Anne Rowlandson Text Analysis

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.

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

To them suffering meant to be experienced by God's people. Additionally, in reference to slavery which at this time spoke of what Rowland thought the Lords plan of redeeming her from the hand of the enemy was. In Rowlandson mind the Lord promises to redeem his people from the hand of the enemy, so in this instant Rowlandson is referring

She keeps a steady stream of verses from the Bible, for instance, “Yet the Lord by His almighty power preserved a number of us from death…” (Baym, 2013) is an example of God’s protective powers. Rowlandson readily credits God with all the positive things that happen especially preserving her life. She is also of the belief that God punishes backsliders, as shown when she utters the verse “…God strengthened them to be a scourge to his people” because “… Our perverse and evil carriages in the sight of the Lord, have so offended Him, that instead of turning His hand against them, the Lord feeds and nourishes them up to be a scourge to the whole land.” (Baym, 2013) Here Rowlandson is telling the reader that God used the Natives as a weapon against His chosen people because they had fallen out of step with his word. Rowlandson also tells the reader of God’s redemptive power and shows that God works directly through scripture, by causing the Natives to be defeated and restoring her freedom and that of her

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

Later on, Rowlandson got married to man by the name of Joseph Rowlandson. Mr. Rowlandson was priest for puritan thoughts and beliefs. Joseph Rowlandson also had a very good education. He attended Harvard University. Due to Joseph Rowlandson attending such a great school, he helped his wife write and become well educated. (This isn’t actual factual, it’s just a possibility due to there no being actual information on where Mary Rowlandson gained knowledge and education on how to write.)

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.

Modern culture allows the discussion of food to be a matter of opinion, but this narrative reveals that Puritans did not understand the different tastes in food that other cultures had. During the first week of Rowlandson's captivity, she refers to the natives' food as "filthy trash" (265). She later admits that the food was savory but can not believe that her stomach was not rejecting the

“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

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.

Rowlandson's interaction with the "Other" and her Puritan principles reveal a larger importance to the narrator. Rowlandson feels that her captivity is directly related to God's will, and therefore believes that God is punishing her for sins she committed in her past. As a result she is determined to repent her sins to God, and devotes much of her time reading the bible, reciting scripture, and while she learns to adapt to her difficult situation, she is careful to maintain her ideals and integrity throughout the time she is detained. For example on the first Sabbath during Rowlandson's confinement she remarks, "I remembered how careless I had been of Gods holy time: how many Sabbaths I had lost and mispent, and how evilly I had walked in Gods sight; which lay so close upon my Spirit, that it was easie for me to see how righteous it was with God to cut off the threed of my life, and cast me out if his presence for ever" (16). It is clear from this statement that the narrator attaches her encounter with the Indians, or the "Other" as a reprimand from

Mary Rowlandson believed the Native Americans were savage, blood-thirsty creatures that were either going to kill or be killed. In her story, she supports her claim by using vivid imagery of a major event that took place during her lifetime. A very interesting quote from Rowlandson’s literature is “It is a solemn sight to see so many Christians lying in their blood, some here, and some there, like a company of sheep torn by wolves, all of them stripped naked by a company of hell-hounds, roaring, singing, ranting, and insulting, as if they would have torn our very hearts out” (Rowlandson). This quote uses an incredible amount of imagery and allows the reader to see just how Rowlandson feels about the natives.

She experiences a few turbulent weeks -- which will be used in order to verify her traditional views toward food -- before she becomes accustomed to its taste. This period of time is pivotal in establishing that Rowlandson and her Puritan brethren had a highly religious connection to food, both as they prepared it and eventually as they consumed it. In "the first week of being among [the natives], [she] hardly ate anything" (Rowlandson 79). This would certainly be expected -- the trauma of being kidnapped coupled with the huge difference in the taste of foods would surely dim the intensity of her appetite. Carole M. Counihan, as she examines the relationship between women and food, identifies food refusal as "a meaningful statement in all cultures and signifies the denial of relationship" (Counihan 101). She further argues that women "are identified with food [and] a dualistic and absolutist Judeo-Christian ideology that limits female autonomy and potential" (Counihan 110). Thus, it becomes important to examine how Rowlandson's relationship with food and her religious ideology may limit her power within the confines of a traditional Puritan meal. However, as she experiences the food of her captors, her refusal of their food signifies an attempt to distance herself from the Native American culture and perhaps to distance herself from the freedom allowed her in consuming their food without the

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

She also thanks God during situations that could seem like nothing to be thankful about like, “yet the Lord by his almighty power, preserved a number of us from death” (Rowlandson 10). Through both the narratives of the lives of Equiano and Rowlandson, the Puritan literature is influence by religious ideologies and philosophies.