Green Blanket Feet By Mary Rowlandson Essay

Narratives about captivity have often intrigued readers in Western culture. Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano’s stories helped pave the way for stereotypes within both European and white culture; teaching Europeans to see Native Americans as cruel and allowing whites to see the evil in the American slave market. In both “A Narrative of the Captivity” and “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano,” Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano share their individual stories of being kidnapped and enslaved. Though the two narrators share similarities in their personal accounts of being held captive, either individual’s reaction sheds light on the true purpose of both Rowlandson and Equiano’s writing.

Mary White Rowlandson was a colonial American who was held captive by Algonkian Indians during King Philip's War. She was born in 1637 in Somerset, England. Her parents brought her along with her nine siblings to the colonies when she was young. Her parents were John and Joan White and she married Reverend Joseph Rowlandson in 1656. Their first child, Mary, died after her third birthday and they had three other children named Joseph, Mary, and Sarah.

In 1675, New England sees war breakout between Native American and English forces. Over one half of New England’s towns and settlements are rampaged by Indians, and both sides suffer thousands of casualties. However, through the bloodshed and wreckage, one woman lives to tell the story of her capture by Native Americans. Mary Rowlandson, the lucky survivor, spends eleven weeks in brutal captivity, after being seriously wounded and seeing her own child die in her arms. How she survives her experience is nearly impossible to pinpoint directly, but her devotion to her religion can be tied to her method of survival. Rowlandson’s commitment to her religion equips her with a coping mechanism and keeps her thoughts positive during her

“Everything is not what it seems,” while this lyric may seem trite, it holds great truth. People, places, activities, each can be viewed in more than one way depending on the circumstances. From these viewpoints spring complexities and mystery in the shape of differing facades.

All too often we do not think about our personal strength until a situation arises that causes us to use this natural attribute that we know as strength.

Throughout the literary works of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Maus by Art Spiegelman, and “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, different characters deal with adversity differently. In The Glass Castle the characters must overcome family hardships. Likewise, Spiegelman writes about his father’s struggle during the Holocaust. Lastly, in “Mother to Son” the speaker informs her son about her own hardships she had to face. Challenges that characters face can impact them both negatively and positively. Characters from all three literary works deal with adversity by having courage, being resilient, and making poor choices.

In Lofton’s book, she addresses that there is more to Oprah than meets the eye. Her thesis statement, “What is Oprah? Oprah is an instance of American astonishment at what can be” (Lofton 1), shows the reader that the author clearly sees Oprah as a significant figure in America and will proceed to show us how so throughout the book. Through several examples, Lofton conveys her point by pointing out the influence Oprah has had on others to help them live life to their full potentials religiously, economically, physically, emotionally and socially.

Among many abolitionists of slavery in early America were former slaves, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs who lived to tell the stories of their quests for freedom during their time as slaves. Harriet Jacobs, known for her narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, was born into slavery like many African Americans at the time. Frederick Douglass who was also born into slavery was best known for his “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.” Through these narratives both Jacobs and Douglass each portray their own experiences of slavery in contrasting ways.

In the book The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver characters show female strength which supports the idea that when difficult situations occur, women need each other to lean on through hardships. Everyone has hard times when we need others’ support to help get us through, like the characters do in the book The Bean Trees.

In, A Severe and Proud Dame She Was, Mary Rowlandson recounts the treatment she received as prisoner of war from Natives in the Wampanoags and Nipmuck tribes written in her perspective. In 1675, Mary Rowlandson found herself and children held captive in the hands of Massachusetts Native Americans. Mary writes with a bias that seems to paint the Native Americans as a species different than her own, but her tone suggests she tried her best to understand their tribe. The purpose of this article appears to be written with the intent of persuading the masses on account of personal experience; that is the interaction among Natives and their customs to be seen in a light of hypocritical behavior. Through the lens of the captured author, she details the experience of her captivity with merciful gestures on the Native’s behalf, despite them keeping her for ransom. Rowlandson suggests traditional Native warfare surrounds a central recurring theme of manipulating mind-games; psychological warfare.

American diaries in the early years of the country really show how people felt and acted during these times. They displayed unfiltered attitudes, concerns and prejudices that they felt at the time. Both Robert Robe and Mary Stuart Bailey showed what life was like for them during their lives and trips moving west. In their journals, they described their journeys, the way the felt about the trip and their daily routines.

Rowlandson tells us that the initial attack is brutal. The Indians come at sunrise and immediately begin burning houses and knocking people in the head. People who try to escape are tortured before being murdered ("he begged of them his life, promising them money . . . but they would not hearken to him, but knocked him in the head, and stripped him naked, and split open his bowels"). Women and children are injured and killed along with the male defenders. The Indians are merciless , butchering the settlers "with the blood running down to our heels." The Indians don't allow Rowlandson the opportunity to tend to her injured child; instead they force her to keep their pace without rest or nourishment, and the six year old dies. They torture

Rowlandson’s text is bracketed by two spiritually authoritative males’ texts – a preface by Increase Mather and a sermon by Rowlandson’s husband. Mather’s preface relays to readers that his intention in helping Rowlandson publish this text he hopes to illustrate the “causeless enmity of these Barbarians against the English, and the malicious and revengeful spirit of these Heathen” (Rowlandson 7) and to show his Puritan followers a concrete illustration of God’s providence and to remind them to be steadfast in their belief in God’s will and power. It is likely that because she was a Puritan English woman her voice was limited so that it would be deemed acceptable by the male authorities looming over her. In those men’s eyes, Rowlandson needed

February 10, 1675 was a sorrowful day for Mary Rowlandson’s hometown (Lancaster). Indians came and destroyed their town showing no remorse. Many were killed and wounded. Some were taken captive. Among those captive is a women named Mary Rowlandson. Throughout her captivity she kept a journal of all her removals and interactions she had with the Indians.

In the many different stories, and novels we read this semester, we saw many different characters that had to strength in hard times. These characters faced so many things that they could have given up on, but they were strong, and kept pushing through their hardships and struggles. Three different characters that have shown strength in the face of adversity are, Mattie Silver Phoenix Jackson, Ethan Frome, and Phoenix Jackson.