Mary Rowlandson Typology

In print, typology refers to the process of using a plate or stamper to produce a text en masse. The prototypical basis or antitype from which subsequent pages are created is illegible, reversed, and unique. Comparatively, the reflection or type that the reader sees lacks the inherent perfection of the original, but in its reproduction gains accessibility and legibility. This model of stamper and stamp, of plate and page, also serves as a rhetorical contrivance for theologians and authors to suggest a relationship of creator and creation. Born from the human need to explain the world around us, figurative typology grants authors the ability to interpret a confusing existence in the patterns of types and antitypes. Following the general climate

surrounding religion in the United States, typology in American literature develops throughout the authorial canon from a specific hermeneutical tool to an argumentative device with less explicitly religious connotations.

More specifically, it evolves from a means of understanding life through the Bible, evident in the works of Mary Rowlandson, to a method of purposively interpreting God to inspire spiritual fidelity by Jonathan Edwards, before ultimately becoming a primarily secular device to support the American Revolution by Thomas Paine.
In A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, Rowlandson utilizes typology in order to interpret her traumatic experience through scripture. The depth of this usage presents itself even in the work’s original title, as she places the “sovereignty and goodness of God” as the antitype to her “captivity and restoration,” immediately drawing the comparison between her life and the will of the Lord (Rowlandson 257). This variety

of typology continues throughout the entirety of the work: as her captivity narrative progresses, Rowlandson cites relevant passages almost as a form of punctuation to the events occurring around her. Her relationship with God exhibits no quality of comfort, but rather provides her a personal validation of her suffering. In its emphasis on the relevance of scripture to Rowlandson’s life, the typology of her writings lack the poetry and linguistic flourishes that appear in the works of Edwards and Paine. Although she does describe her emotional state, writing, “my heart was many times ready to break,” her choices of biblical quotations reflect not an appeal to pathos, but a staunch belief that she herself represents a type of scripture (Rowlandson 267). To Rowlandson, the impact of God in her life is tangible, not metaphorical. For example, after the attack upon her home, she writes, “Oh the doleful sight that now was to behold at this house! ‘Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he has made in the earth’” (Rowlandson 259). Here, the loss of her home is the type of the unyielding power of the Lord. In this use of typology, its aim appears more substantive than persuasive, which marks a considerable difference between her employment of typology and that of later authors.
In a deviation from Rowlandson’s introspective use of typology, Edwards’s writings manipulate type and antitype with the intent of inspiring in his audience a fervor and passion for the Lord. While retaining the sense of divine purpose, his works demonstrate the burgeoning transition from Puritan typology to rhetorical typology. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Edwards crafts comparison after comparison to describe the ease with which God casts miscreants to Hell. The simplicity of separating joined hands, the rapid burning “of dry stubble before devouring flames,” humanity’s ability “to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth”: all of these represent a type of God’s unparalleled proficiency at damning sinners (Edwards 431). Throughout his body of work, his language, though not always quite so brutal, attempts to compel the reader or listener to adhere to the principles of God. As written by Edwards himself, “I think it is a reasonable thing to endeavor to fright persons away from hell… ‘tis a reasonable thing to fright a person out of an house on fire” (“The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God,” qtd. in Klassen 79). Despite religion being a primary concern in both Edwards’s and Rowlandson’s works, however, his methodology differs heavily from that of Rowlandson. Whereas she incorporates typological biblical verses into her narrative practically, as an implicit statement of fact, Edwards exploits the concept of type and antitype with the express purpose of frightening his listeners into Christian obedience. In doing so, he demonstrates a shift from the heuristic Puritan reliance on typology to the deliberate use thereof to influence an audience.
Finally, in direct contrast with the works of Edwards and Rowlandson, Paine’s contributions to American typology focus on a political goal instead of a religious one.

Reflective of the growing secularism in American politics, Paine’s pamphlets eschew the historical exegesis that the typologies of Edwards and Rowlandson represent. In one particularly illustrative passage, Paine writes that “Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and America is a strong natural proof that the authority of the one over the other was never the design of Heaven” (“Common Sense” 645). Though he maintains the religious ancestry in his assignation of type and antitype, God fulfills neither role; here, Paine argues that physical distance creates political distance. Although he mentions the will of God to strengthen the validity of his claim, his logic holds regardless of the existence of a deity. This proves a substantial change from the conventions of typology prior to Paine, as even though Edwards also wields type and antitype as persuasive tools, his rhetoric depends on the assumption of a higher power for cogency. As such, Paine offers a paradigm of the evolution of typology from its Puritan roots to the secular instrument it becomes across the literary

timeline.
The relationship of type and antitype offers one mechanism for comprehending the connections people, as creatures of pattern and compartmentalization, naturally draw between the phenomena of daily life. Subsequently, its maturation from Rowlandson to Paine represents a shift in the way society crafts those connections, as well as a shift in national values. With Rowlandson and Edwards, the use of typology exemplifies the early importance of religion in American culture. Similarly, with Edwards and Paine, the use of argumentative typology indicates the development of an American identity in literature, as it signifies an emphasis on compelling and effective language over factual narration. As such, its analysis provides some insight into a world that exists primarily in history books, illuminating a cohesion that often goes otherwise unnoticed.