Pablo Alonso

The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson

September 23, 2014

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Analysis

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In order to answer the question Why did Mary Rowlandson entitle her narrative The
sovereignty and Goodness of God? is necessary to first address her thoughts on the Native
Americans and the influence of her religious beliefs in both her perspective of life and people.
Mary Rowlandson is described throughout the text as a very religious person of puritan beliefs
and customs who often sees a relationship between everything that happens during her captivity
and Gods will. On her narrative, she portraits her captivity on hands of the native Americans as
a cruel. restless and inhuman experience with no outcome different that the loss of one of her
children and uncountable friends and acquaintances. However, the destruction of her village, the
loss of members of her family and in particular, the living among the Native Americans make her
realize the irony of the war that goes on in the moment (King Philips war) and the double-faced
picture of life that presents in front of her during the eleven weeks she is kept under indian
power. Aided and relief on his only material possession during her captivity, her bible, Mary
experiences the barbarity of a society in war and finds answers in short passages of the text. She
attributes each of the disastrous situations to a choice made by God and tries to be optimistic by
thinking that there will be a positive outcome out of her misery and strengthens her spirit with
the hope of reconstructing her life again. Even though she accepts the course of the situation,

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many questions rise out of it. The first is related to the nature and manners of the Native
Americans. Called by Mary, the enemies, the Native Americans are no more than savage animals
beasts in her opinion in the very beginning of her captivity. Refined with British customs,
many of the acts the natives do are considered out of civilized human behavior, these included
their diet based on everything they can obtain from nature such as any kind of dead animals,
seeds and plants and their treat towards the settlers ( brute, violent and merciless). Her
perspective about this changes drastically when she starts suffering of starvation. Once her body
can no longer support itself on her will and faith, the aliments offered by the natives, often as
payment for Marys works on textiles, are tasteful and give her the energy to keep on the journey.
Thanking God for every little boost of energy that she obtains from eating, Mary changes her
point of view about the meaning of a meal as a fancy thing to become a source of life. Clearly,
her point of view of the natives has changed as well, they are no longer barbarians that feed
themselves out of savage animal killings and random agriculture. Now, they are seen as wise
users of the mother natures resources. In addition, some of the natives show kindness to her by
offering her food, tobacco or a more comfortable place to sleep. This leads to the question of the
real nature of a Native American at which Mary responses by noticing that everything is
uncertain and that their behavior may change from one day to another.

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The second question that appears during her captivity is related to the meaning of family
and relationships. The loss of her youngest child and the separation from the other two put Mary
in a tough situation for which the only relief is found in the Gods word. Having learned that life
uncertainty is bigger than she thought, Mary sees everything that happens to her family as a

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blessing and thanks for it. Convinced that every bad fact will bring a great reward afterwards,
Mary fills up her recently emptied life ( after her sons dead) with the hope of seeing and uniting
her family after her captivity is over. Then, she wonders whether or not a person should accept
Gods will as definite and pursue the bigger purpose behind it. After seeing her youngest son die
and be buried by the natives, Marys most expected reaction is to get crazy and take her own life
away. However, her faith and love towards the remain member of her family keeps her away
from madness. Her family then becomes, a pillar for her existence and the final reward if she
survives her captivity. The most important detail about her perspective of the situation that her
family undergoes and her religious beliefs is how her puritan beliefs turn a dread and awful
situation into a lesson; Yet the Lord still showed mercy to me; and as He wounded me with one
hand, so he healed me with the other as she quotes from the bible in her narrative.

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The third question, and most important of them all, is related to the conflict between the
settlers and the natives and the fine line between savagery and civilization. From her religious
perspective, the natives, who do not believe in God, are evil makers and their acts derive from
the devil. When her captivity starts and she experiences the brutality and wilderness of the
natives, the only definition that she can give to them is savage. However, along her captivity, and
as mention before, hunger, weakness, sickness and desolation cause Mary to leave her customs
and refined lifestyle to a side and start living and enjoying of the natives customs and food. This
paradox is the main focus of Marys thinking during her time staying with the natives. Is any
custom or belief that one may have absolute and unchangeable or are they just the result of the
circumstances in which a human being can be placed in?. Following this question, Mary exposes

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a relevant fact, the line that separates the natives from the settlers is insignificant and the true
identity of these two groups or civilizations is about to become indistinct. For instance, the
Christianized natives, at whom she calls praying indians, are portrayed as Native Americans that
have converted to Christianity., they wear the conquistadors clothes and they pray to God. This is
the clearest example of the melting pot that appears in the narrative. Furthermore, her thoughts
on Gods will make her wonder about the humanity of invasive acts such as her village being
taken by the natives and to compare it with the ones committed by her own kind ( the settlers)
against the population in America. Are the natives savage and violent for taking the land that was
taken off before from their hands by the settlers or is this just the other face of the coin? Which
one of the two bands is civilized or are they both two wild tribes looking for expansion and
profit? Is the Gods will that these violent acts have to happen in order to learn a higher lesson?

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The analysis of these three questions give foot to answer Why did Mary Rowlandson
entitle her narrative The sovereignty and Goodness of God? The way that Mary sees her captivity
and life itself is strongly related to the teachings of the bible, many of then summarizing the idea
of a omnipotent God,whose authority and word are absolute, irrefutable and to be accepted by
everyone, that punishes in order to teach and makes choices out of any human understanding.
Mary, as a strong believer, agrees with Gods will and see the love that the creator has towards
her and her family when he offers them a chance of life after the slaughter of the village and with
every ingle push that encourages Mary not to give up even in the most adverse situations. Further
that just the opportunity of coming back to the lifestyle Mary is accustomed to before the attack
to her village, her captivity, as she depicts in her words in the last part of her narrative, is

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resurrection for her soul and mind. The way she thought about the natives and their culture and
the colonys situation during the war is replaced with a more open, optimistic and thankful way
of thinking about life. This represents the restoration of a woman for whom, even having all the
comforts and amenities of the world she comes from, learns compassion and acquires wisdom
from the true meaning of affliction. All her losses during those eleven weeks are the most
valuable lesson about happiness and purpose in life. The biggest problems have solution, the
most adverse situation has a lesson behind and rude enemies can be turned into allies under
Gods sight. As she says (I have learned to look beyond present and smaller troubles, and to be
quieted under them).

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