Summary Of Mary Rowlandson's A Narrative Of The Captivity And Restoration

Mary Rowlandson was a settler in the Americas during the early periods of colonization of America. She lived in Massachusetts, in a small unprotected border town called Lancaster. Rowlandson, like many other settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was a Puritan. Rowlandson was the daughter of a wealthy land-holder in the Massachusetts colony, and eventually settled in Lancaster. Her husband was the minister of the parish in Lancaster, and as a result she lived a very public life. However, the border areas of Massachusetts were subject to numerous raids by the Native Americans living in the area before the English came over, and it was no different for the town of Lancaster. Rowlandson’s husband had been off to request aid from Boston, the largest city in the colony, to help defend against the Native Americans when, ironic as it is, Lancaster was attacked by a Native American force. Rowlandson herself was captured, and she …show more content…
During the narrative, her views of her captors shift more and more, from seeing them as savage beasts who she’d rather be killed by than to be captured, to seeing them as a trial put on Earth by God, although still being savage beasts. She never describes any of the Native Americans, or gives and thanks to them, instead giving it all to God. One can see her religious influence shine through in this shift in her writing during the narrative. Mary Rowlandson became more religiously active during her captivity, and is thankful for her captivity, seeing it as a chance to allow her to become even more pure and religious, as the Puritan values she believes in