Mary Rowlandson - -Captivity and Restoration
Mary Rowlandson
Captivity and Restoration
These five removes (from the twelfth to sixteenth remove) brings us to the time when Puritans colonized the east coast of North America. It is written in a form of journal´s records where the main character, a white woman, was captured by the original inhabitants of America, Amerindians. Her son was also taken. She had to travel with them. Her master, who agreed to sell her to her husband back, left her at the beginning of the text and wouldn't come back till the end of the sixteenth remove. On her way she experienced various hardships e.g. starvation but she took it all as the God´s will and the Bible which she had by herself all the time is her guide in the worst moments.
The whole part looks like an "advertisement" to the God and it was probably used for this purpose that time. The woman doesn't hesitate to take everything what happens to her as the God's will. That is why she believes that everything happens for a reason and a human doesn´t have the right of a choice, everything is predestined and a human has to except that. She always finds the right sentence in the Bible for her reassurance. She doubts herself in a question of being a model or good Christian and couldn't be since she is not able to express enough sympathy to the loss of a papoose of her mistress. Being not the perfect Christian she was yet capable of recognize Christians from heathens according to the last paragraph (a vast difference between the lovely faces of Christians and foul looks of those heathens).
Which all brings me to the point where I would like to know the other side, how did the Amerindians perceive it, not only the invasion into the land but the whole religious matter. Would she handle the way without her trust in the God. From my point of view there will be no story without her believing in the God and I suppose that the story was there only for spreading the biblical word. The moments when she mentions that Indians tell lies. Is it really true or is it just the consequence of their way of living?