Rowlandson's Attitude Towards The Native Americans example essay topic

"When my foot slipped, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up" (Psalm 94.18) is a good example of the consistent meaning that Mary White Rowlandson is searching for throughout her experience in captivity. In A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs Mary Rowlandson she views her captivity as a quest or a test of her religious faith, she frequently refers to the bible and it seems that any happening be it beneficial or not is the merciful work of god. She sees her spell in captivity as a struggle between good and evil, the Anglo puritans who in her opinion live their lives with good intentions in the name of Christianity against the Native Americans or "merciless heathens" as she prefers to call them. Rowlandson's is incredibly religious and her faith is unquestionable throughout her captivity. Rowlandson draws many similarities between her experiences in captivity to stories in the Bible. "Oh, that we could believe that no thing too hard for God!

God shewed his power over the heathen in this ' as he did over the hungry lyons when Daniel was cast into the den". She is looking to God for the consistent meaning in her ordeal, she is proud of the idea that God is looking out for her and guiding her through her troubles like he did to famous heroes from the Bible that she refers to such as Daniel and Moses. When Rowlandson refers to God I think that she does so in a very personal manner. "Oh, I may see the wonderful power of God, that my Spirit did not utterly sink under my affliction still the Lord upheld me with his gracious and merciful Spirit, and we were both alive to see the light of day". Rowlandson's refusal to give up hope in God does show some inconsistencies in her interpretation of her captivity and the events surrounding it. At one point she thinks that God might be punishing her neglecting him in the past.

"I then remembered how careless I had been of God's holy time, how Sabbaths I had lost and misspent and how evil I had walked in God's sight which lay so close unto my spirit, that it was with God to cut off the thread of my life, and cast me out of his presence forever". I find it astonishing that first of all Rowlandson thinks that her captivity is God's way of punishing her for her negligence of the Sabbath day but secondly and primarily that he is justified in doing so and that doesn't anger or upset her. Rowlandson doesn't question why God would cast her away from her family and friends on the grounds that she misspent a few Sundays in the past. Rowlandson thanks God for keeping her alive and feels honoured.

"I have thought since of the wonderful goodness of God to me, in preserving me in the use of my reason and senses, in that distressed time, that I did not use wicked and violent means to end my own miserable life". The death or Rowlandson's sister is an inconsistency in her faith that stands out from the text. When commenting upon her death, Rowlandson says. "I hope she is reaping the fruition of her good labours, being faithfull to the service of God in her place". The fact that Rowlandson only hopes that her sister has gone to heaven after leaving a moral life is strange as Rowlandson's other references to God are so certain and confident that I find the speculation shown in this quotation outstanding and inconsistent with the majority of her references to God.

Rowlandson's first and only doubt of God is when she says "And here I cannot but take notice of the strange providence of God in preserving the heathen". This is the first time in the text where she questions God's actions; she is puzzled by them and has difficulty understanding why God has provided protective care to one of the Native Americans. Rowlandson doesn't attempt to explain any logic as to why God would show such mercy towards a Native American. Very soon afterwards Rowlandson does show that ridiculously na " ive faith in God again when she says. "God did not give them courage or activity to go over after us, we were not ready for so great a mercy as victory and deliverance". She is once again trying to justify God's strange actions and attempting to extract something positive from an unfortunate happening.

I think that this optimism is admirable however at the same time it's ridiculous. She draws comparisons with the Bible. "Oh that my people had hearkened to me, and Israel had walked in my ways, I should have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries". (Psalm 81: 13: 14) Mary Rowlandson's spiritual faith remains very strong throughout the text and I do not think that she has a crisis of faith. This is highlighted by the amount of inconsistencies and contradictions that arise when she is explaining God's reasons for events taking place.

She always draws out the positive side of setbacks and remains confident that God is always in control. A very important factor that should be taken into consideration is that Rowlandson wrote this text after her realise from captivity yet her powerful faith in God and the way in which she writes about what effect God had on the day to day happenings create an atmosphere of a daily journal in some parts of the text as if she wrote pieces in it every night. Her spirituality and faith were not damaged throughout her experience in captivity, only strengthened, as she is able to look back on events when writing the text with a strong positive view of God. Rowlandson shows inconsistencies and contradictions in her opinion towards the Native Americans who held her in captivity. In the opening few pages of the text when describing the attack she refers to them as "bloody heathens" and she describes with disgust the attack and celebration back in their camp afterwards. "Oh the roaring, and singing and dancing, and yelling of those black creatures in the Night, which made the place a lively resemblance of hell".

