Savagery vs Civility: Rowlandson's Inner Struggle

Savagery vs. Civility: Rowlandson’s Inner Struggle When Mary Rowlandson and her family were captured by the Indians during Metacom’s war 1675-1676, their experiences were beyond anything they could have ever imagined. Mary Rowlandson describes this experience in her narrative, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. Mary and her family were captured by the Indians whom she considered savages, and they were dragged from place to place in southern New England. In Rowlandson’s perspective, savage refers to an uncivilized, or barbaric person or behavior. To Rowlandson, the Indians exhibit savage behavior by dragging her from her home, killing many English people in cruel and unimaginable ways, and exposing them to living in the wilderness. Although in order to survive, Mary depends on her belief on God, she also becomes more savage in her captivity; she witnesses hideous events; she eats “savage’s” food, and, in describing these events she uses words that she considers to be uncivilized, lacking culture or intellectual development. In the beginning of her captivity, Rowlandson is scared, angry and hungry. As she sees her friends dying, she claims the brutality is “like a company of sheep torn by wolves” (70). During this portion of her narrative, the Indian attacks cause extreme chaos and devastation to the town of Lancaster. By comparing Indians to wolves, Rowlandson introduces the idea that the Puritans are the complete opposite of the Indians; Puritans are civilized and domesticated, while the Indians are savage animals. She describes the savages rejoicing over the puritans’ demise: “ Oh the roaring and singing and dancing, and yelling of those black creatures….” (71) This is an example where she uses words that she considers to be uncivilized. She is not only implying that the Indians are not civilized people, but also are not even human beings they are “black creatures”. Overall her language is essentially dehumanizing the Indians, and is extremely

Cited: Rowlandson , Mary. The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s 1997.