NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY AND RESTORATION OF MRS. MARY ROWLANDSON

by Mary Rowlandson

This is the Annotated Version of the Original Book. We had tried to annotate this book by adding a 55% to 65% Summary at the end of this book in red fonts. Mary (White) Rowlandson was a colonial American woman who was captured during an attack by Native Americans during King Philip's War and held ransom for 11 weeks and 5 days. After being released, she wrote A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, also known as The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. It is a work in the literary genre of captivity narratives. It is considered to be one of America's first bestsellers, four editions appearing in 1682 when it was first published. They took many of the survivors captive, including Mary Rowlandson and her three children. Mary and her youngest child were among the injured, while others of her family, including her brother-in-law, were killed. Being injured, the journey was difficult for Rowlandson and her daughter. They reached an Indian settlement called Wenimesset, where Rowlandson met another captive named Robert Pepper who tried to help the new captives. They buried Rowlandson's dead daughter, and she was allowed to visit her oldest daughter, Mary, who was also being held in Wenimesset. After attacking another town, the Native Americans decided to head north, and Rowlandson was again separated from her family and her new friends. They came to the Baquaug River and crossed it with the English soldiers close behind. However, the English were not able to cross, and Rowlandson and the Indians continued northwest. Rowlandson and the Native Americans soon crossed the river and met King Philip. Rowlandson wanted to go to Albany in hopes of being sold for gunpowder, but the Indians took her northward and crossed the river again. Rowlandson started hoping that she might be returned home, but the Indians turned south, continuing along the Connecticut River instead of heading east towards civilization. Rowlandson and her group finally started to move east. They crossed the Baquaug River again where they met messengers telling Rowlandson she had to go to Wachusett where the Indians would discuss the possibility of her returning to freedom. She was disheartened by the sight of a colonist injured in a previous Indian attack. She reached Wachusett and spoke to King Philip, who guaranteed her freedom in two weeks. The council asked how much her husband would pay for her ransom and they sent a letter to Boston offering her freedom for twenty pounds. The Indians could also be kind to her and treat her well, and the next day they will starve her with none clarification. Throughout the entire expertise, Rowlandson keeps her religion and returns everything that happens into a blessing or a doing of God. Mary Rowlandson wrote her story with the intention of getting other’s browse it, as well as those around her. Given this her narrative is often understood in terms of however she would need to represent herself and her captivity to those readers, so not whole understood as a very correct account. Rowlandson was a revered girl inside Puritan society and in and of itself would be expected to represent all that was customary of fine Christian girls.

Genres: Nonfiction, Classics, History, School, Biography, Memoir, Biography Memoir

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1682

About the author

1635 -1711
Mrs. Mary White Rowlandson was a Puritan resident of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who was captured by Native Americans and held for 11 weeks before being ransomed in 1676. Her later memoir of these events became the first American best-seller, going through four editions in one year.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wait - this woman essentially goes through hell and back, and she manages to hang onto her knitting the whole time? I'm calling shenanigans.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mary Rowlandson was a European captive of Native Americans who kidnapped her and her children and held them hostage. She survived plenty of atrocities, including slavery, witnessing people's murders, and holding her son as he died in her arms. This is her testimony in book form and apparently, in Ye Olde Puritan Tymes it sold like hotcakes, because even 350 years ago, nothing sold readers on a book quite like kidnapping and torture: hence, the American captivity narrative (ah, our great American enduring racist legacies!).

I dunno, what do I say about this? It's difficult to read and even more difficult to review. Mary prays her way through hell and back, just like any dutiful Puritan woman would, but despite all of that, I still finished the book thinking that she was kind of an annoying asshole.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars only for the unintentional comic value. Ah, only a Puritan could write this. You wouldn't think a 50 page piece could be that redundant, but oh, how it is. She basically talks about the food she eats and how much she loves god and how evil the Native Americans are, even though they don't treat her that badly. But there's lots of hilarious moments that are all like: THERE'S NO WAY THE INDIANS COULD SURVIVE ON THEIR OWN THIS MUST BE YOUR WILL GOD THANK YOU SO MUCH and then the best part is when she talks about stealing a piece of meat from a fellow captive, a little English KID, and she doesn't even try to justify it. Yes, I laughed, but I would never have read this racist junk if it weren't required for the exam.

