Difference Between Mary And Frederick Douglass Freedom

The Struggle for Freedom: A Narrative of Captivity

At the beginning of both stories they tell you about Mary’s and Frederick's story before they

were taken, to give you a sense of who they were before. In Mary's narrative, the story tells you

about her husband, kids and her life as a simple housewife. “In 1656, Mary White married the

English- born, Harvard- educated Joseph Rowlandson, Lancaster's first minister. She bore four

children, the first of whom died in infancy (Emory University). At the beginning of the Frederick

Douglass story, it talks about his life as a kid and how he was taken from his home at the age of

seven. “At age seven, Douglass is sent to work for Hugh auld, a ship

carpenter in Baltimore
(documenting the American south). The conflict that arises in the story is that they are being held
against their will and need to break free. Some of the recurring themes that I saw in both of these
stories are faith, captivity and freedom. What I saw as a symbol is Mary's friend it is my opinion
that she sees her as a symbol of comfort and once she dies, her comfort dies as well. I also see
the invasion symbolizes a test of god according to Mary. The whip symbolizes slavery,
submission for the blacks and empowerment for the slaveholders. Frederick and Mary go
through a lot of trials throughout the story, with each trial, they complete they transition into
exactly whom they need to be in order to escape. The only difference is that slavery was legal
and perfectly acceptable. Sure, if you see someone being taken, most people will try to help. But
during the 18th century, seeing this was just like another day compared to Mary’s story, the
Puritan's know that what happen to her was wrong. In one of the critics of Mary Rowlandson's
White 2
narrative of her captivity, it states “Rowlandson’s account and sequent captivity narratives were
used to justify the removal from lands settled by English colonists. During 1676 there was a war
taking place called "kings Philip's War", it was more of a slaughter of Indians. The Puritans
hated the Indians, they were in constant wars with each other. It was Mary's hatred and account
of her captivity that fueled to the fire of the Puritan’s hatred of the Indians even more. She said
“the lovely face of Christians with foul looks of those heathens".

In Frederick Douglass narrative was a time during the 18th century, a time when children and
mothers were being separated from each other and being forced into slavery.

In his narrative he

states “before I knew her as my mother, four or five times of my life". A difference between the

two narratives is the fact that Mary's narrative enraged Puritans to want to kill more Indians and

in Frederick Douglass’s narrative he inspired people and become a better person for it. Even

though Mary and Frederick were both facing similar situations, she didn't have to worry about

being sold into slavery, Frederick Douglass never had the opportunity to have an education.

When people look at Mary's situation they see it as being wrong, but in Frederick Douglass's

case was a part of everyday life. It was perfectly legal to own slaves and treat them any way you

pleased. A majority of whites considered blacks as tools. Things could have been much worse

for Douglass if he was in the Deep South, things were far worse down there compared to

Maryland. One critic said " his childhood was relatively happy until he was transferred to the

plantation of Anthony's employer Colonel Edward Lloyd (denotes). By the end of the story

not
only I'd Douglass free and educated, but also became “orator for the anti- slavery society. By
1845 he became well known for his performances at abolitionist rallies, but he was so articulate
and intelligent that many people had begun to doubt he ever been a slave"(university of
Virginia).
After being taken Douglass knew that the only way to escape was to empower himself and his
mind. This is why I believe that both of the protagonists of these narratives have changed by the
end of the story; I also believe that they are better because of this change. Mary Rowlandson
White 3
went from being a simple housewife to writing one of the greatest narratives or her times.
Frederick Douglass went from being uneducated slave to becoming so many things,
accomplishing so much and even building a school so that slaves will be able to educate
themselves. So yes, they might have to go through a lot and I'm sure that their lives were never
the same after this but they are better for it. I don't believe that the flat character of the story has
changed, by the end of the story I still think that Edward convey hasn’t changed, he was just
scared because he wasn't used to Frederick pushing back. Also in Frederick Douglass narrative
there are characters that did change, but Lucecreta changed for the worst. The reason why I say
that they have both been through tremendous trials is because" the Indians don't allow
Rowlandson the opportunity to tend to her injured child; instead they force her to keep their pace
without rest or nourishment and the six years old dies"(N.C State University. White 4 2015).But
really, Frederick and Mary can't be compared to one another, the only thing that they have in
common is the fact that they were taken from their home.

Mary might be able to understand what

Frederick is going through to a certain extent but she will never be able to understand being

singled out because the color of your skin. She will never understand being torn from her parents

and having no one there to help because what they were doing is considered legal. Just imagine

how different it would have been for her if what the Indians were doing was legal and no one

cared about what she had to say.

One of the reasons that I think that Mary Rowlandson has changed is because it says at

one point of the story, it says that she was eating raw parts of animals, this is something

that she would have done if this had happened. I also think that Rowlandson has change

her few points about Indians because she mentioned that god is punishing the Puritans

because of their acts towards the Indians. She said " . . . 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 (North California state

White

4
university). You think it's just another day; you carry out your routine like you normally.
When all of a sudden, complete strangers, who are not only taking you away from your
home but your family, are invading you. Imagine being held captive for a long period of
time and forced into slavery and there is no one to help you or stop them because during
this time, this kind of behavior was considered acceptable. What would you do in this
situation? Would you be able to survive? Or would you fall apart completely? At the end
of the day the question is are you willing to make the sacrifices needed in order to
survive, to change yourself completely because it's the only way to escape your
oppressors. The truth is that you have no idea what you're capable of until it happens, in
both narratives Frederick had no choice but to change who they are in order to survive.
They had no choice but to change because if they didn't then they would have never been
sent free of they would have been killed. The audience will be able to identify that the
transition that they had to make, was really an obligation that they had to make in order to
gain their freedom. For Mary she had to learn survival skills and other techniques to
survive, for Frederick it was educating himself and finally deciding to strike back against
his captors. It all comes down to, what would you do if this were to happen to you?