From A Narrative of Her Captivity Mary Rowlandson From A Narrative of Her Captivity

Indian Captivity Narrative Features 1st person point of view Presents captors for the most part as beasts Recounts detailed information about life in captivity Unreliable narrator, one-sided account Frequently cites Bible, using it as a text of absolute authority which gives validity to the case of the victim

Chosen People Winthrop expressed the belief that the Puritans were the chosen people of God He believed that the Puritans have a duty to fulfill their covenant with God by serving as an example of an ideal Christian community to the world In return, God would protect His chosen people Cotton warned that breaking the covenant with God would result in loss of protection

Rowlandson’s Beliefs Puritans were being punished for breaking covenant Relationship b/t Indians and colonists- orchestrated by God She credits God with the destruction of her home “God strengthened the Indians to be a scourge to His people.” The Indians were instruments used by God Blames the New England Puritans as motivation for God’s actions

Rowlandson’s Beliefs God planned her captivity with a special purpose God’s punishment was a manifestation of His love: “For whom the Lord loveth he chaseneth, and scourge every son He receiveth”

The Wilderness The land that settlers saw around them truly was a wilderness. But it was hardly empty. Native Americans lived in villages throughout New Hampshire’s woodlands. They were of great concern to the English newcomers.

Peaceful Relations Peaceful relations with the English were possible. Passaconaway, the great sachem of the Pennacooks, counseled Native Americans in the region to co-exist peacefully with the new settlers in New Hampshire.

Background to war with Indians For almost a century, French, English and Native American forces warred with each other to control eastern North America. In New England, where Indians had lost land and much of their way of life to English settlers … Native Americans sided with the French. To the English, Frenchmen and Indians were a common enemy.

Competition-Englishman and Frenchman

Tensions Good relations did not last. Indian population plummeted because of “a great and deadly sickness” beginning around 1617. English population, on the other hand, kept increasing — especially between 1630 and 1642. Also, Native Americans did not understand English notions of land ownership and English settlers did not respect the legitimacy of Indian use of the land.

King Philip’s War In 1675, tired of English arrogance in general and spurred by a specific incident, Native Americans attacked English settlers. This bloody war lasted just over a year and ended with the slaying of Metacomet — the Indian leader known to the English as King Philip.

Results Native Americans in northern New England would never again live easily in their homeland. Some moved westward to live with Indians they once had considered enemies. Others moved northward to Canada and allied themselves with the French

Themes & Motifs Her conception of what is and is not “civilized” undergoes a shift. Initially, Rowlandson views civilization as that which is not savage or not wilderness, and at times she implies that the Indians’ savagery is actually connected to the natural world around them. The Indians eat coarse food such as horse meat and bear, they live in wigwams, and they spend their days traveling through forests and swamps. As a result, she speculates, they are violent savages.

Savagery/Civilization Later, however, similarities between the Indians and the settlers become more apparent. Wettimore is as vain as a rich white woman, “praying Indians” claim to have converted to Christianity, and Indians sometimes wear the colonists’ clothing. Rowlandson also recognizes her own capacity for uncivilized behavior. She finds herself eating and enjoying the Indians’ food. No longer are civilization and savagery so distinct.

Life is Uncertain All of the seeming stability of life, including material possessions, can disappear without warning, even during a single day. Nothing, during her captivity, is consistent. One day, her captors treat her well, while the next day they give her no food or reprimand her without reason. One day, they tell her she’ll soon be sold to her husband; the next day, she is forced to travel farther into the wilderness. experience.

Mary’s use of Allusions Rowlandson’s attempt to understand involves drawing parallels between her own situation and biblical verses. She compares herself to Job, to the Israelites, and to Daniel in the lion’s den, among others. Like these biblical figures, she is at the mercy of God’s will and grace.

Danger in the wilderness Her journey begins with an uphill trek, which suggests the difficulties to come. The next day, the travelers set off down a steep hill, and Rowlandson and her daughter tumble off their horse: their descent into the hell of the wilderness has begun.

Danger in the wilderness The landscape grows increasingly bleak, and Rowlandson crosses desolate swamps, dark thickets, and icy streams. As she travels, Rowlandson sees farmlands gone to waste and slaughtered farm animals, and she fears the triumph of the Indians and the dark, unknown wilderness over the order and reason of civilization.