It is very clear here what Rowlandson thinks of the Native Americans, she looks down on them as "barbaric people, this ignorance and arrogance was typical of the Puritan settlers that anyone who didn't behave like them or follow their customs was a second class citizen. This is a character trait for which Americans are still notorious for today, i.e. their attitude towards the Taliban in Afghanistan or the communist government in Cuba. She is particularly harsh on the Native Americans when one of them brings her a bible as a gift, she does not give credit where credit was due and does not praise him for his kindness. She sees it as a gift from God. "I cannot but take notice of the wonderful mercy of God to me in those afflictions, in sending me a Bible". The whole idea of one of the Native Americans doing a kind deed was totally overlooked; instead it was God being merciful to her.

The Native Americans are quite temperamental in the way that they treat Rowlandson, being kind to her one minute i.e. her master allowing her to keep the money that she earned, and being nasty to her so soon after. "I complained it was too heavy where upon she gave me a slap in the face". I don't think that her opinion of the Native Americans changes a great deal in the first few removals as she does give us a factual account of the she is treated. She does not complement the Native Americans when they do something kind to her.

She is very sceptical of Philip when he offers to bargain reasonably with her. "I thanked him for his love; but I knew the good news as well as the crafty fox". Rowlandson's opinion of the Native American change slightly as the text progresses. "I can but admire the providence of God for preserving the heathen for farther affliction to our poor countrey, they could go in great numbers over, but the English must stop, God had an over-ruling hand in all those things". The fact that she admires God for preserving the Native Americans shows us that she does have some sort of positive feelings towards them and does not view them as the "ravenous beasts" she calls them in the text. In the twentieth remove Rowlandson shows for the first time that she actually recognises the Native Americans have feelings.

"They mourned (with their black faces) for their own losses yet triumphed and rejoiced in their inhumane and many time devilish cruelty towards the English". Rowland son tells us here that she recognises that the Native Americans show emotion unlike the "ravenous beasts" we were introduced, we see them as humans. I think that this statement could also describe the English settlers as they too would have definitely mourned their losses and celebrated their victories. I can't decide on whether Rowlandson is drawing similarities with the English and the Native Americans or being very hypocritical. Although I can see some inconsistencies in Rowlandson's views on the Native Americans, something that does remain consistent is her honest account of how they treated her with a constant bias against them. She criticizes their wrong doings yet doesn't complement them on their kind acts of decency in her favour.

Another consistency in her referral to the Native Americans is the names she calls them i.e. "cruel and merciless heathens". The form and the style of the text are also inconsistencies in the text. I think that Rowlandson's narration is similar to that of a daily journal in some parts of the text emphasised by the detail she uses to describe the first few days in captivity. "Whither I went with a very heaving heart and down I sat with the picture of death in my lap. About two hours in the night, my sweet Babe like a lam be departed this life on Feb 18.1675". Later on in the text the narration is different and she refers to day's names.

"On Munday we came to Charlestown where we heard that the Governor of Road-Island sent over for our daughter". This really does contrast the accurate deconstruction of days earlier one in the text. This is an example of an inconsistency in the content causing an inconsistency in the form and the style of the text. The content of the text show some consistencies. The inconsistencies of the detail of time description as I have already mentioned are evident.

However Rowlandson's prolific quotation of the Bible throughout the text, from the opening account on her village. Corinthians 12.9 "And he said unto me, my Grace is sufficient for thee" Finally in the last line of the text. "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord" Exodus 14.13 Rowland son's description of Native Americans is also a major content consistency throughout the text. Rowland son accurately describes the violent actions of the Native Americans towards the English. "All of them stript naked by a company of hell hounds, roaring, ranting, and insulting, as if they would have torn our very hearts out".

This level of description is not echoed in her account of the Native American's kind actions towards her. "In the morning, another Indian bade me come at night, and he would give me six Ground nuts, which I did". Rowlandson's attitude towards the Native Americans is inconsistent yet her description of them is consistent. Mary Rowlandson does try to find a consistent meaning to her ordeal in the wilderness.

She speculates as to whether God is punishing her because of her negligence of the Sabbath in the past. Her constant references and quotations from the Bible suggest that she thinks it is a test for the good of her faith. She speaks of God preserving her yet she offers no explanation to why her almighty God would preserve her to live in conditions that she hated. Rowlandson does not find the meaning that she is looking except she seems content in the thought that God was always in control of the situation and that she had full confidence and faith in him.

There is also the possibility that she saw it as a test of character to enable to "look beyond the present and smaller troubles, and to be quieted under them". One theme that does figure in all my suggestions is that it wasn't just an attack by a group of people trying to stay alive, but as far as she is concerned a act of God so that she would come out of it a better individual. Her failure to find a precise consistent meaning to her ordeal is highlighted by the amount of inconsistencies and contradictions in the text. The reason that there are so many of these contradictions and inconsistencies is that with them she can make some sense of what she went through and that was an act of God that made her a better person and she is unable to justify all the events in those eleven weeks without contradicting herself.