Narrative Captivity Essay

of God: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Mary Rowlandson lived in Lancaster, Massachusetts with her three children, her husband, and around 50 families, many of which were either killed or captured during the attack. Based on Mary Rowlandson’s writings it seems she was quite firm in her puritan beliefs, for example, strict adherence to studying the bible and god on the day of Sabbath was a central puritan belief, and while in captivity Mary was reflecting

From the beginning, she showed her prejudice by referring to the Indians as “wolves” and “beasts”. Arguably, one can make the point that she had just lost her sister, friends, she was injured, and she was carrying her wounded child. But can we trust a description of the Indians that is filtered through the lens of Puritan prejudice? Of course, there is a larger question than whether or not Mary Rowlandson was justified in her hostility to the Indians; an attitude which, by the way, she did moderate

(1636-1711) a puritan women, held as a prisoner by the Native Americans and forced to travel, “some 150 miles, from Lancaster to Menamaset then north to Northfield and across the Connecticut river.”(10) was not a writer however had her book, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson published. The book was released for the, “public at the earnest desire of some friends, and for the benefit of the afflicted”(5-6) and Young Goodman Brown, a fictional character created by Nathaniel

Religion played a key role in the captive lives of the writers of the three captivity narratives by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, a Catholic, Father Isaac Jougues, also Catholic, and Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan. All three of these captives used God as a motivation to keep pushing forward because they believed that God would free them from their suffering. They all believed that God had a plan for all of what they were going through. Jougues and de Vaca also use religion in other ways during their

own personal experiences of being held captive. They both have a lot in common as they both were captured by Native Americans; both were puritans and both lost members of their family. While Rowlandson chose to write her story in a first person narrative, Dustan’s story was told in the words of Cotton Mather based on what he had heard from Dustan herself. This could also be interpreted that Mather could have changed around bits of Dustan’s story. Dustan and Rowlandson were both captured by Native

As a student I often find myself showing little interest in early American Literature vs modern United States. The text can be boring mostly because it is primarily authored by Anglo-Saxton Puritans. Once the text was read, it started to make more sense to me about the way of puritan life; as well as being more relevant on the views of America. The Puritan way of life was a man’s world. Women had separate roles in Puritan society; women served as secondary subjects their husbands. The roles were

three thousand American Indians killed,” (Baym, 2013) in king Phillips’ war. During these troubling times, many were captured and used as bargaining chips. One such individual was Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, she later penned a narrative of her captivity. Throughout the captivity narrative, the undeniable hold of time, place and religion is evident to the reader and vividly illustrated. At the time of her capture the Wampanoag tribe was seeking revenge against the white men for killing their tribe’s men

Rowlandson’s account of her captivity is shaped through her Puritan background and perspective. Her knowledge of the Bible, historical references, and current events influence her views on Native Americans. She perceives her experience during captivity as punishment, a trial that she must persevere with faith to both God and the Bible, for her wrongdoings. Rowlandson thought she deserved her unfortunate turn of events, but that by holding on to her Puritan faith during the encounter with her captors

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

Depiction of the American Indians The portrayal of Rowlandson's captors develops just as she develops through her imprisonment. Rowlandson's verbiage to describe those capturing her were strong for a woman from a Puritanism faith. She used phrases such as "merciless heathens"(258), "barbarous creatures"(259), and "merciless enemies"(259). It seemed that as her emotions ran high with her circumstances that her words became more harsh. When she felt like there was no other believers near to her,