Mary Rowlandson

Mary Rowlandson was born in a Puritan society. Her way of was that of an orthodox Puritan which was to be very religious and see all situations are made possible by God. She begins her writing by retelling a brutal description of the attack on Lancaster by the Natives. Rowlandson spends enough time interacting with the Natives to realize these people live normal, secular lives. She had the opportunity work for a profit which was not accepted when she lived as devout Puritan women in Puritan colony. Mary Rowlandson knows that she must expose the good nature of the Natives and she must rationalize her “boldness” through quoting the Bible.

In order to be accepted by Puritan she first disguises her feelings of the Native by using terms like “murderous wretches”(68) and “merciless heathen”(69) to refer to the Natives.. To grab the attention of the reader through the full description of her situation and used such narrative as, “, the Indians shot so thick that the bullets rattled against the house as if one had taken an handful of stones and threw them so that we were fain to give back.”(Rowlandson 68). Rowlandson intended to lure her Puritan readers by first depicting the Natives as beasts which in turn led the reader’s interest of her accounts on. In order to justify her “boldness” she would mention the Lord’s name like so, “Oh, the doleful sight that now was to behold at this house! ‘Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolation He has made in the earth.’ Of thirty-seven persons who were in this one house none escaped either present death or bitter captivity save only one,”(69). This upcoming particular piece of text, she specifically shows that she is human and chose her life over an orthodox Puritan perspective. The quotation also signifies her slight affiliation with the Natives by mentioning “we”. Rowlandson writes,

“I had often before this said that if the Indians should come I should choose rather to be killed by them than taken alive, but when came to the trial, my mind changed; their glittering weapons so daunted my spirits that I chose rather to go along with those (as I may say) ravenous beasts than that moment to end my days. And that I may the better declare what happened to me during the grievous captivity, I shall particularly speak of the several removes we had up and down the wilderness. . . .”(69).

Essentially, when the time came her...

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...nd meat and a little groundnut cake. I was wonderfully received with this favor showed me, Psal. 106:46, ‘He made them also to be pitied, of all those that carried them captives.’”(76).

Again she justified her thoughts of suicide by a quote of religious text. Towards the end of the quotation she is happy to meet with her master again. Rowlandson mentions that she was “wonderfully revived” by his thoughtfulness. Then she ended that with more religious text to vindicate to Natives gentleness.

In the Twentieth Remove the Natives agree to let her return. “I have seen the extreme vanity of this world. One hour I have been in health and wealth, wanting nothing, but the next hour in sickness and wounds and death, having nothing but sorrow and affliction.”(82). Rowlandson’s time with the Natives was everything but capitity. She learned more than what most Puritans would have ever learned about the Natives lifestyle and culture. Mary Rowlandson It is safe to say that she would rather live as a Native than a Puritan but her mission was to declare what happened to her during her “grievous captivity” at the same have Puritan acceptance and she was able to shed light in many darkened areas.