Mary Rowlandson

Mary Rowlandson’s The Sovereignty and Goodness of God is a widely known autobiography that gives unique insight into a New England, Puritan, women’s captivity by the native people. This book has been highly regarded and widely read by Americans since its first publishing in the seventeenth century and has now been published in over forty editions. Thankfully we are able to view this great work. Mary Rowlandson was not the conventional, white, male, writer at this time and consistent persuasion by her close family members and friends was the only way to convince her to make her story public. After making her experiences known, the 1682 edition published in Boston, “Sold more than a thousand copies, or roughly one for every hundred people in the New England colonies, where it was both widely read and frequently read aloud.” (192) So what might have made Rowlandson’s story so absorbing to her American readers? Mary Rowlandson produced a structured story that introduced a new type of respected learning for Puritans, told exciting stories of cultural contact and ended with a tale of heroism. Mary Rowlandson lived in a time where church and state were one and religion was incorporated into everyone’s daily activities. This being said, children and adults commonly read scripture to further their knowledge of the bible and become better Puritans. Any books that were not approved by the minister were not allowed to be published and stories tended to involve some type of religious teachings to be deemed appropriate for reading. Mary Rowlandson’s book does not stray from the inclusion of Puritan thinking in any way but introduces an exciting conveyance of story telling that captures the reader from the very first page. Throughout the text, Rowlandson consistently quotes scripture and parallels her tribulations with those of the Israelites. Commonly comparing herself with Job, Mary first demonstrates this when she describes herself as being the only one to escape the