ABSTRACT
The additional value of the Confusion of Tongues theory is in its capacity to understand the psychology of psychohistorical events. An example of using this concept is contained in a remarkable event dating back to Colonial America, where there is a heritage of trauma in cases of individuals being taken hostage by Native Americans. One such trauma case was Mary Rowlandson, whose famous account of her being taken hostage by Native Americans in the King Phillips War in February 1675. Her account was a subjective, first-person account of Native Americans destroying her frontier settlement. Her description of the calamity indicated the savage attack by the Native Americans on an innocent white family of New England in Colonial Times. Mary Rowlandson’s narrative clearly notes her horror and emotional disturbance at the trauma of being brutalized by Narrangensett, Wampanoag, and Nashaway Native Americans, whom he saw as savages, wild animal-like people. She described the emotional trauma as she was filled with grief, mournfulness, and sadness: “All was gone, my husband gone . . . my children gone, . . . my relations with friends gone, . . . our house gone . . .” She had the feeling she had nothing to live for. She was on the verge of despair, being starved, losing consciousness. When Mary Rowlandson needed to be revived emotionally, needed comfort, and searched for hope, she turned to her bible. She did develop a Confusion of Tongues Trauma, becoming emotionally disturbed as to why God, in who she believed and turned to for comfort and hope, “who helped the savages, the wild beasts of the forest . . . when he did not help her and the colonial captives.” Mary Rowlandson was able to use her capacity for resilience to establish a positive interaction with her captors. As she began to survive, she was able to establish a meaningful relationship with her captors. She began to see that some of her captors were able to show empathy, to give her food, treat her in a human way. She was then able to integrate their humanness and reduce her trauma and survive.
