Analysis Of Women's Indian Captivity Narratives By Mary Rowlandson

Women’s Indian Captivity Narratives offers two compelling stories that challenge the notion of cultural identity. Mary Rowlandson’s narrative equated the English family and English culture with a utopian society, while Mary Jemison’s story portrays the English civilization as a dystopian community. Rowlandson and Jemison were taken as captives by the Indians, and their families were killed in the process. Although Jemison was capture by the Indians when she was fifteen years old, she overlooked their brutality and chose not to return to her English home. Unlike Jemison who was captured by the Indians as a child, Rowlandson was taken from her family when she was an adult with three children and a husband. Moreover, Rowlandson detested living with the Indians, and was released for a ransom; as a result, the Rowlandson family was eventually united near the end of the memoir. Unlike Rowlandson who chose to return to the settler’s home, Jemison chose to remain with

Knowing that she will be killed by the Indians, Jemison’s mother pass on the golden rule to her fifteen years old daughter,” If you shall have an opportunity to get away from the Indians, don’t try to escape; for if you do they will find and destroy you.” This advice serves several purposes for Jemison: avoid getting killed by the Indians, a green light toward Jemison’s transculturation and a “no” to breaking family kinships with the Indians because Jemison’s mother foreshadowed that her daughter’s future family will be Indians. In fact, Jemison had children with an Indians, and refused to return to her “civilization” because it will mean that she destroy her family kinship. Moreover, Jemison’s Indian husband was also kind to her and she feared her children would be treated with “cold indifference.” As a result, Jemison chose to stay with her family, suggesting that it is never good to ruin family