Outline #1
An Adaptivity Narrative
Evan Augenstein
HIST 1151
Professor Hurford
29 August 2017
An Adaptivity Narrative
Background -
A Captivity Narrative
Primary Source
Mary Rowlandson was a colonist living in Lancaster, Massachusetts in the late 1600s. She was married to Joseph Rowlandson, a minister, and was the mother of four children. Lancaster was raided by Native Americans, and Rowlandson was held captive for three months until ransomed off (Shi and Mayer, 40).
Originally published in 1682, A Captivity Narrative was written during King Philip’s War. During this time, bands of indians attacked several settlements on the American frontier, one of those being Lancaster, Massachusetts
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The circumstances that Rowlandson was in were grim, and the Native Americans had no pity for her or her son, nonetheless she stayed with him until he died.
Rowlandson’s beliefs stayed true to the Puritan society around her, however she showed that women are capable of both physical and emotional strength; contrary to popular belief at the time.
Rowlandson was a Puritan, however it is almost ironic to see her go back to a society that judges her inferior and weak when she probably endured more hardships than most Puritan men.
“... after my bearing and getting through so many difficulties: the indians stood laughing to see me staggering along: but in my distress the Lord gave me experience of the truth…” (Shi and Mayer, 43)
Puritan society placed a heavy focus on separate social roles of men and women. Women were given far less privileges than men because they were believed to be inferior (Shi and Tindall, 85). Rowlandson was a Puritan, and while she eventually escaped captivity, she was still in a society that treated her almost as a
On February 10, 1675, Mary Rowland was captured in Lancaster, Massachusetts. While being held captive, she narrated her experiences and tried to affirm her Puritan beliefs throughout her survival of being in captivity. She’d rather go with the “ravenous Beasts” than die because she wanted to “declare” of what was happening to her throughout her journey (70). Mary Rowlandson believed God was omniscient, forgiving, and omnipotent and it shaped her perception of the world in an affirmative way throughout all the chaos and suffering.
At the start of John Demos' book The Unredeemed Captive, a group of Native Americans attack the English town of Deerfield, kidnap a few of its people, and take them to Canada. On October 21, 1703, in response to the attacks, the "Reverend Mr." John Williams, the town's leader, writes to Joseph Dudley, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, for tax relief, funding to rebuild the fort, a prisoner exchange to free the captured residents, and soldiers to protect the town. Governor Dudley agrees to fulfill the reverend's requests, and stations 16 soldiers at the town's fort (Demos 1994, 11-13). In response to English counterattacks, Governor Pierre de Rigaud, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, begins to plan an February "expedition" of 48 French troops and 200 of France's "domiciled Indians." During the expedition, the soldiers destroy the town of Deerfield. Many of the residents that do not manage to flee or hide are killed or captured, including the reverend and his family. The troops then take the captured colonists to Canada, where they will be held hostage in an attempt to negotiate the release of many French prisoners under English control, including Vaudreuil's best "privateer," Pierre Maisonat, the infamous "Captain Baptiste" (Demos 1994, 15-19). In The Unredeemed Captive, Demos uses the incident at Deerfield as a lens to reveal the underlying political, cultural, and religious conflicts in colonist-Native American relations, and those between the European colonizing nations themselves.
John Putnam Demos, The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story of Early America (New York: Vintage Books, 1995)
Mary Rowlandson was an Indian captive, and also an American writer. She was born in England approximately 1637-1638. She immigrated to Lancaster, Massachusetts with her parents. Joseph Rowlandson became a minister in 1654 and two years later he married Mary. They together had four children, one whom died as an infant, but the others were Joseph, Mary, and Sarah.
...e. She spent all day walking and carrying articles while the Indians rode horse back. Rowlandson was forced to weave for the Indians and give her clothing up for the comfort of the Indians. My head also was so light, that I usually reeled as I went, but I hope all those wearisome steps that I have taken are but a forwarding of me to the Heavenly rest (Rowlandson p. 43). Near the end of her eleven weeks of captivity Rowlandson wanted nothing more but to give up and let the Lord take her away. The Indians stood laughing to see me staggering along; but in my distress the Lord gave me experience of the truth and goodness of that promise (Rowlandson p. 51). Finally, after eleven long weeks of death, pain and suffering, the Indians gave heart. They leaded her near Boston where she would find some English men that helped reunites her husband to his long lost wife.
Mary Rowlandson was captured from her home in Lancaster, Massachusetts by Wampanoag Indians during King Phillip’s War. She was held captive for several months. When she was released she penned her story, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. During much of her story she refers to the Indians as savage beasts and heathens but at times seems admire them and appreciate their treatment of her. Mary Rowlandson has a varying view of her Indian captors because she experienced their culture and realized it was not that different from Puritan culture.
