A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson
Josh Ibarra
Professor Jake Lavender
ENGL 2327
22 January 2014
Essay One On June 20, 1675, Metacomet, also known as Philip by the early American colonist, led a series of attacks on colonial settlements that lasted for more than a year. These attacks became known as “King Philips War.” It was a desperate attempt by the Natives to retain their land as their culture and resources dwindled before them. Mary Rowlandson, a famous victim of these Indian attacks, recounts her eleven-week captivity in her published book, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. The book describes her experience as a captive of the Wampanoags in great detail, and combines high adventure, heroism, and exemplary piety, which made it a popular piece in the seventeenth century. Throughout the narrative Mary Rowlandson portrays her skills as a writer with the delineation of her character. In her captivity, Mary Rowland realizes that life is short and nothing is certain. The common theme of uncertainty teaches Rowlandson that she can take nothing for grated. In a single day the seeming stability of life disappears without warning as portrayed in the opening scene when the town of Lancaster is burned down and she is separated from her two elder children. Rowlandson transitions from a wife of a wealthy minister with three children to a captive prisoner with a single wounded daughter in one day. Another instance of uncertainty is between The Twelfth Remove, where she is approved by her master to be sold to her husband, but the next day in The Thirteenth Remove she writes, “instead of going toward the Bay, which was that I desired, I must go with them five or six miles down the river into the mighty thicket of brush; where we abode almost a fortnight (271).”In addition to the uncertainty nothing in her captivity was consistent either. One day the Indians treat her respectfully, while the next day they give her no food. This inconsistency can be seen between The
Professor Jake Lavender
ENGL 2327
22 January 2014
Essay One On June 20, 1675, Metacomet, also known as Philip by the early American colonist, led a series of attacks on colonial settlements that lasted for more than a year. These attacks became known as “King Philips War.” It was a desperate attempt by the Natives to retain their land as their culture and resources dwindled before them. Mary Rowlandson, a famous victim of these Indian attacks, recounts her eleven-week captivity in her published book, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. The book describes her experience as a captive of the Wampanoags in great detail, and combines high adventure, heroism, and exemplary piety, which made it a popular piece in the seventeenth century. Throughout the narrative Mary Rowlandson portrays her skills as a writer with the delineation of her character. In her captivity, Mary Rowland realizes that life is short and nothing is certain. The common theme of uncertainty teaches Rowlandson that she can take nothing for grated. In a single day the seeming stability of life disappears without warning as portrayed in the opening scene when the town of Lancaster is burned down and she is separated from her two elder children. Rowlandson transitions from a wife of a wealthy minister with three children to a captive prisoner with a single wounded daughter in one day. Another instance of uncertainty is between The Twelfth Remove, where she is approved by her master to be sold to her husband, but the next day in The Thirteenth Remove she writes, “instead of going toward the Bay, which was that I desired, I must go with them five or six miles down the river into the mighty thicket of brush; where we abode almost a fortnight (271).”In addition to the uncertainty nothing in her captivity was consistent either. One day the Indians treat her respectfully, while the next day they give her no food. This inconsistency can be seen between The