Preview

Mary Rowlandson Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
585 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mary Rowlandson Analysis
Mrs. Mary Rowlandson’s interpretation of her imprisonment by the Algonkian Indians is one of the earliest and most known narratives of captivity. Despite the extreme tragedy that Mary Rowlandson experienced when being taken captive by the Native Americans, she still remained strong and claimed that her captivity brought her closer in relationship to God. In “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson”, the reader is able to experience the accounts of Rowlandson’s diary, which recounts her capture that lasted around eleven weeks, and is described in twenty ‘removes’. The story of Rowlandson is closely related to the book of Job. Through both characters’ constant faith during loss of loved ones, health problems, and restoration the reader is able to see the similarities of the two stories. During the King …show more content…
After eleven long, traumatizing weeks Mary Rowlandson was rescued from captivity. After her rescue, she was not bitter at God for allowing her to face such trials, saying, “We must rely on God Himself, and our whole dependence must be upon him” (“A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson”143). Like Mary Rowlandson, Job refuses to curse the name of God even when his acquaintances tell him to. In the end of the book of Job God restores him back to health and he continues to give praise and honor to God despite the many terrible things he faced.
As you can see, the story of Mary Rowlandson’s captivity and Job have many similarities. Despite losing everything including his family, wealth, and health Job remains faithful to God. Both characters face loss of family, sickness and restoration all while looking to God for hope. It is obvious that both characters have unwavering faith in the Lord even when everything around them seems to be falling apart. Through every new trial they both remain faithful and glorify him with their actions and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mary Rowlandson, the daughter of a wealthy land holder in the Massachusetts Bay colony, was a victim of the King Philip war. She got married to Joseph Rowlandson at the age of 18, they had four children, one in which died in infancy. Shortly before the King Philip war ended a group of American Indians attacked the city of Lancaster and captured Mrs. Rowlandson along with her 3 children and a group of settlers. She wrote a narrative about what she had experienced during her captivity. This narrative was the only evidence of her being a writer. During the attack Rowlandson witnessed the murder of many of her friends and family as well as the death of her…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the beginning of Mary Rowlandson’s narrative the Natives aren't so nice. The Natives had rebelled against the English Settlers, killing their men and capturing the women and children. Mary Rowlandson and her children are captured. Mary talks about how she is starved, and threatened to be punished if she doesn't do what she is asked, but the hardships that Mary endured were nothing compared to what the Native Americans endured during their enslavement by the English…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan woman with a strong religious ethic was captured by the Indians or as she describes them “savages” during the King Phillips war. Mary was faced with severe amount of pain and suffering and was held hostage and stripped away from her basic necessities. Her children were also captured and separated from her, sold or bought by other Indians. Throughout her narrative “The Sovereignty and goodness of God” Mary dealt with unremarkable sufferings however, she remained sanguine about the difficulties she encountered, portraying her hardship and misfortunes as a test from God. After Mary survives the terrible conditions she feels blessed and very thankful that she has finally escaped those treacherous Indians and has returned…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    On the tenth of February 1676, a literary masterpiece was started in the mind of a woman who endured traumatic experiences by being taken captive by hostile Indians. Mary Rowlandson made history by writing a testament of her unfortunate events that took place during her eighty three days of captivity. This literary piece is known as “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson”. This story was a personal recollection of Rowlandson’s life as a prisoner of war, taken captive by the Algonquians during King Phillip’s war in 1675 (Rosenmeier 255). This narrative was composed of great adventure, courage, a look into the lives of the Indian people, and most importantly religious devotion. When reading Rowlandson’s narrative, there may be different interpretations of why Rowlandson wrote about her captivity. Some may feel that it was written to reveal the lives of the Indian world…

    • 2082 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Around the time of the late 1600’s, it was extremely uncommon that an individual would encounter a professionally published piece of work written by a woman, let alone one that achieved notable fame. Mary Rowlandson’s Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson was one of the first to break that mold by advertising itself as a religious text. During the time of King Philip’s war, Native American inhabitants were launching attacks on colonists in present-day New England. The settlers viewed the…

    • 1436 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mary Rowlandson Analysis

