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 Rowlandson was a devoted, Puritan woman of the 1600’s who would eventually go on to pave the way for an entire genre—the captivity genre/narrative. She had several family members murdered and was held captive by Native Americans, but was eventually reunited with her fellow Puritans. She details her experiences in A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Rowlandson showcases her biblical typology many times and her story and a prime example shown is when she writes, “… my heart began to fail: and I fell aweeping… Although I had met with so much affliction… yet I could not shed one tear…” (Rowlandson 279). She uses typology to understand what is going on in her life and around her and this is displayed when she adds, “But now I may say as Psalm 137.1, ‘By the Rivers of Babylon, there we sate down: yea, we wept when we remembered Zion,” (Rowlandson 279). She used the bible to understand her experiences rather than to see what it is like. She wrote during a very devout, religious era and

In her writing titled “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson”, Mary lies out for the reader her experience of being held in captivity by Indians during the King Philip’s War. Perhaps one of the most significant aspects of this writing is the glimpse that the reader gets into Rowlandson’s faith and religion. Faith was a major aspect of life in the Colonial Period. It was of widespread belief that God was to be feared, and that he was the only way to redemption (Kizer). Mary Rowlandson was no different, but the extreme conditions of her captivity caused her faith to occasionally waiver. Most of the time throughout her journey in captivity, she depended on God, and the

In early America, women were expected to take care of the household and of the children. However, writers such as Anne Bradstreet and Judith Sargent Murray wanted to emphasize the importance of education for women. The two texts by these authors that will be discussed are the poem, “The Prologue” by Anne Bradstreet and the essay, “Desultory Thoughts upon the Utility of Encouraging a Degree of Self-Contemplacency, especially in Female Bosoms,” By Judith Sargent Murray. A theme seen prominently throughout both texts is fairer treatment of women through education. Although both women do believe in opportunity for women in education, Bradstreet focuses more on the idea that women should have more acceptance in the intellectual world by men while Murray however, emphasizes the importance of women to be raised properly which resulted in them understanding their self-worth.

During the pre-revolutionary period, more and more men worked outside the home in workshops, factories or offices. Many women stayed at home and performed domestic labor. The emerging values of nineteenth-century America, which involves the eighteenth-century, increasingly placed great emphasis upon a man's ability to earn enough wages or salary to make his wife's labor unnecessary, but this devaluation of women's labor left women searching for a new understanding of themselves. Judith Sargent Murray, who was among America's earliest writers of female equality, education, and economic independence, strongly advocated equal opportunities for women. She wrote many essays in order to empower young women in the new republic to stand up against

Washington D.C. Daughter of Dr. William S. Lofton who was a well known black dentist and

Puritan beliefs reflected in Mary Rowlandson’s “A Narrative of the Captivity, Suffering and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson”. The beliefs are depicted in her eleven weeks of captivity after being captured by the Wampanoag tribesmen.

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.

One way her experience was so different compared to James Smith’s was, Mary had to watch her children and other family be viciously killed, while Smith was just integrated into the Native American society. The way her gender affected her treatment with the Indians was evident all throughout the time she was imprisoned with them. For one, since she was a woman, she was expected to be the head of the house and tend to the chores in the Puritan world. But while she was with the Natives, Rowlandson had to knit every single piece of clothing someone wanted and expect nothing in return. Because even if she ended up with a form of payment, it was usually stolen by someone else. She also had to carry extremely heavy loads while she had an open wound in her side, on top of having little rest. Everything Mary did during this time was nothing to be expected of a housewife at this time, especially having to watch her 6 year old daughter die of a gunshot wound because the Natives would not let her stop and tend to the wound. Instead, when her child died, the Natives took the child and just simply buried the daughter on top of some random

The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, or also known as The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, written by Mary Rowlandson is a powerful captivity narrative. Mary Rowlandson gives a first person perspective about her experience of being held captive during King Phillip’s War. Rowlandson lost everything by an Indian attack on her town. The Indian’s over took the town of Lancaster, catching homes on fire, killing and capturing the helpless English Puritan’s. Mary herself was captured and is then held prisoner for eleven weeks. Here she spends her time in captivity with the Wampanoag Indians as they travel to safety. Mary Rowlandson lost her family and all that she knew of her life, feeling as if everything was against her. Throughout the narrative she expresses her capture through religion, faith, and dependence in gods will.

What made this piece of writing so popular with England and America was the great narrative skills that Mary Rowlandson possessed. Throughout the narrative, it could be observed that Rowlandson 's suppression of rage, depression, and understanding change through her journey. Before the invasion on Lancaster and Rowlandson 's captivity, Mary Rowlandson was a harmless housewife who knew absolutely nothing about

How far do the sources suggest that Mary Seacole ‘was a great help to the men in the Crimea’?

“If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves?” This quote was from one of Mary Astell’s pieces of literature and it was a question she wanted all women to ask themselves. Mary Astell is known as “the first English feminist” and I chose her as my topic for this paper, because I believe in a lot of her beliefs about how women should be treated equally to men and be allowed to pursue whatever they wish- whether that be a career or a degree. I though she’d be an interesting topic and her views on feminism have made an impact on they way women think today, which means that I think she should be included in the canon of major English writers.

Mary Catherine Gordon is an American fiction writer and she was born in Far Rockaway, New York. Gordon’s mother was an Italian-Irish and a devout catholic. David Gordon was a Jewish who converted to Catholic. David was Mary’s father used to take care of her at a young age because he used to stay home while her mother worked as secretary to support her family, despite the effect of polio in childhood and being crippled. Mary’s father died when she was seven years old.

Think about it. Today any gender can write and publish a book from women to men and from child to adult. Back in the day women weren’t able to publish a book because women were considered for staying home cleaning and doing little things here and there while men worked hard and was able to do what they want. In the passage (Charlotte Brontë) it was said that, “Literature cannot be the business of a women’s life, and it ought not to be.” Women were not able to write books because they were meant to be easy workers.