This essay will be examining the writings and lives of Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson, two famous Puritan authors. Both women shared some common themes in their work such as faith and the fear that directly results from their religious beliefs. Together they were representative of Puritan women presumably because they wrote about subjects that were relatable or interesting to the other Puritan Women. Mary Rowlandson’s life was full of more trauma than Anne Bradstreet’s because the Native Americans captured her. Rowlandson’s writings focused mainly on her fears of what the godless Natives would do to her and her family. She believed that God was testing her town, and she was only able to survive because she never lost her faith while she
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Rowlandson penned, “All was gone, my husband gone…, my children gone, my relations and friends gone, our house and home and all of our comforts…all was gone…, and I knew not but the next moment that might go too” (259). At the beginning of her capture, she was grieving and taking in the full extent of her loss due to the Natives’ violent attack on her town. However, she still gave thanks to God for saving her life and not allowing her Spirit to break down because of everything she had witnessed and gone through. Further along in the story, a Native American gives Mary a Bible that was acquired from a different attack on the Puritans. Mary Rowlandson saw that as a sign from God because He used the Natives to bring her a Bible that she could read. Deborah J. Dietrich claimed, “Her belief in God's hand in her daily affairs enables her to generate a coherence behind the seeming chaos of her captivity and to locate meaning in otherwise arbitrary events (429). Mary realized that the Native Americans did not practice Christianity, so she began to understand that God was using the Natives as a tool to reach her and bring her comfort during her captivity. Mary Rowlandson and the Puritans believed that a small action could contribute to a larger action that God had planned for them. In her situation, receiving the Bible was a positive sign from God and that helped …show more content…
There are many parts of the Puritan religion that Anne Bradstreet did not enjoy, but that was the religion of her father and husband. Anne was not fond of how women were thought of or their roles that the male leaders assigned to them. It is important to remember that Bradstreet had to defend herself from the criticism that her poetry created because some people thought that she was neglecting her husband and children. Sarah Gilbreath Ford claimed, “Her ability, then, to be both a poet and a woman worthy of existing in the Puritan model community was a careful balancing act, which was made possible in part by that force of a father who allowed and perhaps even encouraged her good education” (3). This quote is important because many Puritan women were only given enough education so that they could learn how to read. Generally, the men were more educated than the women, but Anne Bradstreet was privileged to have a father that cared about his daughter’s education. She was able to take advantage of the high level of education she acquired in England, and her education clearly helped her write
Rowlandson penned, “All was gone, my husband gone…, my children gone, my relations and friends gone, our house and home and all of our comforts…all was gone…, and I knew not but the next moment that might go too” (259). At the beginning of her capture, she was grieving and taking in the full extent of her loss due to the Natives’ violent attack on her town. However, she still gave thanks to God for saving her life and not allowing her Spirit to break down because of everything she had witnessed and gone through. Further along in the story, a Native American gives Mary a Bible that was acquired from a different attack on the Puritans. Mary Rowlandson saw that as a sign from God because He used the Natives to bring her a Bible that she could read. Deborah J. Dietrich claimed, “Her belief in God's hand in her daily affairs enables her to generate a coherence behind the seeming chaos of her captivity and to locate meaning in otherwise arbitrary events (429). Mary realized that the Native Americans did not practice Christianity, so she began to understand that God was using the Natives as a tool to reach her and bring her comfort during her captivity. Mary Rowlandson and the Puritans believed that a small action could contribute to a larger action that God had planned for them. In her situation, receiving the Bible was a positive sign from God and that helped …show more content…
There are many parts of the Puritan religion that Anne Bradstreet did not enjoy, but that was the religion of her father and husband. Anne was not fond of how women were thought of or their roles that the male leaders assigned to them. It is important to remember that Bradstreet had to defend herself from the criticism that her poetry created because some people thought that she was neglecting her husband and children. Sarah Gilbreath Ford claimed, “Her ability, then, to be both a poet and a woman worthy of existing in the Puritan model community was a careful balancing act, which was made possible in part by that force of a father who allowed and perhaps even encouraged her good education” (3). This quote is important because many Puritan women were only given enough education so that they could learn how to read. Generally, the men were more educated than the women, but Anne Bradstreet was privileged to have a father that cared about his daughter’s education. She was able to take advantage of the high level of education she acquired in England, and her education clearly helped her write