Megan's Discussion Questions
For this week, I would like you to pay particular attention to Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative. How does Rowlandson’s narrative compare to those narratives previously read in class? What is the larger purpose of Rowlandson’s tale? How does it help us better understand the nature of Puritan society? Its goals? Its beliefs?
See you in class!
See you in class!
posted by Megan Boccardi at 11:37 PM
33 Comments:
Mary Rowlandson’s capture by the Nashaway Indians is very different from the other narratives previously read in class. Other narratives that have been read in class, where the Indians have taken someone captive, have been narratives in which the captive wishes to stay with the Indians. The captive learns to love the Indians that have captured them and when they are able to leave, they no longer have the will to leave, and want to remain with the Indians. In Mary Rowlandson’s case, her capture was that of a brutish one. She felt that her capture was a test of faith, and that the Indians that captured her were “Instruments of Satan.” Many Puritans at the time believed that everything was a test from God, and that their will to succeed helped them survive the trial. During her capture she experienced harsh conditions; she had three children, one of which that was killed, and the other two she never saw again. Mary was witness to the brutal death of her friends and child, and subject to starvation and depression. Mary finally returned back to her husband for the ransomed money of 20 pounds, and once freed she wrote a narrative describing her experiences as a captive. Her narrative opened up and led the way to a new kind of literacy genre of cowboys and Indians, also known as Westerns.
Moira Evens
i think that Mary Rowlandsin's captivity tells that the indians are a tool of the devil, however many others that spent time with the indians preferred the indians to the puritann life. rowlandsons tale tells of how she looked to god threw her time in captivity. it shows that the puritan socitey focused on religion and society. they believed that the indians were saveges and that they were better than all of them
nicholas wood
Mary Rowlandson was captured by the Nashaway Indians. In her narrative she tells of the harsh conditions that she and her friends and family faced and also the test of her faith that she believed she was put into. Her narrative is very different from others that we had read in class for the simple fact that these Indians treated their prisoners very poorly. When we read about Mary Jemison's captivity the mood was much lighter. Unlike Rowlandson, Jeminson actually grew to love and enjoy the Indians who had taken her captive and when was given the chance to be set free, chose not to because she enjoyed the Indian lifestyle much more than her own. This was not the case for Rowlandson. During her captivity, she was starved, tortured and depressed. She was even taken away from her three children, one of which who died. During this time period, the Purtian society was focused largely on their religion. This is shown by the bible verses dispersed throughout her narrative. Rowlandson believed that her captivity was a test of her faith. She believed that the Indians were testing her just as the devil tested humans. Her narrative is very descriptive and emotional because she wrote it when she when was released from captivity.
The Puritans took religion to the extreme. Any joyful occasion or hardship was God testing them in some way. The Puritans were taught that the devil tempted them to do evil deeds. With Mary Rowlandson's captivity she was forced through many hardships. The Indians starved her and sttriped her of her dignity. They took her away from her three children, and killed one of them. Mary's run in with the Nashaway Indians was different from many other run-ins we have read about. We are used to the Indians treating their captives well and the captives resisting to run away. In Mary's case it is different. Her husband was forced to pay a ransom of twenty pounds. This narative lead to a new age in writing.
Mary Rowlandson told a very different story than many other women that were captured by indians. Many women grew accostomed to life with the indians after they were welcomed and treated nicely and didn't want to leave. Mary Rowlandson was captured by a group of Nashaway Indians and held captive for over two months. She spent her time with the indians in terrible condtions and had to deal with the death of her daughter. She was a wife of a Puritan minister and beleived that this was a test of her faith. After a long time of suffering she was finally returned to her home with her husband.
Mary Rowlandson spoke of her captivity as a horrible experience. Instances of white captivity among Native Americans previously discussed in class described favorible conditions with improved gender roles for women. Lives where monetary gains where not important, where daily life consisted of simple work and lighter social rules to conform to.
The larger purpose of Mary Rowlandson's tale was to show her complete hatred for Indians and pure love for God. She referred to the Indians as the enemy constantly and made satanic references to them when they celebrated. She spoke of God as forgiving, and a form of strength that carried her when she should have long been dead.
