In my reading I recently came across a reference to a book I was unaware of. Published in 1682 in America, it is called The Sovereignty and Goodness of God ... Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.
Relatively little is known about Rowlandson (1637-1711). Wikipedia says she was a colonial American woman born Mary White in England and who lived in the frontier village of Lancaster, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of one of the town's founding fathers and she married Joseph Rowlandson in 1656. Her husband was ordained a Puritan minister in 1660. At sunrise, on February 10, 1676, during King Philip's War, the bloodiest war in American colonial history, Lancaster came under attack by a band of Naragansett Indians. She was the mother of three: Joseph, Mary and Sarah, and was among the hostages taken that day. For 11 weeks and five days she was forced to accompany her captors as they fled through the wilderness to elude the colonial militia, under what she describes as horrible conditions. In simple, artless prose she recounts the stages of the odyssey in 20 distinct "Removes" or journeys. She witnessed the murder of her friends, the death of one of her children, and suffered starvation and depression, until she was finally reunited with her husband. On May 2, 1676, she was ransomed for £20 raised by the women of Boston in a public subscription, and paid by John Hoar of Concord at Redemption Rock in Princeton.
During her captivity, Mary's youngest child, Sarah, died, while the remaining two were separated from her; nevertheless, Rowlandson continued to seek guidance from the Bible - the text of her narrative is replete with verses and references describing conditions similar to her own. She saw her trial as a test of faith and considered the "Indians" to be "instruments of Satan". Her final escape, she tells us, taught her "the more to acknowledge His hand and to see that our help is always in Him."
Until recently, it has been assumed that she died before her narrative was published. However, more recent historical research indicates that Mary Rowlandson re-married after the death of her husband and lived as Mary Talcott till January 1711, thus reaching an age of approximately 73 years.
The book, however, not only became one of the era's best-sellers, going through four editions in one year, but also earned her an important place in the history of American literature. Her book is a frequently-cited example of a captivity narrative, an important American literary genre used by James Fennimore Cooper, Ann Bleecker, John Williams and James Seaver. Because of Rowlandson's intimate relationship with her Indian captors, her book also is interesting for its treatment of cultural contact. Finally, in its use of autobiography, typology, and in its homage to the Jeremiad, Rowlandson's book helps the reader understand the Puritan mind.
During her captivity, Mary's youngest child, Sarah, died, while the remaining two were separated from her; nevertheless, Rowlandson continued to seek guidance from the Bible - the text of her narrative is replete with verses and references describing conditions similar to her own. She saw her trial as a test of faith and considered the "Indians" to be "instruments of Satan". Her final escape, she tells us, taught her "the more to acknowledge His hand and to see that our help is always in Him."
Until recently, it has been assumed that she died before her narrative was published. However, more recent historical research indicates that Mary Rowlandson re-married after the death of her husband and lived as Mary Talcott till January 1711, thus reaching an age of approximately 73 years.
The book, however, not only became one of the era's best-sellers, going through four editions in one year, but also earned her an important place in the history of American literature. Her book is a frequently-cited example of a captivity narrative, an important American literary genre used by James Fennimore Cooper, Ann Bleecker, John Williams and James Seaver. Because of Rowlandson's intimate relationship with her Indian captors, her book also is interesting for its treatment of cultural contact. Finally, in its use of autobiography, typology, and in its homage to the Jeremiad, Rowlandson's book helps the reader understand the Puritan mind.
A tough-minded, independent woman, she never lost her faith in God while dwelling in a "lively semblance of hell." A modern writer has said "Her voice is singular — one of the first strong voices of a woman writing about her experience in North America — and her memoir became a model for later writers, who often wrote about periods of crisis that were also times of spiritual transformation." Below is the extract that struck me. There is more here.
By their noise and hooping they signified how many they had destroyed (which was at that time 23) those that were with us at home, were gathered together as soon as they heard the hooping, and every time that the other went over their number, these at home gave a shout, that the very earth rang again. And thus they continued till those that had been upon the expedition were come up to the Saggamor's wigwam; and then, oh the hideous, insulting and triumphing that there was over some English mens scalps, that they had taken (as their manner is) and brought with them. I cannot but take notice of the wonderful mercy of God to me in those afflictions, in sending me a Bible: One of the Indians that came from Medfield fight, and had brought some plunder, came to me, and asked me if I would have a Bible, he had got one in his basket, I was glad of it, and asked him if he thought the Indians would let me read? He answered 'yes' so I took the Bible, and in that melancholy time it came into my mind to read first the 28th Chapter of Deuteronomy, which I did, and when I had read it, my dark heart wrought on this manner, that there was no mercy for me, that the blessings were gone, and the curses came in their room, and that I had lost my opportunity. But the Lord helped me still to go on reading, till I came to Chapter 30, the seven first verses; where I found there was mercy promised again, if we would return to him, by repentance; and though we were scattered from one end of the earth to the other, yet the Lord would gather us together, and turn all those curses upon our enemies. I do not desire to live to forget this Scripture, and what comfort it was to me.
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