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't imagine living through such a nightmare. This book is the record of Mary Rowlandson's capture and captivity by some Native Americans in the year 1676. Her husband, three children and several friends and relatives from her town were also taken, though they were all separated and she only saw some of the others from time to time.

She records the daily circumstances of her captivity in a very frank manner and describes how her faith in the Lord helped her to bear up under her afflictions. Her captors were a rather interesting people. Some of them were very nice and kind to her, and others were horribly cruel. I thought it was interesting that though some of them mistreated her terribly, she makes it clear that "yet not one of them ever offered me the least abuse of unchastity to me, in word or action." Rowlandson ends her record by saying, "Before I knew what affliction meant, I was ready sometimes to wish for it...For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth...but now I see the Lord had his time to scourge and chasten me."

On a side note, I think it is important to read historical memoirs such as this in the context of the time in which it was written. Don't judge Rowlandson by the rather strict guidelines on tolerance and political correctness that we have today or you'll miss the point of this book.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The original version of this memoir by a Massachusetts woman abducted by a Narragansett, Wampanoag, and Nashaway contingent during King Philip's War is considered to be the first "best seller" in America. Funny how such things can be forgotten so easily. I'd never heard of it, which isn't saying a lot. There are MANY things I'm unaware of. However, I was born and raised in Mass, just about 20 minutes away from where Rowlandson was taken, so you'd think I would have heard of this.

It's not a bad account. Fairly well-written. Even exciting at times, which is not usually something I attribute to 17th century writing, not even fiction. Rowlandson constantly references the Bible and sees her captors as godless heathens. She badmouths them regularly, calling them savage and hideous. Strangely though, she shows a peculiar pride in her owner/master's deportment and standing within the tribe. It seems incongruous to one who, I feel, should despise every inch and ounce of someone who holds them against their will, and yet I've seen this in slave accounts as well.

All in all, this is a fascinating account that should still be studied in school, perhaps by those mature enough to understand the nuanced differences between current and contemporary mores, morals, conventions, etc. Otherwise, they're liable to get their indignation all in a bunch.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important piece of Early American literature, this is a true, first-person narrative account of a 17th century (1682) Puritan woman whose village was attacked by Indians; her family was massacred, and she and a couple of her children were taken captive. Of the 37 in her household, 24 were captured and 12 killed, with only one escaping.

The opening scene is very dramatic and graphic -- barbaric, chaotic, and hellish. Throughout the account various epithets are used to describe the Indians: hell-hounds, ravenous beasts, barbarous creatures, murderous wretches, merciless heathen, and wolves. Some people may object to this as offensive and even racist, but I believe it is ignorant of readers to say this is a racist account. The writer is describing her personal feelings and actual experiences while watching a horrific scene take place before her eyes. She then spends about three months with the Indians, genuinely in fear for her life, doing what she can to survive, and wondering if she will ever be restored to her family and people, before being returned. During that time, Rowlandson makes a distinction between the savage, cruel Indians and those who extended kindness and generosity to her. She makes it clear that during this time, no one ever offended or violated her.

Rowlandson considers the possibility that the Indians were being used by God as a "scourge" to discipline His people. Rowlandson's narrative is often cited as an example of a jeremiad - a form usually associated with second generation Puritan sermons but which is also relevant to many other kinds of Puritan writing. Drawing from the Old Testament books of Jeremiah and Isaiah, jeremiads lament the spiritual and moral decline of a community and interpret recent misfortunes as God's just punishment for that decline. But at the same time that jeremiads bemoan their communities' fall from grace, they also read the misfortunes and punishments that result from that fall as paradoxical proofs of God's love and of the group's status as his "chosen people." According to jeremidic logic, God would not bother chastising or testing people he did not view as special or important to his divine plan. Rowlandson believed that God uses suffering to teach His children certain lessons and to strengthen their trust and faith in Him.