This shows the devotion of the Puritan society at the time. Religion played a very heavy role in the Puritan lifestyle. Even when family members had been murdered, and she didn't know whether she would survive, she still looked upon God as a generous healer.
The tale helps us understand the nature of Puritan society because through all the trials that Mary went through she never gave up and always thought back to scripture in the hardest times. It shows that the goals of a Puritan way of life are to make self-sacrifices and to never give up and to always be Godly in every situation. I think it would have been easy for Mary to give up her religion when she lost her son and when she was separated from her family. The beliefs of the Puritan religion as seen in this tale are the beliefs that God will try us and make us want to give up as a test of our true faith. Mary states at the end “Before I knew what affliction meant, I was ready sometimes to wish for it.” This statement shows that the Puritans were willing to give up everything for eternity but after experiencing what sacrifice is, Mary realizes it is the hardest thing to do. It is interesting the impact that the Indians captures had on some of the family members of the whites. Mary says, after she gets back home, “There I met with my brother, and my brother-in-law, who asked me, if I knew where his wife was? Poor heart! he had helped to bury her, and knew it not. She being shot down by the house was partly burnt, so that those who were at Boston at the desolation of the town, and came back afterward, and buried the dead, did not know her”. In a way the Indians were terrorists killing off people’s families and giving the family members left behind mental illnesses, post traumatic stress disorder and things they will never be able to live with.
In past narratives, most people captured by Indians ended up preferring the Indian lifestyle. However, Mary Rowlandson's narrative was written in a different light. Instead of adapting well to the new way of living, she had a lot of trouble, and never felt like a part of the tribe. First of all, she was separated from the two oldest of her three children. While she was allowed to stay with her youngest daughter, she ended up getting injured and eventually died. The Indians did not aid the sick child, nor the wounded Mary Rowlandson. In addition, Rowlandson rarely had enough food. Her captors made her sew clothes in order to trade for her own food when possible, which was difficult for her. Unlike other captives, Rowlandson looked for anywhere to return home. At one point, she hopes to be sold by the Indians in exchange for gunpowder. After much debate, her wish is fulfilled and she is able to return home.
In previous readings, the narratives have discussed the positive aspects of indian cultures. Usually, those captured ended up loving the indian lifestyle and end up wanting to stay with the indians. In Mary Rowlandson's case however, she hates every second of it. She views it as a test of her faith as an effort to help get her through the hard times. She was forced to create her own goods to trade for food and other essential goods. She is so miserable that she cannot wait to return home to her husband.
In my opinion, her story is an inspiration. It shows that no matter how impossible the situation may seem, faith can always get you through it. This is a common belief of the puritan society. In my opinion, puritans wanted every part of life to revlove around religion, and Mary Rowlandson's experience with the indians helps us to see that in a brighter light.
In the narratives that we have already read, the captives were treated much better than Rowlandson. They grew to like the Indians and some wished not to leave and thus the term "white Indians" was introduced. Rowlandson was treated very poorly however and thus took a completely different view on the Indians and their culture. I cannot really blame her for this though because of the harsh enviornment and being separated from two of her children while trying to save the third. Being a Puritan, Rowlandson took religion very seriously, and as was very common for Puritans, viewed almost every life experience as a challenge or test put to them by God. Puritan society is probably one of the best examples of an extremist religious society from this time period. They held the idea that God would always be watching and testing their beliefs.
Reading this narrative caused me not to like the indians. In the past narratives we have read in class the people captured by the indians were treated pretty fairly and ended up wanting to stay with them. This woman went through so much and had to deal with deaths. All throughout though she stayed true in her faith with God which is a good thing. The Puritan Society was very big on their belief in God and this story we read is a very good example of this.
Mary Rowlandson's account of her captivity is very different compared to other narratives we've read about white settlers capture by the Indians. She chose to write mostly about the woes of being around "barbarous beasts" who practiced odd things and, the worst of all, were'nt christians. Where other captives mostly went along with captivity, Rowlandson seemed to object to it every day she was imprisoned. She was taken rather roughly, but other captives who wrote narratives were also taken through violent means. I thought the main purpose of this narrative was to explain to readers how she trusted God and put so much faith into everything. The narrative gives one the understanding that puritan society was centered around their faith. The narrative shows that the goals for puritans in life were to be good christians and trust in God and have a good arsenalo of bibilical quotes ever-handy. The beliefs of the puritans were to, no matter what, always blindly trust in their faith and not lower their moral fiber for any certain reason.
