Who Is Mary Rowlandson's Captivity?

Mary Rowlandson, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary, is a short story in which the main character Mrs. Marty Rowlandson is taken captive by a group of Native American warriors. Native American warriors open the beginning of the narrative by massacring and setting fire to the stead in which the author was living. The narrator develops throughout the narrative, beginning from when she was first taken as a captive until ultimately ending her story upon her final exodus. Although the story is written in hindsight the author uses Biblical quotes to help her, as well any future potential readers understand American colonialism. Through the usage imagery, pathos, and ethos appeal the author uses quotes from the bible to control the way in which the people involved are portrayed to the audience

Rowlandson was completely shocked by this kind deed and did not know what to make of it (65-66). Shortly after this event, the Indians realize that she can be an asset to them instead of a burden. Because of her skill in making clothing, the Indians begin to trade food and other small items for her services. King Phillip even trades “good news” for a bunch of items from Rowlandson (83). As she gains more trust with the Indians she is granted leave to go visit her family by herself. The change in the attitude of the Indians towards the captives was dramatic nearing their release, showing that they were not just ruthless killers but also human.

Mary Rowlandson, the hero Mary Rowlandson really suffered a difficult time from the attack and during the captivity, but she did get rid of these awful experiences. Through the book, the Bible she gained due to the marriage encourages her a lot. In her opinion, all the things she experienced was led by god, because the god wanted her to experience those things to let her learn a class that she had to protect herself. During the time been captured and did not been released, she even thought that she was not released because she had not learn the class sufficiently and need to experience difficulties more. Although the plots and the events she recorded do have value for history event, but some opinions, like the part that god led her, are too personal. In the book she also expressed that she did not understand Indians behavior, but she acted like Indians in some aspects after she lived with Indians for several weeks. In her opinion, Indians were always savage and away from civilization. However, some Indians did wear colonists’ clothes and even did pray and claimed that they became Christianity. The changes on her and some differences on Indians that did not match with her idea do change her mind and the line she made to distinguish civilization and

Writing to persuade has been in practice since the beginning of the written word. However, the topic on which the author of such a piece of literature means to influence the reader on has changed depends on what is happening in the world in which they live in. In the instance of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, she was writing in a time when Native Americans were attempting to push out the English settlements in New England, an excursion that historians appointed as King Phillip’s War. Rowlandson, being a citizen of such English outposts, more expressly, predominantly Puritan colonies, would likely include aspects that would appeal to Puritan beliefs when she wrote with the intent to bring others into her way of thinking. In her publication, The

Mary Rowlandson is a European woman who was captured by the Native Americans during King Philips’ war and was held for 11 weeks before being ransomed. Rowlandson wrote, Narrative of the Captivity and restorations of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, which describes her experiences, and everything the natives went through. Ouladah Equiano; an African male, was kidnapped and sold as a slave. Ouladah wrote The interesting Narrative of the life of Ouladah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African. Equiano's text describes his experience in slavery after his kidnapping and the struggles slaves endure. Even though both Rowlandson and Equiano were kidnapped, their experiences in captivity and the aim of their narratives are quite different. While both may have

In the beginning, Mary Rowlandson said: "I had often before this said, that if the Indians should come, I should chuse rather to be killed by them than taken alive but when it came to the trail my mind changed ...” (Rowland Line 13) Mary Rowlandson was a strong-minded woman who would be willing to put up a fight to defend her own family. However, Rowlandson's life changed when she lost the war with the Indians. Her captivity journey with the Indians taught her how to survived and rely on her Lord very much. We see this in her everyday dairy; such as the days her food would be stolen, freezing every night, witnessing death before her, and losing loved ones in her arms. Yet, Rowlandson used her skills and her obedience to her Lord to make peace

In her role as a Puritan Minister’s wife, Mary, was a firm believer in the faith. From the first of the narrative, it is apparent that Mary has deep roots in the Christian faith. Whenever there is a positive development in her captivity, she attributes it to God’s goodness and mercy upon her. For example, she believes she has been blessed by God when her wound heals. When hardships arise, she views them as either a punishment for something wrong, she has done or the will of God for her life. Mary believed that God had used the Native Indians as a way to punish them because they had offended Him. She draws strength and hope from the strong belief that God is with her throughout all her sufferings under her captors. In their capture, some of the captives enter into a state of despair, which drives them to commit suicide. Mary Rowlandson looks into her faith and draws the strength she needs to stay alive. She credits God for keeping her alive and protecting her from being abused sexually by the Native Indian men. During her confinement, she leans on Biblical scripture and stories to keep her going. She believes that just as God redeemed Daniel, and Job, He would do the same for her. So deep was Mary’s

Mary Rowlandson, who was born in 1637, in Somerset, England, moved with her family to the new world right before the 1650s. She settled in Salem in the Massachusetts bay before later moving to Lancaster on the Massachusetts frontier during 1653. During her time in the new world, conflict between the English and the Natives began to rise rapidly. Rowlandson eventually found herself in the middle of an attack on her home town, Lancaster. She and her three kids, Joseph, Mary, and Sarah, were captured by the Natives. During her 11 weeks as a captive, Mary Rowlandson goes through many experiences that make her question her puritan beliefs. She uses the scriptures of the bible as guidance and motivation to continue on and not give up.