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Mary Rowlandson was an English woman born in 1636. Her parents were John and Joan White. They had moved to Massachusetts in the year of 1639. They were a Puritan family and strongly devoted to their religion. Mary Rowlandson was especially devoted. She went through what is called King Philip’s War. The Indians following Metacomet raided the homes of Plymouth. During this war about 5,000 Indians were killed and about 2,500 colonists were killed. Mary was moved and sold, along with many others including her children, by the Indians(213). The Indians beat, starved, tortured, dehydrated, and killed the colonists that they took. Some of the Indians were not abusive towards their “property” or slaves. Some were gentle and helped the colonists in their time of need.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mary Rowlandson was a puritan woman from Massachusetts in the colonial times of America, which were known as the British colonies. During her time, a war occurred which was called Metacom’s War or King Philip’s War. Rowlandson was captured by the Wampanoag Indians that attacked her town of Lancaster. She wrote a story about what happened to her during her time being imprisoned, the book she wrote is called The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. In the story she reveals how she felt about the Indian tribe and she explains that being a saint and following God is what is keeping her alive. She uses many Scriptures that go along with what she is dealing with to help her get by day to day. The colonists were…

    • 1022 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mary Rowlandson was born in Somersetshire England in 1637 but was later brought to the United States of America by her father, John White. He was a wealthy landholder in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They settled in Lancaster where Mary met and married her husband Joseph Rowlandson. She served as a minister’s wife and mother of three children for approximately twenty years in the town. Her perfect life was soon taken from her by an attack on the town of Lancaster. The American Indians attacked the colonial settlements in order to get back their lands. This time period was known as the King Phillip’s War. Mary Rowlandson experienced eleven weeks of death in life. In her narrative, she used God as a means of hope and guidance. Life is uncertain and at any point it can be taken. Therefore,…

    • 1283 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” is a personal account, written by Mary Rowlandson herself about her eleven-week captivity by the Indians, which not only gives the readers a first person perspective of life in captivity, but also an insight to Rowlandson’s views of the Indians. When first reading this narrative, one would think that the main purpose is to simply tell how horrible her experience in captivity was, and how it had changed her. However, that is not the main purpose of her narrative. In fact, her captivity changes neither her Puritan value nor her view towards Indians. Throughout the narrative, she unapologetically, and continuously compares them to animals—and even Satan—for not being Puritans.…

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mary Rowlandson Analysis

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Author Mary Rowlandson wrote a narrative describing her captivity by the native Indians during 1670s. Her book then published in 1774. She organized her thoughts by grouping them into various “removes” which was her displacements with the Indians. The overall structure flows chronologically from the first remove to the twentieth one. Before she jumpstarted to the first remove, she gave a brief introduction of how it began. Upon close reading her texts, I will divide the analysis into four main components namely the structure, context, content, and the abstraction.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Once Mary Rowlandson’s youngest daughter died, she was left alone with the Indians. No loved ones surrounded her; it was just herself in this unfamiliar, scary territory. She turned to God, and his word to help…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    harold kushner response

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Most people are bothered by the fact that we suffer undeservedly. Any person with an ounce of moral sensitivity is outraged by the injustices of our world. In the Book of Job: When Bad Things Happen to Good People, this thought-provoking examination of Harold Kushner’s own and others’ reactions to the most painful experiences in life, Harold Kushner addresses the difficult questions that inevitably arise. Kushner stresses an argument about whether the misfortunes that befall ostensibly from the hand of God.…

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Complaint of Job” tells a great and interesting story that can be relative to many of people. Job was the richest man he had all the wealth any man could ask for. The story of Job describes how Satan tries to convince to God that if you take something away from somebody they will lose faith in him, God knew that Job was a faithful believer in him and wouldn’t lose faith. God wanted to prove to Satan that even if he took everything away from Job, that Job still wouldn’t lose his belief…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hell and Satan

    • 264 Words
    • 1 Page

    Goethe uses the allusion to the story of Job in his “Prologue in Heaven” to describe how bad things happen to people, but one must overcome these bad things. In the Prologue in Heaven, God allowed Satan to tempt on of his best servants, to prove to the devil that his servant wouldn’t give in and betray the Lord. In Job, the same thing occurs, the Lord allows Satan to take everything from Job, to prove to the devil that Job wouldn’t leave the Lord in his hard times, but instead, would be strengthen by this tragic event, the loss of all his family and possessions. This is an excellent allusion to tell people that the worst things happen to the best people, to make them stronger in their faith or in what they do.…

    • 264 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mary Macillop Beatitude

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages

    An example of when Mary lived out this beatitude was when her beloved sister Alexandrina (Lexie) passed away. Mary wrote "There are only three left out of eight. Oh, thanks, a thousand thanks to our dear God that she is so happy … she is doubly my sister now." Lexie was an amazing woman, she left home at fifteen years old and became a sister with Mary and Annie. Mary Mackillop definitely believed this as well when she wrote that she is much more happier with God now. Mary very much believed that if you were a kind hearted person and did the right thing by many people, that you would/will see Him and go to Heaven when you pass…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays