A Narrative Of The Captivity Mary Rowlandson Analysis

In a town called Lancaster about thirty miles west of Boston, there was a woman named Mary Rowlandson. She was the wife of minister Joseph Rowlandson and for about twenty years, they lived a peaceful yet busy life. Until February 20, 1676, when the Rowlandson family’s life was flipped upside down. On this day the Indians attacked Lancaster with great numbers, the Rowlandson family was one of the brutal ones. In A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, Rowlandson writes about the hardships she endured during this time and her journey of her captivity. Rowlandson learned about herself during this time; her relationship with God became more apparent, it made her stronger as a woman, and she realized that nothing in this world should be taken for granted. These are reasons why Mary Rowlandson says, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” (288).

In the narrative Rowlandson writes, “but God was with me in a wonderful manner, carrying me along, and bearing up my spirit, that it did not quite fail.” (260). She is telling the readers that she believes that God is with her walking right beside her on this journey and that He is protecting her. Rowlandson likes to use words from the bible fluently throughout the narrative. In the beginning of the narrative you can tell that Rowlandson has a good relationship with God but by the end of her writing, her relationship with Him is outrageous. In the narrative Rowlandson says, “upon His wonderful power and might, in carrying of us through so many difficulties, in returning us in safety, and suffering non to hurt us.” (288). She was happy that she was afflicted, and says that she thinks about all the good things that has come out of the awful time that she overcame. Rowlandson would not have survived the awful capture if it were not for God by her