According to the author of the Preface (probably Increase Mather), Rowlandson's purpose for publishing the account was to testify to God's providence and preservation of her through her trial, and as a "memorandum of God's dealing with her." As a Puritan, she viewed every aspect and incident in life as coming from the hand of God for His purpose, and she trusted Him with the outcome, whatever might happen. Throughout the narrative she quotes scripture to remind herself of God's protective care and purposes. While reading through the narrative, pay attention to: 1) Rowlandson’s view of God and his dealing with his children; 2) Her descriptions and epithets used for the Indians, and changing attitude towards them; and 3) Her many references to scripture, and how she compares her life and circumstances to biblical passages, drawing on scripture for comfort, understanding, and hope.

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Xenophobic white woman with a mysoginist attitude towards Native-American females is disgusted with having to dwell for a couple of weeks with people whose land she has taken. Rants about the glory of her lame religion and cries every few pages for a sick baby of hers whom no one gives a damn. Very fun to read.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short historical narrative was an interesting read, both historically and spiritually. Mary Rowlandson was captured by Indians in the 1600's and held captive for eleven weeks until she was ransomed. Stripped of all comforts, and losing sight of all human help, she was able to endure her captivity only through her strong faith in God. Instead of dwelling on the hardships she faced daily, she continually traced the goodness of God in keeping her safe from even further harm.

"Yet I see, when God calls a person to anything, and through never so many difficulties, yet He is fully able to carry them through and make them see, and say they have been gainers thereby. And I hope I can say in some measure, as David did, 'It is good for me that I have been afflicted.'"

"Now the heathen begins to think all is their own, and the poor Christians' hopes to fail (as to man) and now their eyes are more to God, and their hearts sigh heaven-ward; and say in good earnest, 'Help Lord, or we perish.' When the Lord had brought His people to this, that they saw no help in anything but Himself..."

[Yasaman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very important piece of American literature not necessarily because it's what the narrator intended, but because of how much is revealed of the Native American culture - unintentionally! We read Mrs. Rowlandson describing all these seemingly "horrific" deeds of the natives, but really, any amount of "savagery" involved was nothing more than what would typically be seen in any battle or invasion. We read about her not being fed anything but cold water. Was that because she and her child were offered nothing to eat? No, it was because what the natives did offer her - horse flesh - she didn't like. We read about her being given a Bible, being allowed to read, being PAID for what she does for the natives in food currency! Meanwhile in the South, African American slaves were treated in a much more "savage" manner than this captive narrator of ours ever is in the hands of the natives. This work is very important because it shows the civility and the perception of the Native Americans at the time.

[Wiam H · Rating 1 out of 5]

n.o.n.s.e.n.s.e.

you are a very disagreeable person, mrs mary rowlandson. i do not like you.

[John Pistelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I am on my fourth or fifth reading of this short book, and they have all been in an academic context, either as student of the text or teacher of it, and always, for that matter, from the Norton Anthology. Rowlandson's narrative stands up to that many readings. Her style is lively, even verging on the epic, as at the in medias res beginning. She has a very observant eye, on the one hand, but also a powerfully allegorizing imagination; these often conflict with each other, which is the chief interest of the narrative in my view. Her account of her captivity among Native Americans during King Philip's War is both a story about reading and rereading the Bible so as to understand and justify her harrowing experience (including the murder of her child and her sister) in terms of God's rightful providence and also a story about that experience itself, shorn of higher meaning, expressed as a series of hard-to-interpret cultural encounters usually centered on food. As I told my students, this is a book about two things: reading and eating. Those two things occupy two distinct aesthetic planes: allegory and mimesis. Rowlandson the Bible-reader transforms experience into spiritual meaning so that her sufferings can be explained as the result of her religious failures while the "demonic" Indians become mere scourges of the Lord, instruments of His punitive will. Rowlandson the hungerer and eater keeps a humbly watchful and curious eye on how things work and how people act, even to the point of giving us recipes for Native American cooking. For her, no matter how hard she sometimes tries, food is not really a spiritual message but a physical necessity and even, eventually, a pleasure. In its tense demonstration of the Puritan problem—how to value the individual above all and still attribute every action and meaning to God—as a problem of cultural difference and enmity, Rowlandson's narrative reminds me of Robinson Crusoe. But she got there before Defoe and, according to recent scholarship, was not less influential than he was on the development of the English and American novel. She wrote the first story of female virtue imperiled and female power and capacity in the face of threat. This is an ambiguous legacy, of course, at once feminist and imperialist, but it is the legacy to which Pamela and Jane Eyre and even, by attenuation, Mrs. Dalloway are heir. However we may judge the politics of this narrative, then, we must credit its profound intelligence in charting so vividly the literary and religious and cultural crises at the heart of modernity. It deserves for that reason its relatively new eminence in the canon of American and even Anglophone literature.

