Mary Rowlandson's Of Plymouth Plantation

As soon as the first settlers began to arrive in America, different pieces and types of literature began to emerge rapidly. Although they were all created in different formats and tell different stories about the happenings, they all share equal value among the literary world. Because people began to write about the happenings within the colony, we are now able to reflect upon and relate ourselves to what our ancestors encountered when they traveled to and settled in the new world with a sense of appreciation. In William Bradford’s short story, “Of Plymouth Plantation,” Bradford details the arrival and settlement of the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Traveling to the new land, the Pilgrims set out to be a figure the rest of the world could look up to because of their religious freedom and strong community. In order to become that figure, the Pilgrims had to work hard and deal with many harsh factors such as “being infected with the scurvy and other diseases,” …show more content…
Mary Rowlandson,” published in 1682, explains Mrs. Rowlandson’s encounter with the Native Americans when they attack her town and abduct her. Unlike William Bradford’s story, Mary Rowlandson’s narrative happens after she has already settled in Lancaster with her husband and three children. Instead of focusing on the settlement itself, Rowlandson focuses on the treatment she receives and experience she has while being held captive by the Native Americans. Mary Rowlandson is considered one of the most famous victims of the Native American attacks. Her captivity became one of the “most popular prose works of the seventeenth century” (Baym, 257). Because of its popularity during the seventeenth century as well as Rowlandson being among one of the only female writers to write about her captivity, it allows the readers to understand more about the Indian attacks that the first settlers