Research Paper On Mary Rowlandson

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

As Mary’s story unravels, she continues to suffer long hours of work, starvation, and separation from her family. She reads her holy bible and is constantly reminding herself that God is with her and will see her through these trials. Her spirits are lifted her master agrees to sell Mary to her husband, and her mistress begins the journey with her, but before long the mistress decides not to go any further and they turn back. Not long after, she starts to loose hope that she will ever be reunited with her family. She becomes discouraged, and her spirit

In “’Streams of Scripture Comfort’ Mary Rowland’s Typological Use of the Bible,” David Downing makes the argument, “she presents what occurred during her captivity in the language if spiritual autobiography and gives evidence of God’s sovereignty and grace, and of her own place among the elect. She also views her captivity broadly, as a type of Puritan experience in the New World, and as an emblem of the soul victimized by Satan” (252). Downing’s fist argument discusses how Rowlandson is writing a spiritual autobiography, which is when some writes their journey to find divine peace. The other argument Downing makes is how Rowlandson is using her experience as a learning tool for other Puritans.

In 1682, Mary Rowlandson published her captivity narrative, the most famous in early American Literature. Mary Rowlandson 's captivity greatly substantiated her religious beliefs in God. Her major strategy for survival during her eleven week captivity consisted of beliefs that God had a plan for everything, and would protect her through all obstacles. In times of doubt, she would turn to her Bible and rejoice that god was looking out for her. She believed that if she waited out her time, and allowed for God to do what He intended, she would eventually go back to living a normal life, and would not be held in captivity forever. With this strategy Mary Rowlandson is able to remain calm through many

Mary Pitchford or “America’s sweetheart” was an iconic silent film actress and overall great entertainer in just about all categories film related. Mary was born on April 8, 1892, in Toronto, Canada and after only five years on the planet she would begin performing for an audience. Ten years later she would already find herself performing on Broadway in New York along side some of the most talented actors in the world.

“A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” by Mary Rowlandson is a short history about her personal experience in captivity among the Wampanoag Indian tribe. On the one hand, Mary Rowlandson endures many hardships and derogatory encounters. However, she manages to show her superior status to everyone around her. She clearly shows how her time spent under captivity frequently correlates with the lessons taught in the Bible. Even though, the colonists possibly murdered their chief, overtook their land, and tried to starve the Native Americans by burning down their corn, which was their main source of food, she displays them as demonizing savages carrying out the devil's plan. There are many struggles shown

The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson reveals that the ghastly depiction of the Indian religion (or what Rowlandson perceives as a lack of religion) in the narrative is directly related to the ideologies of her Puritan upbringing. Furthermore, Rowlandson's experiences in captivity and encounter with the new, or "Other" religion of the Indians cause her rethink, and question her past; her experiences do not however cause her to redirect her life or change her ideals in any way.

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

The religious belief in that most white females during this time period were of the Puritan religion. Puritans based their concept of divine wisdom on a special covenant with God. They expressed the belief that the Puritans were the chosen people of God. Therefore he will be the one to protect them through their lives. Her Puritanism is a model of the life Rowlandson and other Puritans live. With having this strong principle, Mary Rowlandson feels as those that are not followers in this belief are inferior. She deliberately judges those in which that are different from her,

In Mary Rowlandson's A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Rowlandson, ethnocentric bias is clearly evident throughout the entire narrative. Ethnocentrism is the judgment of other cultures according to the standards of one's own cultural values or being closed-minded about the lifestyle of another ethnic and/or cultural group. Mary Rowlandson's narrative has many examples supporting the notion that Puritans are ethnocentric in their worldview.

In his sermon, John Winthrop used the metaphor “a city on a hill” to provide a goal in which the Puritans should aspire. The metaphor embrace an image to allowed the Puritans to understand how John Winthrop viewed Christian and one should act. He said that in order to received posterity from the Lord, one must follow “the counsel of Micah to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God…must be knit together.. as one man” (Winthrop, pg 12). John Winthrop had three reasons why he believed that God wanted everyone to appreciate one another as if they shared the same soul but have different positions in life.

The Pressure to Assimilate in Mary Rowlandson’s A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson

Mary Rowlandson was born in a Puritan society. Her way of was that of an orthodox Puritan which was to be very religious and see all situations are made possible by God. She begins her writing by retelling a brutal description of the attack on Lancaster by the Natives. Rowlandson spends enough time interacting with the Natives to realize these people live normal, secular lives. She had the opportunity work for a profit which was not accepted when she lived as devout Puritan women in Puritan colony. Mary Rowlandson knows that she must expose the good nature of the Natives and she must rationalize her “boldness” through quoting the Bible.

What can make us give a unique perspective toward to people? I believe that there are many ways for us to have many different viewpoints to something or some people. In the two captivity narratives of Mary Rowlandson and Mary Jemison, some people argue that because both the narratives was written by women, that make they give a unique perspective toward to natives people. I don’t agree with that. On my opinion, I think our points of view in life are more complex than just because of our sex type. As the two narratives of Rowlandson and Jemison, although both the writers are women, but they gave some different perspective to the Indian because they met different people, they were at different ages, and they had different experiences.