Introduction
It is hard to disagree that many literary works’ themes or concepts can be interpreted in various ways, especially when their authors avoid directly indicating specific ideas or attitudes, preferring to use literary devices and techniques. For example, in her 1682 memoir, Mary Rowlandson describes her experiences after being captured by Native Americans in 1675.
A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson provides valuable information about the lifestyle and traditions of the Indians but also reveals the narrator’s changed attitudes toward her captors. Although some readers may disagree because this change is not mentioned explicitly, Mrs. Rowlandson’s words and expressions indicate that she becomes more sympathetic in “The Nineteenth Remove” due to her observations and religion.
“The First Remove”
To prove the point stated in the introduction, it is first essential to analyze the initial attitudes of the narrator, referring to the language she uses in “The First Remove.”During the first hours after being taken away from her house, relatives, and friends, Mary Rowlandson is devastated, hopeless, angry, and scared. Describing the group of captured people, she says, “our bodies wounded and bleeding, and our hearts no less than our bodies,” and there is a sense of disconsolation in these words (Rowlandson 1). The narrator is tired, fears for her own and her family’s lives, and is denied shelter, which ultimately affects how she views Native Americans.
The first night after captivity seems to the author like hell on earth, with the Indians being some demonic beasts. She refers to them as “roaring, and singing and dancing, and yelling” barbarous and black creatures, joyful, “merciless enemies” (Rowlandson 1). The narrator can only think about her present state, her dying baby, and her missing husband.
She learns that the Indians are going to kill him as soon as he comes back and concludes, “Little do many think what is the savageness and brutishness of this barbarous enemy”(Rowlandson 1). The narrator pities all the cattle her captors have also caught and are now roasting, wasting food, and again resembling hell with all those dances and fires. Thus, in “The First Remove,” Mrs. Rowlandson has nothing to focus on that would improve her attitudes toward the Indians.
“The Nineteenth Remove”
Interestingly, in the opening two paragraphs of “The Nineteenth Remove,” Rowlandson never uses any negative or degrading descriptions when referring to the Indians. Instead, readers can understand that she is tired of her experiences and wishes to become free again but is also, to some extent, grateful to the Indians (Rowlandson 19). For example, the narrator says, “I was wonderfully revived with this favor showed me” when Native Americans feed her and allow her to wash (Rowlandson 19). At the same time, it is impossible not to notice Mrs. Rowlandson’s religion’s role in changing her perceptions.
In “The First Remove,” the Indians reminded her of demonic creatures and merciless beasts, but in these paragraphs, she recognizes they are much closer to God. Moreover, they might be seen as God’s tools or servants, and He uses them to teach her and help the narrator become a better and more faithful person. The following excerpt is significant:
Being almost spent, I thought I should have sunk at last and never got out, but I may say, as in Psalm 94.18, “When my foot slipped, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.” Going along, having indeed my life, but little spirit, Philip, who was in the company, came up and took me by the hand…” (Rowlandson 19).
For the narrator, this person’s hand is like God’s hands, holding her and guiding her to freedom. Indeed, seeing the struggles of the Indians, living with them for several months, and being treated with sympathy in some situations, Rowlandson changed her views.
Improved Attitudes
While the difference between the rhetorical choices in “The First Remove” and “The Nineteenth Remove” is highlighted, it is also possible to develop this topic further, referring to other parts of the memoir. For instance, the narrator saw the Indians facing hunger and other struggles, which helped her realize they were also humans (Rowlandson 5). For some Native Americans, the author even developed sincere and warm feelings: “my master being gone, who seemed to me the best friend that I had of an Indian” (Rowlandson 12).
In addition, the Bible is mentioned numerous times in the text, proving how much support the narrator found in it, and it is evident that precisely God impacted her changed views, making them humbler and more humane. Eventually, it is challenging to state whether Rowlandson achieves some final view of her captors. On the one hand, her attitude becomes much more positive as she feels grateful for many things. On the other hand, she still wishes to be set free, and it would be tough not to feel any negativity toward those responsible for the death of her family.
Conclusion
To conclude, the memoir by Rowlandson allows for a thoughtful and insightful reading, especially considering that both Native Americans and some settlers suffered during the colonization. In “The First Remove,” the narrator only has a negative attitude toward the Indians because they are guilty of destroying her and her family’s life. However, in “The Nineteenth Remove,” she changes her views due to the Bible’s impact and manages to see her captors as humans.
Work Cited
Rowlandson, Mary. “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.” Project Gutenberg, 2009. Web.