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.

Both Native Americans and Puritans have similar values and beliefs like family, religion, and balance in life. For example, in the myth “The World on the Turtles Back” (25) “In the Sky-World there was a man who had a wife, and the wife was expecting a child” This is a Native American myth, and it is describing how there was a god who had his wife pregnant and that’s how it relates to the world being made. However in a poem called “Upon the Burning of Our House” It states “I, starting up, the light did the light did spy, And to my God my heart did cry

Religion played a very important role in both Native American and Puritan society, though their idea’s differed greatly. The puritans were very religious people, and it mattered more of what God thought of them more than anything and what everyone else thought didn’t matter as much. While the Puritans were the very religious ones, the Native Americans cared more about viewing people for who they were as people than their religious beliefs. Although the Native Americans had their own religious beliefs, the Puritans also thought that the Native Americans needed to “prove themselves worthy”, of their religious beliefs. The Puritans did not believe that the Native Americans had any kind of regulation on their own lives. It was very

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

When the first colonists landed in the territories of the new world, they encountered a people and a culture that no European before them had ever seen. As the first of the settlers attempted to survive in a truly foreign part of the world, their written accounts would soon become popular with those curious of this “new” world, and those who already lived and survived in this seemingly inhospitable environment, Native American Indian. Through these personal accounts, the Native Indian soon became cemented in the American narrative, playing an important role in much of the literature of the era. As one would expect though, the representation of the Native Americans and their relationship with European Americans varies in the written works of the people of the time, with the defining difference in these works being the motives behind the writing. These differences and similarities can be seen in two similar works from two rather different authors, John Smith, and Mary Rowlandson.

The relationship between the English and the Native Americans in 1600 to 1700 is one of the most fluctuating and the most profound relationships in American history. On the one side of the picture, the harmony between Wampanoag and Puritans even inspires them to celebrate “first Thanksgiving”; while, by contrast, the conflicts between the Pequots and the English urge them to antagonize each other, and even wage a war. In addition, the mystery of why the European settlers, including English, become the dominant power in American world, instead of the indigenous people, or Indians, can be solved from the examination of the relationship. In a variety of ways, the relationship drastically alters how people think about and relate to the aborigines. Politically, the relationship changes to establish the supremacy of the English; the English intends to obtain the land and rules over it. Socially, the relationship changes to present the majority of the English settlers; the dominating population is mostly the English settlers. Economically, the relationship changes to obtain the benefit of the English settlers; they gain profit from the massive resource in America. Therefore, the relationship does, in fact, change to foreshadow the discordance of the two groups of people.

After her house was burned during a raid by local Indians. Rowlandson’s friends and family members were killed or captured by Native American in the 1676. Rowlandson and her baby were wounded, capture and forced to walk for days after the raid and Rowlandson had to watch her own child wither away and die due a lack food and medical care. During Rowlandson’s captivity with the Indians, the only thing she had to fall back on for her survival was her bible and her Puritan beliefs in God. This paper shows how Rowlandson’s understanding of the Puritan Tenets or beliefs helped her in deal with her captivity physically and spiritually. The reader should have an understanding of the Puritan Tenets and understand that the Tenets are not just words but a way of life for the Puritan.

In 1675, the Algonquian Indians rose up in fury against the Puritan Colonists, sparking a violent conflict that engulfed all of Southern New England. From this conflict ensued the most merciless and blood stricken war in American history, tearing flesh from the Puritan doctrine, revealing deep down the bright and incisive fact that anger and violence brings man to a Godless level when faced with the threat of pain and total destruction. In the summer of 1676, as the violence dispersed and a clearing between the hatred and torment was visible, thousands were dead.(Lepore xxi) Indian and English men, women, and children, along with many of the young villages of New England were no more; casualties of a conflict that

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.

Within the colony of Massachusetts, religion played an important role in shaping the community’s people and interests. The reason for the Puritans move to North America was to escape the convictions the Christians of England were placing on them (Divine, 89). Winthrop and his followers believed that in this new land they must create a place where they could come together as a people and build the perfect religious society (Divine, 90). In a speech about his vision for the land, John Winthrop said, “We must delight in each

The Puritans played a large role in early American history and society. Most Puritans escaped the tyrannical rule in England to gain religious freedom in America, which helped create an early American society. Not only did the Puritans help form the early American society and religion, they also contributed to the earliest stories and narratives to help create a rich literary history for America. Puritan literature has helped many scholars and readers learn about early American history. One of the most famous American narratives is from Mary Rowlandson, who was the wife of a Puritan Minister. Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative is about her story of how she was captured and treated by Native American captors. Throughout the

These examples have proven that Puritans were indeed ethnocentric in their worldview. Rowlandson continually shows a form of contempt toward the Indians and compares the Indians and the Puritans to show the Puritans superiority over the Indians. The comparison of food that the Indians eat, their manner of celebration, and the faces that they've had since they were born, uncovered the Puritans idea of primacy. The fact that the Puritans despise them for their different custom and identity is a clear sign of ethnocentric

In the work “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” Rowlandson learns that there is a thin line between savagery and civilization. Her captivity forced her to go from civilization to wilderness and allowed her to depict some similarities and differences. Among the similarities is Rowland’s description of the colonists clothes worn by her master. She notes that “He was dressed in his holand shirt, with great laces sewed at the tail of it; he had his silver buttons, his white stockings, his garters were hung round with shillings…” (Rowlandson, 1682, pp. 136).

During the 17th century, many Puritans set sail for New England in order to escape religious persecution and re-create an English society that was accepting of the Puritan faith. John Winthrop, an educated lawyer from England who later became governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was one of the first in North America to advocate Puritan ideals and lifestyle. Winthrop delivered his sermon A Model of Christian Charity, in hopes of encouraging his shipmates to establish a truly spiritual community abroad. Almost fifty years later, a Puritan named Mary Rowlandson, daughter of a wealthy landowner and wife of a minister, wrote A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, describing her 11-week captivity by native

Mary Rowlandson’s memoir The Sovereignty and Goodness of God was indeed a compelling, thorough and praise worthy piece of literature. Rowlandson, not only recollected a chapter of her life, she delivered a solid visual of the circumstances during Metacom’s War. Rowlandson being a minister’s wife, a Puritan and pious women, gives us her journey with the Indians. Without any hesitation she narrates the journey she experienced and in the following essay, I will be discussing portions of her journey, and the significance of religion in her life.