Mary Rowlandson portrays her Indian captors most
often as savages with devilish mannerisms. While captive she had very little
sympathy for them, because she was shown very little. Aside from the Bible she
received, and food they occasionally offered her, she receive no luxuries In
her final remove she states, “I was
with the enemy eleven weeks and five days, and not one week passed without the
fury of the enemy, and some desolation by fire and sword upon one place or
other.” (Twentith Remove)This seems quote seems to be a decent summary for her
opinion of the Indians, since her opinion toward the Indians initially was
bitter and hardly seemed to change throughout the experience.
“I complained it was
too heavy, whereupon she gave me a slap in the face, and bade me go; I lifted
up my heart to God, hoping the redemption was not far off” (Twelfth Remove).
Rowlandson was hoping for redemption throughout the entire experience. She
never once doubted God was going to offer retribution. In addition every time
something happening in her favor she thanked God, because God was responsible
for it coming about for it (“I cannot but take notice of the wonderful mercy of
God to me in those afflictions, in sending me a Bible” Third Remove). This
directly coincides with the puritanical ideals presented in the previous
readings, that everything is part of God’s predestined plan and is therefore is
ultimately for the greater good. Therefore, is seems completely reasonable for
Mary to expect redemption.
Mary Found comfort is
God. She saw herself as being under God’s protection. Everything that happened
was for her personal salvation. Most of the Removes, though all having
different events, had a similarity to them, in that they all stayed true to
puritan ideals. No matter what suffering she was put through she would always
thank God for whatever comfort she found and had faith that everything she was
put through was just another trial, “That we must rely on God Himself, and our
whole dependance must be upon Him.’ (Twentith Remove). Although her faith was
strong before this event, it seems like this only increased her trust in God.
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteHi, My name is Denise and I chose your blog to comment on. I am in complete agreement with most of your post. I find it interesting and well written. Being that I can find no fault with it, I will change direction in this comment and compare John Winthrop’s thesis on Puritan values with the way Mary Rowlandson was received by the Puritans after her release 52 years after Winthrop’s delivered his thesis.
I’d will now focus on a section of John Winthrop’s thesis, A Model of Christian Charity, delivered aboard the Arbella in 1630 and relate it to the Twentieth Remove in Mary Rowlandson narrative of 1682. In delivering his thesis Winthrop says the following, “we must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities…We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together.” Keep in mind his thesis was delivered in 1630. We now move on to the Twentieth Remove in Rowlandson’s narrative written in 1682, that’s 52 years later and long after Winthrop’s death. I quote, “The Lord hath been exceeding good to us in our low estate, in that when we had neither house nor home, nor other necessaries, the Lord so moved the hearts of these and those towards us, that we wanted neither food, nor raiment for ourselves or ours: There is a Friend which sticketh closer than a Brother’ (Proverbs 18.24). And how many such friends have we found, and now living amongst? And truly such a friend have we found him to be unto us, in whose house we lived, viz. Mr. James Whitcomb, a friend unto us near hand, and afar off.”’
The point of all this is John Winthrop’s thesis was not just talk, talk. The Puritans lived by many of the precepts in that thesis. It is 52 years later and the Puritans were still willing to give up many of their superfluities to help Mary Rowlandson and the other captives. I’m somewhat perplexed by “Puritan Values,” as I find both good and bad in them, but as Machiavelli said in The Prince, “the ends justifies the means.” Let me be perfectly clear, the use of Machiavelli’s quote is in no way intended to link “Puritan Values” with violence; its inclusion is just my choice to end this comment.
Michael as I stated in the beginning, I really enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to reading your future submissions. Denise!
Hi, I can find no way to edit a comment. To my readers, please substitute I for I'd in the opening of the second paragraph of my comment. Thank you, Denise!
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