Mikey Pavlik
The most obvious facet of the previous readings is that of the abrupt change of heart of the story tellers. The authors have gone into the custody of the Native Americans with a general sense of fear and outrage, and this easily comes through in their writings. but as they cut their ties to the social norms forced upon them by white society, they grow to accept their surroundings, understanding the merits of Native American individuals and their societies as a whole. This second state of mind never seems to present itself in the story of Mary Rowlandson, and she remains bitter and uncompromising throughout. This uncompromising attitude is a clear marker of the social brainwashing of puritan societies, whose members are rigorously trained from birth to be wary of outsiders and cruel to those different from them. The puritans were not even safe from themselves, punishing the mildest of transgressions done by their own countrymen and colleagues with floggings and other less mentionable punishments.
Matt Fox
In Mary Rowlandson's story, she was abducted by indians with some of her village while many others were brutally killed. It is a first person narrative telling of the hardships of living with the indians and how they were treated. She reviels the indians threats to kill them over petty things and other daily objectives. This story spans for a long time. She keeps quoting the bible,revealing that she still has faith in god and the bible and will not give up hope for herself. Over all, she just keeps up the log of daily indian activity and the way the captured citizens are treated and what happens to them while they are with the indians.
Michael Gremaud
Alright, this thing is freakin crazy. I'm not sure what is up but this narrative is completly different compared to all of the other Indian captive stories we have heard. The Indians actually act like an Indian stereotype to Mary for whatever reason. In previous narratives, almost every occasion has referenced the Indians as loving, sensable people. Maybe they were one of few rogue Indian groups that were always moving and always attacking or plundering. As for the more important purpose of the tale, Mary really emphasized the faith in God and in her religion. Also, towards the middle of the book she really started to see more of the alikenesses of her society with the Indian society. They weren't really alikenesses but more like a lifestyle that seemed normal after a certain time had been spent in its grasp; Indians didn't seem as alien. Her big focus on God and religion though was the more important subject as it shows the undying devotion of a Puritan for its beliefs and she never gave up hope, even though she lost patience, that she would return to her society.
Maggie Clubb
When Mary Rowlandson, an English woman, was captured by the Indians in Lancaster, Massachusetts, she was left with no family except a sick, injured child, and a small amount of love for living. “All was gone, my husband, my children gone, my relations and friends gone, our house and home and our comforts all gone, and I knew not but the next moment might go too.” On countless occasions, she was left in the bitter cold conditions, starved and tortured. “My head was light and dizzy (either through hunger or hard lodging, or trouble or all together), my knees feeble, my body raw…” She continuously struggled to remain hopeful. With no support at her side, she leaned on God for strength and to carry her through the pain she was suffering, especially when her young child died. She received a Bible from an Indian; it lightened up her life. She would read it frequently and reference quotes from the passages. Her religious beliefs were from her Puritan background. The words within the Bible were the origin of many Puritan ideals. They believed the world was created for man, and man was created for God almost as if every task was a test from God. Rowlandson wouldn’t have survived if she wasn’t as spiritual and had such faith in God. He would pull her through some of the roughest times she encountered; for instance, when she parted from her daughter Mary. She would pray for their well being. It was a test of her faith. In the end, her captivity was unlike the other ones we’ve read and talked about. For example, Mary Jemison, like Rowlandson, her family was killed and she was captured by the Indians. However, she was treated with respect. She was accepted by her capturers and became a part of a tribe. Rowlandson on the other hand, would not trade her previous life and "comforts" for the Indians' life.
In the previous narratives read in class, the captives of the Indians turned out to like their way of life better than their life back at home. Therefore causing them to often stay with the Indians even after their opportunity to flee was available. In the previous articles, women in Indian tribes were treated just as fairly as men and often had a say in decisions and tribe choices. In Rowlandson's article, not only was she hurt, but her children were also hurt or killed. She is forced to find her own means of food, while in previous articles, the husband and wife worked in unison for the food on the table. Her article showed the harsh, bitter side of Indians rather than the loving chiefs and very carefree peoples that the
other articles talked about.
