Mary Rowlandson Narrative Analysis

Puritan beliefs are filled with paradoxes. The Puritan people came to America and rebelled against society in order to create a perfect world for themselves, a bubble of their own that was to be free of rebellion. The puritan people were supposed to seek salvation, but they were helpless against the evils that were sent their way.. They were supposed to hope and pray for eternal refuge in God’s Kingdom, and yet they believe that God had predetermined their fate for them. These paradoxical Puritan patterns of thought may be what caused Mary Rowlandson to portray an inconsistent view of her Native captors in her Narrative.
The credibility of this captivity narrative, written approximately two years following the actual capture and return of
Despite the “afflictions” (pg. 265) she faced on a daily basis, she continued to serve the Lord and hope and pray to him, which seems strange considering that these are a people who claim that everything in life occurs in accordance to God’s will, that nothing happens by mistake. By this point it makes sense if Rowlandson had even slightly given up her faith in God, as it seems that he handpicked her to be given a lesson to. The placement of the scriptures she chooses to insert to insert in the text is question able as well, as it seems that she uses them to offset her behaviour that some may see as unfavorable, and uses it to justify her actions and assert that she did not “go native” while under their watch. At one point, Rowlandson mentions that she sat down with King Philip, also known as Metacom, the chief of the native tribe. Together they sat and smoked a pipe which she claims is a “bait the devil lays, to make men lose their precious time,” and while she admits that she may have become addicted to it as one point she “thank[s] God, He has now given [her] power over it” (pg 268). Once again, it seems strange that Rowlandson feels the need to justify her every word and movement by claiming that she remained steadfast and strong with the will of God in her heart. By this point many people would have given up their faith and simply done their best to survive the given situation, and perhaps that is her biggest