Compare And Contrast Thomsson And Mary White Rowlandson

Similarities in Tales of Captivity in 17th Century North America
Writings by Mary White Rowlandson and Pierre-Esprit Radisson, colonists taken prisoners by the natives in North America during the 18th century, help to show the similarities in the situations experienced by those captured. One similarity seen in their experiences is that they each found natives that gave them mercy when they each were in desperate times of need. Also, both narratives show how captivity often brought out the darker sides of those kidnapped, and their writings display how they try to chalk up their actions as necessities of their dire circumstances. Similarly, Mary White Rowlandson and Pierre-Esprit Radisson were witnesses to the types of punishments natives could …show more content…
In the case of Mary White Rowlandson the kindness she often received was in the form meals of some significant sustenance, especially when she was famished and exhausted. Once after a long walk with the natives she recalled getting a helping of corn by a native in a wigwam who she says allowed her, “to take as much of the broth as was I would” (Rowlandson 320). This came at a key point of exhaustion for her which is why she called receiving this food a godsend and says she was rejuvenated in a physical and spiritual sense. Another instance of such help for Mary White Rowlandson occurred when she was keeping a piece of bear meat hidden from the natives that were her masters as she knew they would take it from her, and she urgently needed to find someone who would let her cook the meat on their fire. Luckily for her, she was able to find a woman who not only allowed her to cook the meat, but as she writes the woman “gave me some groundnuts, bade me come again, and told me they would buy me if they were able, and yet these were strangers” (Rowlandson 315). The native woman could have refused as this was going behind