I think the larger purpose of Rowlandson's tale is to show how her Puritan beliefs helped her get through everything. Puritan's goals/beliefs are to take any difficult challenge as a test from God. For them, not giving up on your trust and faith in God even when tempted or confronted with difficult obstacles is their greatest goal. Not to mention, Puritans practice the idea of being skeptical of those who are unlike you. While I'm sure what Rowlandson wrote was in fact true, who is to say she didn't exaggerate a little bit due to the fact that they were different from her and it had been instilled in her to look at them as therefore being evil?
Mary Rowlandson’s account of her captivity does not reflect any of the texts we have previously read concerning White captivity, which raises a number of questions about the validity of her narrative. It is obvious from her narrative, that Rowlandson is an extremely pious woman. She is constantly quoting the Bible, and nothing ever happens to her that she does not automatically attribute it to God’s doing. She honesty believes that God has a hand in every little aspect of her life. For example, when an Indian brings a Bible from an English village and offers it to her, Rowlandson in turn says, “I cannot but take notice of the wonderful mercy of God to me in those afflictions, in sending me a Bible.” None of her good fortune was ever attributed to the kindness of the Indians. “I myself in the midst, and no Christian soul near me, and yet how hath the Lord preserved me in safety? Oh the experience that I have had of the goodness of God, to me and mine!” This quote is evidence for the fact that Rowlandson cannot bear to think that maybe the reason for her survival is the care and concern the Indians have for her. Admitting this would destroy Mary’s entire belief system. The notion that only Christians are “good” people, because they believe in God, is so deeply engrained in her that she cannot see the compassion that is right in front of her. All she sees are heathen savages. Because these people do not believe in God they cannot possibly do anything that is not a sin. This view attests for the extremely biased and possibly untrue account that Rowlandson has written.
Rowlandson portray her life with the Indians as total misery and suffering, whereas we have read from Jemison and the article “The White Indians of Colonial America,” that many of the English captives learned to enjoy their captivity and living with the Indians far more than they had English life. Although Jemison missed her family, she never said such derogatory things about her new home compared to Rowlandson’s account of her “captivity.” She describes them as “ kind good natured women; peaceful and mild in their dispositions; temperate and decent in their habits, and very tender and gentle towards me.” Rowlandson never ceased to see the Indians as savages, “merciless heathens.” She also viewed her captivity solely as captivity, calling her new family “master” and “mistress” when Jemison referred to her new family as relatives, “my sisters went around employing every means for my consolation and comfort.” Rowlandson refers to the food she is forced to eat as “filthy trash,” and Jemison talks about harvesting the corn, and preparing the game, but never says anything was inedible. Also two incidents that Rowlandson gives in her narrative seem unlikely after reading the Axtell article. First of all, Rowlandson claims she was not given anything to eat and “Being very faint I asked my mistress to give me one spoonful of the meal, but she would not give me a taste.” This is in direct contrast from what we heard in the White Indians article, which said, “Although the food was often “unsavory” and in short supply, the Indians always shared it equally with the captives.” Rowlandson also talks about someone stealing from her. She says, “Myself got two ears of Indian corn, and whilst I did but turn my back, one of them was stolen from me.” This seems slightly unlikely or at least uncharacteristic because we know the Indians had strict codes and laws about stealing. These are just a few examples that illustrate how Mary Rowlandson never viewed her captivity in an unbiased or even truthful manner. She is too focused on the fact that they are not Christians, therefore they are inferior humans—a fault of many puritans of that time.
