Scene of the Edwards home set on fire by the Comanche's.

The Searchers 

Scene of the Edwards home set on fire by the Comanche's. 

This scene depicts the brutality of the Native people, who killed the Edwards family and took the young girls as hostages. The scene only shows you the savagery of the Comanche's and does not identify the real reason for this attack until later on in the film, where Scar reveals that his two sons were killed by white men. This was an act of revenge and Ethan is strongly alike to Scar as he wants nothing more than to kill whoever is responsible. He even has the funeral cut short to begin the search.  

The scene and the film have similar contrasts with the book Little House on the Prairie. Where the Native's were seemingly the enemy and depicted as bad people when in reality it was different. The Ingalls family moved to their Indian territory without asking permission, stole from them and were racist in their comments about them. The Native's were rightly aggravated by having random strangers move into their own territory without even asking them. Although different in the scale of the aggression similarities can be seen in the film, the Native's are shown as being the savages, (as well as Ethan somewhat) when it was the 'Whites' who started this of by killing Scar's two sons in a massacre. The Comanche' then retaliated back by setting the house on fire and killing Aaron, Martha and Ben. 

These two depictions of the Native's and the White settlers both highlight the myth of the American West. That being the Native people are constantly undermined and the 'White' people are shown in a more favourable light than perhaps they should be. When really in both cases the 'White' people provoked reactions from the Native's. The only person who does not fit this criteria is Ethan who is shown as being a similar figure to those of the Comanche, qualities like being brutal and ruthless, which are shown in many scenes throughout the film.