In Mary Rowlandson’s book, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, she recounts the transformations she must go through, once natives take her captive. The Second Remove describes her struggles to survive in the “vast and desolate wilderness.” Rowlandson describes how she was exhausted and missed her home and that the Spirit of God was the only thing that kept her going. Rowlandson states, “God was with me in a wonderful manner, carrying me along, and bearing up my spirit, that it did not quite fail” (312). Rowlandson was showing her faith towards God and displays that He was the only thing keeping her from giving up. She describes the wilderness as a very barren place that is exceptionally inhospitable compared to her society. She makes the wilderness seem like a place of evil rather than a place of purification. Rowlandson also describes the natives as vicious people. As her fatigue starts to wear she falls off the natives horse and, “like inhumane creatures, laughed, and rejoiced to see it” (312). She describes the natives as savages in there own manners due to their non-Christian faith and the unpleasant conditions in which they lived in. Rowlandson believes that these natives are wild due to their beliefs and customs. Although Rowlandson exhibits these thoughts, she still somehow keeps her faith.
Throughout this Remove, she tries to keep her baby safe. Her baby was slowly dying and she could do nothing about it but keep her principles. Rowlandson writes, “still the Lord upheld me with His gracious and merciful spirit, and we were both alive to see the light of the next morning” (312). Although her baby was dying and she was taken hostage by these “savage” natives, she knew she could get through all the pain and the difference in cultures due to her strong belief in God. She resolves her tension between nature and civilization due to her passionate Christian values. It was surprising to envision Rowlandson watching her baby die and her town slowly disappear in the background not knowing if she would survive. After Rowlandson was taken away from her town she had to deal with seclusion and tension between nature and herself. The only way she got through those grueling times was her strong Christian faith and her relationship with God. Despite the pain that Rowlandson had to go through she was able to come out of it alive and well, untouched by natures powerful forces.
You made it very clear in your post just how important religion was to Mary Rowlandson. As i was reading your post i thought that it was interesting that people dont really think that way anymore. It’s almost like the idea of religion is slowly losing importance in certain places, but the environment is steadily gaining importance. The world that Mary Rowlandson knew, is completely different from today.
Good job!
You make some very keen observations in your post about how religion functioned for Mary Rowlandson during her time spent in the “wilderness.” If you decide to develop some of these ideas into a close reading you might consider orienting your analysis away from thinking about Rowlandson’s experiences (i.e. what happened to her) and more towards the text that she created from those experiences. For instance, why is it that she chooses to depict the wilderness in the way she does in the text? How do such depictions work in the text, what purposes do they serve? For example you might want to consider how they fit with her textual strategy of including typological readings of her experiences. You interestingly mention at the end of your post that Rowlandson came out of the experience “untouched by nature’s powerful forces”; do you think this means that she didn’t undergo any change based on spending time in the wilderness?