[Linda Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a day well-spent, reading the narrative of a Puritan woman who was attacked, injured and kidnapped on February 10, 1676. The aggressors raided the town of Lancaster, Massachusetts at dawn, killing many and setting fire to almost every building in the settlement. They were Native Americans of the Narragansett, Wampanoag, and Nashaway/Nipmuc tribes.

Mary Rowlandson's narrative doesn't explain the context of this raid. It seems in the book that out of the blue for no good reason the town was attacked, but that's not the case. This raid was done near the beginning of what came to be known as King Philip's War, 1675-1678. This took place primarily in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. King Philip was the assumed name of a Wampanoag chieftain whose real name was Metacom.

I don't think Mary Rowlandson intentionally tried to deceive us. When she wrote this narrative a few years after her captivity, everyone in that area was fully aware of King Philip's War and the devastation done to both the Native American and Puritan settler communities, thus she probably didn't think there was a need to explain the context.

The raid on Lancaster came as revenge for an attack on a Native American settlement. The "Swamp Fight" took place starting on December 19, 1675, less than two months previously. During that battle a town of natives was completely destroyed and nearly everyone was killed: men, women and children. Clearly, great wrong was done on both sides of this war, and the attack on Lancaster had its precedence.

I found all this information on the web, especially Wikipedia, which I read for context as I read Mrs. Mary Rowlandson's memoir about what had happened to her and her family. In the initial attack she saw neighbors and relatives killed beside her, and she herself was shot. Also her six-year-old daughter in her arms sustained injuries that would soon be fatal. After the natives captured Mary and her three children, she tried to nurse the little one back to health. The remedy of oak leaves worked on her own wound but was not enough to save her daughter.

The book goes on to chronicle the many "removes" meaning times of moving from one location to another as the tribe she was with sought to find food and safety. Their corn crops had been destroyed and starvation was looming, yet they managed to eat a lot of things Mary Rowlandson wouldn't normally have eaten. Eventually she came to appreciate any meager food she was offered. Much of her narrative was about food because she was starving the whole time she was in captivity.

I read through some of the reviews on Goodreads. I was appalled at how many people left reviews ridiculing this narrative. It saddens me that so many people were so negative, calling Mary Rowlandson prejudiced and laughing at her. My goodness. How would they have felt if they saw their neighbors, relatives and daughter die, saw their home burned to the ground, and felt the constant pangs of starvation for eleven weeks of captivity? Do you think these know-all reviewers (probably students assigned to read the book for college classes) would say the writer was prejudiced if it was happening to them? Yes, Mary called her captors heathens, but toward the end she wrote a list of the ways she noticed God was merciful to them. I believe that list was written with compassion and love for the people she lived with - some kind and caring, and others self-involved and hateful toward her.

A lot of the negative reviews were left by people who didn't like the Bible quotes that gave Mary so much hope for the future while she was suffering. Instead of realizing (with compassion) what a blessing it was for Mary to have been given a Bible for comfort in her very difficult circumstances and grief, these reviewers insult her and write hateful things about the text. I won't quote any of these ridiculous short-sighted comments here - I'll leave you to go look at them yourself. It is tragic that so many feel they need to be hateful because of some suffering person's religion.

