Compare And Contrast James Smith And Mary Rowlandson

The Captive In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries of America, many settlers and colonists were taken captive by the Native Americans, commonly known as Indians. The Native Americans had many reasons and motives for capturing the settlers or colonists. Captives were often taken to be traded, ransomed, or “adopted,” which Native Americans did to replace tribal members who had passed or who had been killed. Two very famous captivity narratives are those of James Smith and Mary Rowlandson, whose stories are very different due to their captors, gender, and religion.
James Smith was 18 years old when he was captured by the Indians just miles above Bedford. Smith was captured by three Indians, one was a Canasatauga and the two others were Delawares. With the exception of being flogged, Smith’s experiences with the Indians were not
Mary Rowlandson was captured in 1676 and remained a captive for three months before the requested ransom was paid. Rowlandson had very different experiences from James Smith with the Indians. At her capture, she witnessed the Indians killing or harming many in her family. Rowlandson, herself, suffered a gunshot wound. James Smith was also harmed when first captured by the Indians; however, he had been aided by French doctors. Mary Rowlandson dealt with her gunshot wound on her own. She also had to carry her sick child for six days before the child passed away. Rowlandson was not able to read freely in front of the Indians, she was not given a fair share of the food, and was often forced to find other Indian tribes to spend the night with, or to receive food from. Rowlandson was sometimes allowed to go and meet with family members who were with neighboring tribes. Compared to James Smith’s experiences, Mary Rowlandson had it tough when she was a captive of the