A Narrative Of The Captivity Mary Rowlandson Essay

Even though Rowlandson’s character is visibly troubled by the problems she went through in her story, A Narrative of The Captivity, her character shows strength, courage, and perseverance. Rowlandson’s character has been through so much; she lost her five-year-old child, was separated from her children, and even starved; through all of this, she still finds a way to pull through. Throughout her journey, she has been through hard times of loss and sacrifice. Lots of people have lost their family members, many others have been separated due to war or famine. Today, people still go through similar struggles and have to sacrifice certain things to make it in life. This story is something that people in the modern world can somewhat relate too. Much like the “hidden agenda” too often seen in captivity narratives such as Rowlandson’s, modern-day politics uses the pathos appeal to get sympathy and/or support from the viewer.

In Rowlandson’s piece, “Narrative of the Captivity ,” the

American settler is elevated and the Native Americans are seen as the bad guys in the stories because they will capture and not necessarily inflicting torture American Settler and treat them like non-humans, “my child's being so exceeding sick, and in a lamentable condition with her wound. It may be easily judged what a poor feeble condition we were in, there being not the least crumb of refreshing that came within either of our mouths”(Rowlandson 37).For days, the Native Americans will not feed the American settler and will just give them a little cup of cold water for the settlers to live off. The Native Americans were just doing what they felt was right to do to the settlers until she will give in to them. When Rowlandson’s child died, and she did not even give into the Native Americans or ask for help. Rowlandson was trying to explain that pride can be a downfall and should never be afraid to ask for help as the American settler failed to do and lost a child due to the harsh treatment of the Native Americans.
The American settler is described in Rowlandson’s piece as the victim and the Indians as the heartless villains. The only way for someone to get through capture is with the mercy of God: “take notice of the wonderful mercy of God to me in those afflictions in sending me a Bible4” (Rowlandson 39) The natives are viewed as merciless and any humane thing done by the Natives is seen as God doing it. “...Sometimes one Indian would come and tell me at one hour that, your master will knock your child in the head, and then a second, and then a third, your master will quickly knock your child in the head” (Rowlandson 37). People view Native Americans as barbaric and relentless beings who had no concern for their fellow humans, aside from the ones in their tribes. Native Americans were inhumane, or at least how they’re depicted in this story. The parallelism in the story is how the Natives are being described as barbaric and judging them based on how they eat, talk, and sit. An example of this in modern day events is a “student was being depicted as a terrorist because of his culture” (Huffington Post). This is connected to the depiction of Native Americans and the settlers. People will judge others based off their culture without getting to know the person their judging. Most people view Muslims as barbarians and they themselves as the more cultivated ones.
In the Story “from A Narrative of the Captivity” there are many different symbols.

One major symbol is the bible..This symbols her faith in god. Her god gave her reasons and special senses when she was in distressed times. No matter how many difficult times she went through, her god was always there. Other symbols found in Rowlandson’s piece that represent something else are when the Indians gave her food. This symbolizes that they wanted to make her feel comfortable and unafraid. The last symbol was her dead child. It symbolizes her compassion and love for her children. “I cannot but take notice, how at another time I could not bear to be in the room where any dead person was, but now the case is changed; I must and could lie down by my dead baby, side by side all the night after.” (38). One way the article relates to Rowlandson's story is that people are still getting taken away from their homes today. An example of this is child trafficking in China, which is still happening to this

day.
Rowlandson symbolizes the Bible as a sign of wisdom: “But the Lord helped me still to go on reading till I came to Chapter 30 the seven first verses, where I found, there was mercy promised again” (39). She finds strength and hope from the scriptures she has read. Though the Natives gave her food and offered her comfort, she still thanked God rather than the Natives. Her God also symbolizes her strength because throughout the story she reminds herself the events she was going through were God’s journey for her. This was her pathway of life, and all these things were supposed to happen for a reason. Like Rowlandson’s story, republicans have a dominating view regardless of how much the lower classes help them succeed. The republicans seem to have similar views as she did on the God given rights.
Rowlandson symbolizes the Bible as a sign of wisdom: “But the Lord helped me still to go on reading till I came to Chapter 30 the seven first verses, where I found, there was mercy promised again” (39). She finds strength and hope from the scriptures she has read. Though the Natives gave her food and offered her comfort, she still thanked God rather than the Natives. Her God also symbolizes her strength because throughout the story she reminds herself the events she was going through were God’s journey for her. This was her pathway of life, and all these things were supposed to happen for a reason. Like Rowlandson’s story, republicans have a dominating view regardless of how much the lower classes help them succeed. The republicans seem to have similar views as she did on the God given rights.
While reading this story of her capture by the Native tribes of early America, Rowlandson truly tries to portray herself as the victim in the story and the Natives as the evil savages. However, they seemed to more civilized: “There was a squaw who spoke to me to make a shirt for her sannup, for which she gave me a piece of bear” (42). Knowing this native woman offered to pay for the shirt that Rowlandson would make, portrays the Natives as a civil people. They were mostly characterized as the villains in the story, they destroyed her home, sold her children off to other tribes, and treated her horribly. Rowlandson had to keep faithful to her religion to feel like she was being protected around the Natives. She took things in a positive way and she was hopeful that things will get better, her common goal was to stay alive and be a strong motherly figure for her children if she were ever to find them. She was a survivor, a mother, and a believer, determined to endure all hardships that came her way for that sake of herself, for her children, and for her God.
In stories such as Rowlandson's, Native Americans are shown as evil people who did inhuman things to others. The Natives are shown as bad people when “sometimes an Indian would come and tell her that her master would knock her baby on the head” (Rowlandson 37). Rowlandson, in her stories, uses pathos to try to connect to people in an emotional level. She tries to connect using pathos because when her baby died, she was devastated, but didn’t show emotion despite laying down right next to her dead baby and treating it like it was still alive. Throughout her story, she makes us picture the natives demonization, terrifying, uncaring people. This then makes her character look like a lone survivor, someone who has seen the world for what it really is. Although Rowlandson felt like giving up numerous times, she still managed to fight for her life due the hope that the bible gave her. The bible is the symbol of hope. This story connects to the modern-day current story for the reason that people go through obstacles such as being kidnaped or other hardships on a daily basis. Each person has to learn how to be strong on their own regardless of the situation.