My feelings are much different. I did not find Mary Rowlandson to be prejudiced, however she could not help but react with painful emotions to what she had been through. I thought under the circumstances she was as even-tempered and quietly long-suffering as she could be. I also very much liked and understood her Biblical quotes and philosophy. I don't think her Puritan beliefs (as expressed in this narrative) were much different than what's still preached today in most churches.

One reviewer wrote, "I'm calling shenanigans," because Mary apparently had knitting needles with her. I don't find it at all unlikely that she might have had her needlework in a pocket of her long dress at the moment she was captured. Also, someone could have given her the knitting needles. The natives in these tribes were very much in contact with settlers prior to the war, and could have purchased knitting needles and had some to give to Mary so she could knit for the natives.

I recommend this narrative to anyone who wants to know what such a captivity might have been like, but mainly this book appeals to Christians, not those with negative feelings about Christianity.

[KatieSuzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to give stars to someone's true account. The beginning is pretty disturbing and the rest is similar to any account of someone held in captivity. Jews, slaves, Russians...not to sound uncaring, but it's true. There's always a lot of being hungry, being pushed around, doing small favors for kindness, etc. In the end I started wondering if I was in a similar situation and had only a Bible if I'd be quoting it constantly like she was, or any book for that matter. I liked at the end her brief notes on how she was different after the experience. I'd have liked to have had more on that. Someone should really write this into a full length fiction novel.
I didn't crave horse hooves or mashed bones after reading this but I did get a hankering for campfire cooking.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in my freshman year of college -- about 6 years ago, which is kind of crazy to think about. I remember really liking it then, and that hasn't changed. Rowlandson's narrative, however much of it is hers, is incredibly flat; she uses the same even tone to describe the murder of her children and the process of broiling broth. I'm really interested in hunger through the book, both Rowlandson's own and the way native people are consistently figured as ravenous and gaping. Paired with: Mauss's The Gift (discussion re: economies of debt, non-Marxist economic systems, conceptualizations of reciprocity and obligation), Alexie's "Captivity," & Erdrich's "Captivity."

[Mya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. How fascinating it was to traveled back into time!

[Liv · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to read this for class. Incredibly dull.

Mary Rowlandson also comes across as rather a dreadful person. It's entirely fair that she is experiencing a trauma, but her narrative is dry, and the strong Puritan tone is really not to my taste.

Obviously a good primary source of its era, but not really something I'd recommend reading, even if it's so short.

[Jerrica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate Puritans.

[Lisa Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" is the memoir of Mary White Rowlandson (1637-1711), a Colonial American woman who was captured by Natives on 10 February 1675. Forced into slavery by the Narragansett tribe that destroyed her familial farmstead and killed several of her family members, Mrs. Rowlandson was held captive for 11 weeks and five days. Within its terse, faith-filled 45 pages, the book recounts the savagery of her captors and the brutality of her enslavement, detailing little-recognized truths that have been obscured by the myth of the "Noble Savage," established by James Fenimore Cooper and advanced by idealistic, quixotic history revisionists for the past half-century.

Among the inconvenient truths Mrs. Rowlandson recounts:

Far from being ecology-minded "greenies," the Natives needlessly slaughtered animals without using their meat (p. 4) and built and burned their wigwams as they roamed throughout the country (p. 12). They did not build settlements to which they returned.

The Natives were unconscionably brutal and merciless, killing a pregnant, enslaved English-born woman and burning her body in front of captive children (p. 10). They taunted Mrs. Rowlandson as her 6-year old daughter lay dying her her arms (p. 6). They not only kept slaves, but treated them with utter contempt. Mrs. Rowlandson's mistress threw a handful of ashes in her eyes (p. 20), starved her, and then threatened to kill her for begging, which brought disgrace upon the family that had enslaved her (p. 28).

Accomplished liars, the Natives were eager to fabricate tales in an attempt to steal what was left of Mrs. Rowlandson's hope (p. 22); and they had no compunctions about stealing the few goods that she possessed, including those that were intended as her ransom (p. 34) -- although, she writes, "they seemed ashamed" of that act and did allow her to leave, eventually.

