Civility And Savagery Rowlandson Analysis

Life is a continual struggle against external forces as well as the forces within us. The mental, emotional and faith related battles people face daily sometimes can and do outweigh the external force. The ability to be able to stay strong internally gives strength to being able to endure the external evils of life. The outside world has been and continues to be cruel to human beings. Since the beginning of time, humans had to hide, transfer from one place to another, run and remain vigilant to keep themselves safe from their predators. Humans had to endure the various violent and abrupt changes in their environment from extreme cold, to scorching heat in order to survive. People had to stay together, remain strong and fight …show more content…
In her writing she talks of the fine line between civility and savagery. In society it is normal for people to call those who are ill mannered, impolite and socially behind as savage, and their opposites as the civilized ones. People tend to define the world in black or in white. However, the difficult experience of Rowlandson in the hands of the Native Americans, whom she first thought as savage, opened her mind to a more important realization; those whom she thought as civilized could be as barbaric in behavior as the Native Americans, and those she thought as savage could be as civilized as the settler (Potter). We also see the uncertainty of life. No matter where we are, who we are, or what we are capable of, external forces will always challenge us and push us to our limits. Nothing in life is consistent but is in a state of constant change. It is only those who are strong and willing to fight that will survive. Then there is faith. Just as some people do today, Rowlandson’s believed in the will of God. Even though we do not know what our future holds, we know who holds our …show more content…
He was trying to understand the world around him only to find he was in a fight between good and bad. All that we know about someone is the good because that is what they want us to see and believe. But if we can see them when they don’t know we are watching, the real person emerges. It is then find out they are filled with evil and are corrupt as well as the world around them. In this writing, the protagonist was having a dilemma as to whether to meet with the devil in the forest, or to stay faithfully devoted to his religion (Hawthorne). Good Brown, despite the teachings of his religion eventually became critical about his religion. Because of what he saw, his faith became weak and he did not see the good in anyone especially himself. He became a captive of himself by allowing himself to live in darkness and stray from the goodness of life. Due to his excessive curiosity to find answers to his questions, he was led to the dark side of life and lost his faith in