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If we consider Mary Rowlandson representing the Puritan then it is clear that they were extremely religious but obviously one person can’t symbolize the whole group. Throughout her tale Rowlandson shown strong faith in God but again that doesn’t prove that she was a pious woman before this suffering. From the narrative of Mary Jemison we see that she liked the Indian culture so much that she preferred to live with them (Seneca Indians). But in case of Rowlandson who was captured by Nashaway Indians, had to go through severe starvation, heavy physical works, saw her own people being tortured, killed. We get two completely different picture of Indians from those two narratives. From the beginning she believed Indians are agents of Satan and sent to punish for her past bad deeds and test her love for God, maybe she was a bit extreme towards the Indian’s action. Her tale also reflect Puritan’s believe of God where she was patiently waited that God will lead her and will show the correct path to follow.
The narrative about Mary Rowlandson is as many others have posted the complete oppisite of what the other accounts have stated about the indian people. Of course this could all be due to Mary's devotion to her puritan religion and no matter how nice or affectionate the indians were she would put a negative light on it. But according to her accounts once she was taken from Massachusetts unless they are complete lies to make the indian people appear to be the savages that the puritans believed them to be, the native americans seem quite cruel. She has repeated accounts of being left in the cold, starved, and even beaten by her captors. This all seems strange due to the fact that Mary Jemison was taken around this same time frame by indians and desribed nothing but good relations with them. It is noticeable toward the end of mary rowlandson's stay that she does recognize some parralles between the indian community and e her own she just prefers the puritan style more.
The story of Mary Rowlandson is the complete opposite of the stories we have perivously hear. We have heard stories of how the English people had taken over the Indian Land and how they were the ones being mistreated. In the story of Mary Rowlandson we see that the Indians could also act like savages. They were not kind to Mary Rowlandson as her and her babe were both wounded and her babe very sick, the Indians did not care. The woman they burned alive because she was wanting to go home. The Indians were almost as sick as the Englishmen. The puritans however came off as being very religous, which I know one may not make the whole impression for one group. Mary Rowlandson stayed true to her religon as she was mistreated by the Indians, she prayed alot, and spoke of how God helped carry her through many nights. I don't believe that all Indians were cruel however because of other stories we read and nothing of this cruel nature was talked about. So therefore I believe that we should consider both sides seeing that both sides had some evil with in them.
As opposed to previous narratives, Rowlandson's was made out to be horrific and brutal, fitting nicely into the settlers' ideology of what an indian abduction should be. In many cases (especially with captives that had been held for long periods of time), the Puritans were taken aback and not a little embarrassed by the fact that their once-captive family and community members were loath to go back to a strictured and religiously bound white civilization. Over time, the story was blown into even more fantastical proportions, as the illustration on the cover of the copy printed in the 1700s shows. The Puritans, believing their society to be morally superior to thier indian neighbors', obviously resented the idea that, for all of their rightousness, another culture might be better than theirs, and so appreciated an account that would support this frame of mind.
Rowlandson's narrative is completely different from other narratives we've read in class. The indians that raided her home and killed her family, were obviously not as easygoing and empathetic as the indians who captured mary jemison. These indians had killed a lot of her family, which she witnessed, and that probably caused a lot more anguish towards the indians. Another key component was the fact that rowlandson was a VERY devout puritan who would not swagger in company of the indians.
The larger purpose of Rowlandson's tale was to outline puritan beliefs and to show people that she was living right for God, and in turn was saved from being murdered by the indians.
The nature of puritan beliefs is to live for God and he will save you, if you deny Him or disgrace Him in any way he will surely punish you if not cause your death. It seems to me to be a very literal religion. Every single thing that is said or that happens is taken very literally by Rowlandson, and causes much fear and pain. Everytime something little goes wrong she immediately jumps to being punished by God for something she must have done wrong. For example, ithought that this quote was interesting : "So I took the Bible, and in that melancholy time, it came into my mind to read first the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, which I did, and when I had read it, my dark heart wrought on this manner: that there was no mercy for me, that the blessings were gone, and the curses come in their room, and that I had lost my opportunity. But the Lord helped me still to go on reading till I came to Chap. 30, the seven first verses, where I found, there was mercy promised again, if we would return to Him by repentance." It sort of sums up the idea of, i guess nyou could say, radicallness of the puritan beliefs. As Rowlandson read the Bible her views would change drastically. She was living in constant fear of God and looking for her wrong doing in everything that was happening. It also shows her devotion to God and on her release, her appreciation.