Additionally, rather than being averse to English traditions, the Natives were content to adopt them, when it suited their fancy. Leaders among the tribe adorned themselves in English costume (a holland shirt with laces for Mrs. Rowlandson's master; a kearsey jacket for one of his three wives), coveted jewelry and other wearable baubles, and had a penchant for smoking tobacco.

Still, as with every society, the noble did dwell in their midst. When turned out on a cold night, Mrs. Rowlandson was given shelter in other Natives' wigwams. Some gave her food, when her own master would not. Mary's son was sold to a Native who promised Mary that the boy would be well cared-for, and whom eventually allowed mother and son to be reunited by selling the boy back to the English for seven pounds.


This book OUGHT TO BE REQUIRED READING FOR ALL U.S. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, if nothing more than to balance the false narrative the Leftists spew ... but it won't be, because: (a) it absolutely ERADICATES the PC/liberal narrative of the lofty, highly (falsely) esteemed Noble Savage; and (b) its faith-filled message of Job-like perseverance in the face of adversity runs counter to everything our welfare system promotes.

Now that I've addressed the venomous bias of Mrs. Rowlandson's critics ....

In my opinion, the "Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" is one of the finest, historically-significant works of literature from America's Colonial period. Not only does it give us an inside glimpse of the daily lives of the Natives who populated this land before it was tamed by the Europeans, it also helps us understand the Christian (Puritan) mindset found in Romans 5 and the entire book of Job, which encourages the faithful to find a reason to hold fast and rejoice in all circumstances. Even more inspiring is the fact that Mrs. Rowlandson does not stoop to literary license that might have allowed her to present herself as faithfully superior. Instead, she shows herself as fallibly human -- unable to offer condolences on the death of her mistress' infant (p. 24); starving, she took a piece of meat from a child and ate it herself (p. 28) -- and is mindful of her own failures, notably, the jealous and petty concerns that had distracted her when, before her captivity, she was comfortable (p. 44).

Christians in the midst of tempest will do well to remember Mrs. Rowlandson's final words:

"I have seen the extreme vanity of this world: One hour I have been in health, and wealthy, wanting nothing. But the next hour in sickness and wounds, and death, having nothing but sorrow and affliction.... When I lived in prosperity, ... I should be sometimes jealous least I should have my portion in this life, and that Scripture would come to my mind, 'For whom the Lord loveth he chastenth, and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth' (Hebrews 12.6). But now I see the Lord had His time to scourge and chasten me .... Affliction I wanted, and affliction I had, full measure (I thought), pressed down and running over. Yet I see, when God calls a person to anything, and through never so many difficulties, yet He is fully able to carry them through and make them see, and say they have been gainers thereby..

"If trouble from smaller matters begin to arise in me, I have something at hand to check myself with, and say, why am I troubled? It was but the other day that if I had had the world, I would have given it for my freedom or to have been a servant to a Christian. I have learned to look beyond present and smaller troubles, and to be quieted under them. As Moses said, 'Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord' (Exodus 14:13)." (pp. 44-45)

An excellent, quick read. Highly recommended.

[Laia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novel I had to read for the American Literature subject in college.

The Narrative is good to have a better perspective of Puritanism or their people's beliefs. However, the book itself is a bit boring. It's just Mary talking about her days being "captive" by the Native Americans and how God allowed her to survive, but nothing really happens.

In the end, Mary only offered a portrayal of Native Americans as being savages, and, of course, the people from the colonies believed that, so it basically contributed to a stronger rejection (if possible) towards the people who were living there.

However, as mentioned before, it is a good historical novel if you are studying 17th-18th century American literature or history.

[Jeff Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short narrative, considered by some to be America's first best seller, is well worth reading. It does take some effort on part of the reader due to its age which makes its language and context so foreign today. One cannot fully appreciate Mary Rowlandson's ordeal without an effort to understand the circumstances leading to King Philip's War and the state of relations between the colonists and the native population at the time.