Written by Puritan Mary Rowlandson, The Soveraignty and Goodness of God, Together with the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (second edition) was originally published in Boston in 1720. The primary source narrates Rowlandson’s three months in Indian captivity during King Philip’s War. As a puritan, Mary wrote the book for herself to reflect upon God’s role during her tribulation—but the purpose changed to appease the desires of her friends and to help the sinfully afflicted. In one passage, Mary recollects the Indian who claimed that her son was roasted and eaten—this did not discourage her because she “considered [the Indian’s] horrible addictedness to lying”,

Mary Rowlandson’s reply to their struggle shows her questioning God’s judgement, then quickly steering back to His divine providence. First she writes, “God did not give them courage or activity to go over after us. We were not ready for so great a mercy as victory and deliverance. If we had been God would have found out a way for the English to have passed the river.” (Norton A, 265)

Mary Rowlandson”, Mary Rowlandson attributes her captivity by the Native Americans as a punishment from God. Instead of blaming the Indian tribe for the devastation and destruction of her town, she states “Come, behold the works of the Lord”.   She faults her own people for breaking their “covenant with God” and alludes to the Bible by saying “Oh, that my people had harkened to me, and Israel had walked in my ways; I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries.” She believes that whenever she was treated with respect by the Native Americans it was because God’s irresistible grace was manifesting itself to her instead of comprehending the fact that it was simply the native tribe’s ethical behavior.

Mary Rowlandson relied on her faith even while she was being captured by the Indians/ Native Americans and treated as a possession. There was a major cultural difference between Rowlandson and the Indians. Rowlandson was not as accepting of their culture due to the fact that they did not share the same Puritan values as her. She always kept God with her even when she lost her daughter and when she was separated from her husband. Although she kept her faith in God, she still questioned why she was captured, and why she wasn’t killed along with her family. She begged God every day for mercy and strength to continue travel each day. When the Indians came and burned down her town and killed people she knew, and forced their way into homes, Rowlandson continued to ask God for answers on what to do. Being that Rowlandson was a profound puritan, witnessing the way the Indians sang and danced made her compare them to creatures of hell. “Oh, the roaring, and the singing, and dancing, and yelling of those black creatures in the night, which made the place a lively resemblance of hell.” (Rowlandson 10) She described the Indians as barbarous creatures and black creatures. She believed that the Indians were not believers of God which impacted the way they treated her and the other captives as people. Although she still felt a sense of hatred towards them for what they did to her, she couldn’t help to feel grateful towards them when they gave her food, or when they gave her a warm place t sleep. She felt grateful towards them because when the other Indians treated her badly there were others who gave her food when she wasn’t fed and gave her animal skin to sleep on

For Rowlandson’s original audience, her captivity narrative serves multiple literary purposes. Taken at face value, Rowlandson’s narrative both describes the events of her captivity and defends her moral, religious, and physical chastity. As the title suggests, Rowlandson depicts her captivity as an example of how God tests a person’s faith with secular temptations. In effect, the narrative is a spiritually didactic argument that teaches its readers how to keep their faith while suffering through affliction. Rowlandson frequently quotes biblical scripture, thereby comparing herself to characters in biblical stories and authenticating her narrative. Although she claims to be a divine example, Rowlandson makes it clear that the threat of captivity could happen to anyone when she describes Native Americans as devilish and savage. By maintaining a religious subject and propagating an anti-Native American sentiment, Rowlandson plays the tunes that her audience wants to hear. As a book that went through nearly thirty editions (Armstrong 375), Rowlandson’s Sovereignty and Goodness of God qualifies as popular fiction as soon as readers find traces of the captivity narrative in other forms of popular fiction.

Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration displays the invasion of Lancaster by the nation of Indians, that caused family and friends' losses. However, Mary did not give up because of strong faith in God. Rowlandson's attitude towards Indians transformed a lot from a huge shock and dependence to the admiration of their lifestyle. By the way, despite the admiration, the view of Indians as the “enemy” was a part of Mary's attitude. Moreover, her encounter with the other religion along with experiences in

Written after the climax of King Philip's war, the English name given to the leader of the Wampanoags, - an armed conflict between the First Nations inheritance of New England and English colonists - Mary Rowlandson a Puritan Women recorded her experiences as a captive. The story was the first of its kind, an ‘Indian’ captive narrative, and