I believe that it's also safe to say that becuase Rowland was such a devout puritan, she realy didn't have tolerance to any other sort of religion or something along those lines. I saw a couple of times that she mentioned the indians as pagans. Pagans and puritans are extremely different from each other so it, i think, would be safe to saythat Rowlandson would not have given the Indians a chance if they had opened up to her, and that she exaggerated some of the indians misdoings.
While reading Rowlandsons narrative I noticed differences between hers and Jemison experiences. Jemisons was an interesting and good experience and Rowlandson was miserable and had nothing great about her capture. She was tortured and abused and had family killed and the whole time this was happening she just looked at it as a test of her faith. She was a Puritan and their beliefs were strong in God. Through her trials with the native americans she stayed faithful to God and believed he was what got her through this whole situation. After jemisons experiences with the indians she wanted to stay and live with them because she thought it was better than living with the Europeans which differed from Rowlandsons how she was ready to leave the pain and torture to get back to society.
In previious narratives read in the course, we see Native Americans as the protagonists and Europeans and whites as the antagonists. We feel compassion for Rowlandson and see the Indians as tyrannical beings, which is quite the opposite idea we got from former readings. This strong religious will of Rowlandson symbolizes the overall religiosity of the entire Puritan population. The Puritans' congregationalist, as opposed to seperatists, beliefs and values are the basis of the narrative. The reading symbolizes the perseverence of Rowlandson and the entire Puritan people for that matter. After all, the way of the seperatists was to, for lack of a better term, seperate. The Puritans on the other hand, stood loyal to their religious teachings and made no room for other outside or opposing religious teachings. This was, along with the harsh and brutal treatment, most likely one of the reasons Rowlandson could not be swayed into accepting Indian culture with its pagan beliefs.
Rowlandson’s tale of the “sovereignty and goodness of God” greatly contrasts the narratives we have previously read in class. Told from the point of view of a deeply religious woman, this harrowing story looks at the Native Americans from a negative point of view. Up until this point, the Native Americans have been seen as benevolent and tolerant people who give their women and children the rights they have long since been denied in European society, a fact which attracted many Europeans to flee their own settlements to become ‘White Indians’. Rowlandson, in the promotion of her religious beliefs, thought otherwise. Unlike many others, Rowlandson, claiming that her faith was what got her through the horrifying experience was, through it all, actually strengthened in her Puritan beliefs. She henceforth characterizes the Natives as violent beings, something that we have thus far not known the Native Americans to be. They, for example, “stripped [Rowlandson’s neighbor] naked, and split open his bowels,” right before her very eyes, and later laid waste to the “Christians lying in their blood.” Another major difference between this narrative and the others was the sort of role that she took in the Native American society. Rather than converting and accepting Indian ways, her stubbornness forced her into slavery. However, it was slavery unlike that which we have seen. It’s ironic because if Natives were ever to be taken captive by the English, they would first be forced to be slaves and then perhaps given the option to convert to a structured European religion; the English racism wouldn’t allow for them to give the Natives the option of conversion first then slavery like the Indians offered to Rowlandson.
The obvious larger purpose for Rowlandson’s narrative was for the promotion and preservation of the Puritan faith. It exemplifies just exactly how “the Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord,” a scripture used both to inspire in times of hardship, but also to reinforce just why the Puritan faith and society must be so strict.
Mary Rowlandson's story of captivity is very different from the other stories that we have previously read. For instance, in Mary Rowlandson’s case, she was very stubborn and against the Indians holding her captive. In the other stories they told of the white captives embracing their captivity and converting to "White Indians". Another difference is that in Mary’s story the Indians are depicted as ruthless savages that show no mercy. In the other stories the narrators tell us that the Indians are really misinterpreted and they dare say that the Indian culture is better than the European culture. We must understand that Mary’s captivity experience was very different from the other stories of captivity. In the first part of Mary’s narrative it talks about the brutal massacre of Lancaster, while the other narratives don’t start like that. So her feelings towards the Indians and the fact that she didn’t convert into a “White Indian” were almost justified.