This is at its core a story of Christian faith. Mrs. Rowlandson's captors and even her great loss are incidental to her religious message. Considering the brutality of the indian attack and the great loss Mrs. Rowlandson endured, her account is remarkably kind to her captors. Her treatment by her captors is as would be expected of a hostage - neither excessively harsh nor particularly kind. However, Mrs. Rowlandson does not reflect on either. Instead, she writes of the uncertainty of life and struggles make sense of her ordeal as God's will. Throughout she maintains her faith and hope.

I have read that some believe the biblical references were later embellishments, perhaps added by Cotton Mather. I see no reason why this would be the case. Her piety is befitting of a wife of a Puritan minister. Removing these parts would take from Mrs. Rowlandson and her narrative the meaning she gained from her ordeal and thereby take away all those qualities which make the narrative so exceptional.

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. (Hebrews 12:6)

[Mel Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually read it on Gutenberg(thank you David Widger and helpers). Great little book, and valuable in many ways. It gives insight into both the Puritan and the native world view and culture.
Never do you see Mary shake her fist at the unfairness of life. I can't help but think that her world view and perspective are healthier and more profitable for a fulfilling life than that of most of us today.
I had to chuckle at the passage about her being delivered from the habit of smoking a pipe. First, for the narrator I had come to know, smoking a pipe was quite incongruous to the image I had developed. But more importantly, her argument against smoking was not about wasting money, or health, but wasting TIME. Wow! What would she say about today's social media and gadgets?

[Pamela Mikita · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short direct account of her eleven weeks as an Indian captive. Sound s truly horrifying the attack she witnessed, the separation and loss of one of her children and the harsh treatment from her captors.

[Paras2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

honestly, I only read 5 "removes" and I wasn't much interseted to follow. although there were horrifying and brutal scenes that thinking about them makes me shiver. the thought of a massacre and burning and blood. the scene where her child dies and the fate of her 2 other children is drearful. The thing that really vexed me was the Puritan ideas all over the text. I'm not anti-religion per se, but puritanism REALLY rubs me the wrong way. I actually get angry at some comparisons. like hell no you're not like that prophet, keep your shit together woman and stop your nonsense -__-
all in all, captivity texts may give a good insight, though severely biased, into native Americans and the colonizers life style and affairs.

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written about 1675, this is probably the most famous of the captivity narratives. It's a slog to read with the long paragraphs, Biblical quotes, and archaic language. I understand the Biblical info was added later by others. As always, the particulars of the truth of the narrative is somewhat in doubt.

Then there are the occasional lines like this one: "That night they bade me go out of the wigwam again. My mistress's papoose was sick, and it died that night, and there was one benefit in it—that there was more room."

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this very old American narrative of Indian captivity very fascinating! I learned so much about the early colonization and the Puritan society. Even though some of language was rough (from the 1600's) it was such a great read!

[Ceola Daly · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75
I read this for my American Genres class and haven't yet studied it, but after reading it I think there will be a lot to unpack so I'm excited!

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly accessible and compelling

[Declan · Rating 3 out of 5]

(read for class) what!

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Matthew Scott Superna 🙏🙏🙏

[Lisa]

Fifty years ago, my college graduation was cancelled when students shut down my college protesting the events at Kent State and the Vietnam War. Fifty years later, I looked forward to attending my college reunion which was cancelled (it ran virtually) because of the coronavirus. I felt a bit consoled when the older adult classes at SUNY Binghamton went virtual and they invited all alumni to register for classes. Happy to connect virtually anyway, I registered for a class about viewing history through women's memoirs. The first book to be discussed will be the Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson and I just finished reading it.

It is impossible to say how many stars this would get. It's unlike anything else I've ever read. Written in 1675, Mary Rowlandson chronicles her capture by native Americans and then her restoration. She never totally explains what the native Americans were doing or why they allowed her husband to buy her back. But then again, she was writing it for herself and didn't really need to. It was an interesting sliver of history seeing an event from one person's perspective.