what would NOT have happened to her to her.
First,she would not have been raped or passed from man to man.We can find no documented instances of white women being raped by woodland Indians.There are a number of accounts of white women captivities and Mary Rowlandson,captured 1676 by Narragansetts was held for 11 weeks during which time she performed numerous knitting and related tasks for her"master and mistress" and others and was paid for them in various ways. She said in her story that "Not one of them ever offered me the least abuse of chastity in word or deed"Many white women refused to return to their white lives.So what are the options for her with Magua? She would be taken back to the village where it would be decided as to her fate.This wasn't Magua's sole decision but rather one made by the village including all the Clanmothers or as we call them the Grandmothers.She could be adopted into the tribe to replace a lost tribal member or she could be traded to another tribe or to the English or French and if the latter she would be given back in a political trade.She would not become a forced concubine or wife as some people think.She could also be ransomed back from her people as a commodity with value.
Now, she had a legitimate fear for her life.If she couldn't keep up on the way back to the village she might be tomahawked and killed as a burden.However,given Magua's thirst for revenge, death by torture or burning was a distinct possibility and if you remember this had been about to happen to her sister,I believe, although it would be a tribal decision as outlined above. Captives, especially great warriors, were often tortured but women were not exempt.In the Nicholas drawings Ca.1700 done by a defrocked{?}priest in the Great Lakes country ,is shown a picture of "a female prisoner of war whom I burn" and I remember an account of a French woman who was burned by either the Hurons or the Iroquois.It is questionable whether she would have been burned if someone, usually a woman, wanted a potential adoptee to replace a lost family member and gave sufficient gifts to Magua to secure her. If she were adopted she would have been considered as much a member of the tribe and appropriate clan as if she had been born Indian.The captivity stories are fascinating and there were white women who preferred living as Indian to returning to their previous lives such as Mary Jemison who lived out her life as a Seneca.There are three reasons for this refusal to return.
First they were not the property of their husbands
Second they were not expected to bring forth children with the same frequency as corn,The average size of Indian families was 4-5
Third Women in the Native culture owned the longhouses,fields,and the crops,and had real political power.Remember woodland Indians are matrilineal rather than patrilineal ie, we descend through the mother rather than the father.
Compare this with the lives of 17th and 18th century White culture where,"The husband and wife are one and the husband is the ONE"
Alice,without Uncas as at least a protector,probably w

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Originally posted by Jacy

hope you feel welcomed Mohicana everyone on this site is v nice!

I like to think they would have stayed together, Alice wouldn't have had anything to go back to England for really assuming Cora stays with Hawkeye - which you can't really doubt that she did.
Thing is I think she'd struggle with the rough and harsh life a lot more than Cora. She would need a strong man like Uncas to help her through everything, he would have been the guy to show her how to do everything so losing him was like losing everything - her last glimmer of hope snuffed out. Was she brave to jump? I think so!

What I would like to know is do you really think Uncas should have run off like that? If he had waited then nasty old Magua and his Huron pals would have only been a little further on and he would have had his dad and his half brother to back his heroics up. The thing with Native American Indians - so I am lead to believe is that they tended to run away in battle because it was better to run away and 'fight again another day' so that in itself makes Uncas's actions out of character and more rash - making his feelings very clear for the fragile little girl that is Alice.

I also think that Uncas had a soft spot for John Cameron's wife - or at least was very fond of her - perhaps Alice is a younger version of her??

Jacy x

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