In Mary Rowlandson, “A Captivity Narrative”, Rowlandson recounts her experiences as a captive of the Wampanoag tribe. The tribe took captives from Lancaster in 1676 because of the ongoing violent altercations between the English colonists and Native Americans during King Philip’s War. Since many of the Native Americans brethren had fallen in battle, they saw it fit to take English folk captive and use them to take the place of their fallen brethren, trading/ransom pieces, or killing them in revenge. This was becoming a common practice for the Native Americans to attack villages and in result, some English started fleeing the area or started to retaliate. Rowlandson was a Puritan wife and mother, in her
“A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” by Mary Rowlandson is a short history about her personal experience in captivity among the Wampanoag Indian tribe. On the one hand, Mary Rowlandson endures many hardships and derogatory encounters. However, she manages to show her superior status to everyone around her. She clearly shows how her time spent under captivity frequently correlates with the lessons taught in the Bible. Even though, the colonists possibly murdered their chief, overtook their land, and tried to starve the Native Americans by burning down their corn, which was their main source of food, she displays them as demonizing savages carrying out the devil's plan. There are many struggles shown during the story, both physical and emotional, but her greatest struggle is her ability to prove the satanic nature of the Indians without diminishing her reputation, but, instead, elevating herself into a martyr-like figure. From beginning to end, Mrs. Rowlandson strives to display that she is an immaculate Puritan, that within the Indian tribe and the Puritan community she has superiority, and that the Indians are barbaric creatures possessing satanic dangers.
...ve Indians. From the copious use of examples in Winthrop's work, and the concise detail in Rowlandson's narrative, one can imbibe such Puritans values as the mercy of God, place in society, and community. Together, these three elements create a foundation for Puritan thought and lifestyle in the New World. Though A Model of Christian Charity is rather prescriptive in its discussion of these values, Rowlandson's captivity narrative can certainly be categorized as descriptive; this pious young woman serves as a living example of Winthrop's "laws," in that she lives the life of a true Puritan. Therefore, both 17th century works are extremely interrelated; in order to create Winthrop's model community, one must have faith and closely follow Puritan ideals, as Rowlandson has effectively done in her A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.
One Puritan woman, Anne Hutchinson, was believed to have predictions from God. This infuriated the Puritans because they did not believe in the idea of God giving her visions and thoughts. They believed that Satan was the one giving her these visions and thoughts. Consequently, the Puritans then banished her into the wilderness outside of Massachusetts Bay. This shows that the Puritans treated anyone who did not totally agree with them as an outcast to their society.
In constructing “ The Unredeemed Captive,” John Demos uses many styles of writing. One of the most pronounced styles used in this book is an argumentative style of writing. John Demos argues many points throughout the book and makes several contradictions to topics discussed previously in the work. John Demos also uses several major themes in the book, suck as captivity, kinship, negotiation, trade, regional and national development, and international relations. Each one of these themes, in my opinion, are what separate the book into its major sections.
In her account, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, Rowlandson
In “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson,” Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan mother from Lancaster, Massachusetts, recounts the invasion of her town by Indians in 1676 during “King Philip’s War,” when the Indians attempted to regain their tribal lands. She describes the period of time where she is held under captivity by the Indians, and the dire circumstances under which she lives. During these terrible weeks, Mary Rowlandson deals with the death of her youngest child, the absence of her Christian family and friends, the terrible conditions that she must survive, and her struggle to maintain her faith in God. She also learns how to cope with the Indians amongst whom she lives, which causes her attitude towards them to undergo several changes. At first, she is utterly appalled by their lifestyle and actions, but as time passes she grows dependent upon them, and by the end of her captivity, she almost admires their ability to survive the harshest times with a very minimal amount of possessions and resources. Despite her growing awe of the Indian lifestyle, her attitude towards them always maintains a view that they are the “enemy.”
Mary Rowlandson was a pretentious, bold and pious character. Her narrative did not make me feel sorry for her at all, which is strange since she really did go through a lot. During the war, the Narragansett Indians attacked Lancaster Massachusetts, and burned and pillaged the whole village. During the siege Mary and her six year old child were shot, she watched her sister and most of her village either burn or get shot. She was kept as a captive, along with her three children and taken with the Narragansett’s on their long retreat. The exposition of the story is set immediately. The reader is perfectly aware of Missus Rowlandson’s status and religious beliefs. She constantly refers to the Narragansetts in an incredibly condescending way, to the point that you know that she does not even consider them human. She paints them as purely evil pe...
The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson is a personal account, written by Mary Rowlandson in 1682, of what life in captivity was like. Her narrative of her captivity by Indians became popular in both American and English literature. Mary Rowlandson basically lost everything by an Indian attack on her town Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1675; where she is then held prisoner and spends eleven weeks with the Wampanoag Indians as they travel to safety. What made this piece so popular in both England and America was not only because of the great narrative skill used be Mary Rowlandson, but also the intriguing personality shown by the complicated character who has a struggle in recognizing her identity. The reoccurring idea of food and the word remove, used as metaphors throughout the narrative, could be observed to lead to Mary Rowlandson’s repression of anger, depression, and realization of change throughout her journey and more so at the end of it.