Mary Rowlandson Captivity Narrative Examples

Throughout history we have seen many forms of literature. Captivity narratives are one of the many forms that literature that began in early America. They have had a large impact on many readers. As early as the seventeenth century captivity narratives have been read and shared among many (Showalter.) A captivity narrative is a documented experience of being held captive, often by a group or person of another culture or nation (Captivity Narrative.) The captivity narratives that first came about as a result of Indian tribes taking Europeans captive in early America (Captivity Narrative.) The reasons for taking a captive included being able to trade, ransom, adopt, or imprison the person that was captured (Captivity Narrative.) Captivity

narratives hold much importance in understanding the relationships and mindsets of European settlers and the Indian tribes of early colonial America. Captivity narratives demonstrate the relationship between settlers and Indians, they are an account of the importance of religion, and later became a way for Europeans to justify westward expansion.
The difficult relationship of early European settlers and Indian tribes is something that many have some type of knowledge about. That knowledge may have been encountered in a formal or social setting. The difficult part of knowing about different relationships comes from not fully understanding the attitudes and feelings of both parties involved. A better way to directly understand the feelings of the people in this time is to study primary sources that were created in the time period of early colonial America. Starting with the accounts of those most known and important to history. Capitan John Smith has primary sources that can help people understand the conflicts at the time he was alive. One account of Capt. John smith is a letter that he wrote to Queen Anne. John Smith had an important role in history starting with his role in establishing Jamestown due to his governing role. Smith was an explorer and created a map of Virginia that was used for about 60 years (Cooper 30.) John Smith’s map provided important information of the Cheaspeake area. This map is said to be a “blueprint for European settlement” (Cooper 34.) Many used this map to figure out the best places for settlement. John Smith had a trading relationship with the Indians in order to provide food for the people of Jamestown (Cooper 30.) This is not to say that Smith had a good relationship with the Indians.
The letter by John Smith to the Queen Anne explained first hand Smith’s experience as a prisoner of Chief Powhatan of the Powhatan people. He describes the Powhatan as mortal foes with barbarous power. In this letter Smith explained that if not for the kind hearts of Nantaquaus and Pocahontas he would have died of hunger. He explained how Pocahontas saved him at the time of his execution. He also stated that not only did she feed him food to keep him alive, but information on how to escape as well. Lastly he writes that Pocahontas under god was able to keep Jamestown from death (Letter by Capt. John Smith to Queen Anne.) This document is important to history because it gives John Smiths account during this important time.
Readers can better understand that there were good people in the Indian tribes willing to help the captives. This was important to the time because setting up successful colonies was one of the main goals of setters at the time. This source shows a time that Jamestown could have been lost. This could have been a loss to John Smith, and this would have had an impact on history. This letter was made at a time of bringing success to the mother country and a time of religion. This can help explain the bias in the letter by John Smith.
John Smiths bias needs to be accounted for. As a man of exploration and a man that was of higher power Jamestown was important to him. He wanted the colony to be successful at all cost. Also being a Christian man it is also fitting that he would write to say Pocahontas was led by god. He was also able to speak only on what he was able to see in regards to the relationship of Pocahontas and her father. This is not to say that anything in Smiths letter was wrong. It could have simply been that Pocahontas was a person who wanted to help others, and still respected her father. In this letter we also do not see a positive light in John Smith’s relationship with the leaders of the Indian tribe. This may be because it was not the focus of the letter. Although this was not a formal Captivity Narrative, it was a first person documentation of their experience as a captive. This documentation showed a little bit of the relationship of between settlers and the Indians of the time. One thing that was different about his letter is that he was also more kind in his descriptions of the Indians than other captives tend to be. Another thing that was captured in John Smith’s letter was the importance of god. This is a theme that is carried out in other captivity narratives.
The best example of the religious effects of captivity narratives comes from the captivity of Mrs.

Mary Rowlandson. In this narrative Mary Rowlandson writes about her time as a captive in 1675. Mary was taken during King Philips war. This took place in Lancaster and was written at first for herself and later taken public. Mrs. Rowlandson writes continually about the goodness of god and her faith. In her heart she truly believed that the only way she survived the “ravenous beasts” in her words, was by the grace of god. She also truly believed that her being captured was a test from god. She explained her survival by stating scripture from the bible “"And I only am escaped alone to tell the News" (Job 1.15).” She was the only one that was taken alive from her house and she had to have faith in order to survive. She was the only one to stay alive from her home, but was taken captive with twenty- four others (Rowlandson). After about twelve weeks Mary Rowlandson was able to set up for her ransom and was exchanged back to her husband. Mary Rowlandson stated “But to return again to my going home, where we may see a remarkable change of providence” she went home with a new look on her life. She ended her narrative by stating her salvation was thanks to god. This narrative was one of the first to go public and give insight on being

captured.
Mary Rowlandson was living in a time of war. With war comes death and fear. The only way to get past the fear is though faith in god. This is why the only thing she was able to talk about was god in her narrative. During her life being a person of god was very important. This may be why she took her experience as a test for her sins from god. It is also important to note that her impression of the Indians is not a good one. She called them barbarous creatures. She did not see the Indians as equals to her own people. She lived to tell her story and she did just that. Many survived being captured and did not share their story. Mary Rowlandson is important because she did share her experience giving an important view. In history Mrs. Rowlandson will be one of few to share her accounts and give her view on Indians and their ways.
Later in history captivity narratives become much more important to establish a bad view of Indians. As the desire to settle the west the removal of the American Indians began. By the end of The War of 1812 the government continued to push Indians west out of their lands (Brinkley 184.) Indians are forced out of their land and into the west due to growing numbers of white settlers and a desire for better land (Brinkley 184.) For this reason captivity narratives become important. To some it did not feel right to take over the Indian tribes. This changed after people shared firsthand accounts of the “barbarous and savage” labels began to get placed on Indians. They are no longer seen as humans thus captivity narratives become a justification of westward expansion. Captivity narratives are written from first person making them very bias. This gave European readers a perception of American Indians that was not always true. Throughout history people encounter many things that will affect their perception. For this time period captivity narratives has a big impact on readers.
Literature in history can have many impacts on the people of its time. In early American history the captivity narrative and personal experiences became the largest contributors to others perceptions. Relationships between Indians and white settlers are shown in a bias way to readers. Readers also get the impression of the importance of religion to those being held captive. Many times when people do things that are not any longer correct they look for justifications. The attitudes of the Indians towards the people they captured expressed in captivity narratives became the justification for westward expansion. Captivity narratives had a big impact on others that did not experience captivity firsthand.