Mary’s narrative basically shows us that the puritan society is extremely religious. She attributes almost every event while she was held captive as a direct doing of God. She also explains how the Indians were “Instruments of Satan” and how her captivity was a test of faith. She ended up coming out of her captivity even stronger in her religion and her tale solidified the belief that Indians were ruthless savages.
In the previous narrative read in class I thought of the Indians were generally nice people, treating the captives well and even making some of them want to live the new simpler life they had come in contact with. The most recent narrative read is almost completely opposite of the previous. The Indians took no mercy, killing many people and not even taking them hostage. Mary Rowlandson makes reference to the hostile attitudes aimed towards her and others for the simplest of details. After reading both narratives I feel I have a better handle on the puritan’s goals and beliefs. Throughout all of her trials and tribulations Mary always kept her faith. She quotes the bible for strength and confidence in herself. This shows me that the Puritans were very religious people how stuck to their morals and values.
Matthew Vlach
The narrative of Mary Rowlandson tells a very different story than the other narratives read in this class. In previous narratives, the Indians often took English women and children and let them blend with their culture. They brought them back to their village where they became part of it. In fact many women and children during this time enjoyed their new life with these Native Americans because there was more equality and the patriarchy did not exist like it did in English culture. However, Mary Rowlandson describes the Indians as ‘barbarous creatures’. She retells the story of how they invaded her town and killed settlers with guns, spears and even hatchets. Mary also describes how the Indians would light fire to houses with settlers still in them to either burn them alive or to force them out where they would kill them there. If you were to survive this attack, you were often taken captive. In Mary Rowlandson’s case she and her three children were taken with two of her children going to different tribes. She and the child who was with her were both injured when the Indians took them. However, the Indians did not do anything about this and her child eventually died from her wounds.
The main purpose of this narrative was spreading the belief of Puritan society. It emphasizes how important God was in their society and how they believed God had the power to give and could take anything away. In her narrative, Mary Rowlandson stated that God upheld her spirit and stayed with her the entire time. Puritan’s beliefs and goals centered almost completely around religion which is quite easy to see from this narrative.
I think the purpose of Mary Rowlandson’s tale is to show how atrocious the Indians were. She called the Indians “instruments of Satin”, though many people never saw them as this. Many people believe that the Indians were better than puritan society because of all the people who, after held captive by the Indians, would flee back to them. Rowlandson describes how she suffered from depression and starvation, and how she witnessed murders of her friends and loved ones. While held captive by the Indians, being a religions puritan woman, Mary sought guidance from the bible to keep herself sane, after the horrible things that had happened to her, and took her captivity as a test of her faith. This just shows how religion was an important aspect in the Puritan society. As a result of Mary’s writings tales of cowboys and Indians, also known as Westerns, became known in America
Emily Wagner
The narrative of the captivity of Mary Rowlandson was very different than the readings we have read before of other captives. In her story the indians acted so much different towards the english than previously. The indians went around burning and destroying houses and killing people. They also treated their captives as slaves rather than praising them and treating them as their own. In the previous readings we read that the captured english were sad at first yet came to love the indian life and never wanted to go back to their previous life even when given the chance. They were able to except the indian life and loved the freedom and equailty of women and men. However in Marys story that wasnt the case. She wanted to die or kill herself the whole time she was captured. It was also sad to read that she watched her child die in her arms without any help from the indians and she had to watch people she knew being murdered all around her. I did find it a little different though, that in this story she had the chance to try and go see her other children, whereas in the readings before there were no other family memebers to see ever. I think the puritans belief came a lot from the Bible compared to the past. Ive seen many versus in her story and how everything in her life was controlled by God and that he was the only one who controlled the fate of lives. She always said that she wanted to die and she thought she would on long cold nights, but that God had mercy on her and always gave her strength to move on the next day. This just shows how religious she was and how religious the Puritan life was.
Mary Rowlandson's captivity to the nashaway indians reflects several lifestyle views in the 1600s. The Puritan views were abundant, as many of her views in the narrative are a god vs. satan relationship. She believed her will was being tested by satan, and the indians were playing god. These indians treated their hostages differently from other tribes, with brutality and kept Mary away from her family, killing one of her children. After the husband's payment to the indians she was set free and back into Puritan society, as other women took to the indian way of life
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