Brian Hernandez

12.5.14
ENG 250W-000

Mary Rowlandson - Religion and Identity

A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson is one of many
stories of the white man interacting with Native Americans in pre-colonial times, but one thing
that sets this story apart is the internal conflict of the protagonist with her faith and identity.
Rowlandson is a Christian from Lancaster, Massachusetts, the wife of the town minister.
Rowlandson uses her religion and faith to endure the long weeks of her captivity, but goes
through doubtful periods with her faith at times, are clearly depicted in her writing. Rowlandson
struggles to find the balance between how others identify her and how she identifies herself particularly with her religion - and it is prominent in the text with instances of her going back
and forth on her opinion of God and the natives, which is significant considering the change that
she goes through throughout the duration of her captivity.
Mrs. Rowlandson, as the town ministers wife, identifies as a devout Christian who has
committed her life to God. Frequent references to the Bible and Christianity emphasize
Rowlandsons faith. It is also clear to see that she struggles a bit with her faith, and at times it
seems as though she is forcing herself to write about God or the Bible. The quotes of specific
verses are too frequent, and they disrupt the flow of her recount which is otherwise almost
perfectly fluent. There are a few instances in which she quotes four to five Bible verses in one
page alone, which is something that would not happen in normal conversation - even in those

times. On page 274 (Thirteenth Remove), she quotes the Bible seven times. The reason for her
forcible injection - thats what it seems to be - of her faith into her writing comes with apparent
reason. Rowlandson not only identifies herself as a devout Christian, but she is the town
ministers wife and is likely held to a standard by her husband and the community (and herself).
The fact that she is writing down the story of her capture and captivity is a very important point
that she also needs to be wary of. The story was published and disseminated, so she had to be
more sure of her faith in her writing than she actually probably was in real life. Another pressure
may be the fact that although many of the settlers of the New World came to the Americas for
religious freedom, they were not at all free of religious standards and Rowlandson would
probably become a societal castaway if she didnt stand by her faith.
As Rowlandson struggles with her faith, she develops many methods of coping with her
internal conflict. The most important method that she employs is dissociating herself from the
Native Americans. She feels that the first step to continuing her relationship with God during this
time of turmoil is by separating herself from her captives. She calls them names like merciless
heathen, pagans, and savages. She expresses disgust in their habits and diet, although she
actually sometimes enjoys the food. There are even cases where it seems that she refuses to
acknowledge the fact that they too are in fact human. There is one example of her captors child
dying and she does not condole with them, but simply states how at least there is more room in
the wigwam. As a Christian, there is no way that she should be to feel that way about the death of
another human being - regardless of their faith - unless she discredits their humanity. By doing
discrediting their humanity, she is able to distance herself from her captors and remain in her
own world, and is probably the real reason why she survived the capture - not because of her
faith in God.

She makes a further effort to separate herself by relating everything positive happening to
her to an act of God Himself. One example: 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, had brought some plunder, came to me, and asked me, if I would have a Bible, he
had got one in his basket. (263) Even though it is clear that the Indian was going around with a
basketful of Bibles asking all of the Christians if they wanted a Bible, she still chose to thank
God for making that happen. There are many instances of these acts of kindness that she credits
God for rather than the Native Americans. It is easy to believe that this mindset is a direct result
of her faith, but in reality it is probably mostly fueled by her identity as a Christian woman and
the ministers wife. She may feel obligated to thank God for any and every ray of sunshine on
her rainy day, especially since she knows that she isnt going to be the only person reading her
recount. Since she knows that others will be reading her story, she has to be careful with what
she does - and doesnt - say, again because of her identity as a Christian woman and as the town
ministers wife. It is interesting though that she is so intent about thanking God, but yet it still
seems that Rowlandson is only turning to God when she needs him (which is not all the time).
She mentions during the Third Remove that she goes through a period of time (a few to several
weeks) which she does not have any kind of working relationship with God. I then remembered
how careless I had been of Gods holy time; how many Sabbaths I had lost and misspent, and
how evilly I had walked in Gods sight This seems hard to believe considering she would
turn to him whenever things were going wrong, so maybe those few weeks werent as
challenging as the rest and so she didnt need Gods guidance. This is a signal of her religious
struggle. With the intensity which she identifies herself as a Christian, she should be able to have
a relationship with God through the thick and thin, and she just doesnt do that.

Through her internal conflict, there are even times where she doubts her faith - directly
(by questioning and criticizing God Himself) and indirectly (by being grateful towards the
natives, etc). She attributes everything positive to acts of God, but contradicts that by blaming
everything negative in her life on the Native Americans. It is not apparent, but this, in a way,
illustrates some of the flaws in her faith and belief system. If she is able to thank God for all of
the good things, she should be able to blame God for the bad too. There are ways to do so
without compromising your faith in God, such as adopting the mindset that whatever bad
happens is for the greater good. She doesnt even attempt to adopt that mindset, and it begs the
question if her faith is really true. Another example of her faltering faith is when she is grateful
towards the Native Americans in some instances. She is grateful when they allow her to go see
her son or sister, and she is grateful for the food they offer her sometimes. She even seems
content with the fact that some of the Native Americans ask her for her labor in return for food,
even though she attributes the food to savage food. She had established this mindset for herself
of the Indians being savages and inhuman and ungodly, so according to her own reason, being
grateful and friendly towards the Native Americans should be blasphemous. Most interestingly,
when she realizes what she is doing, she catches herself doing it and suddenly reverts back to her
relentless insults and ungratefulness on a more severe scale than before.
There are even instances throughout the text in which Rowlandson actually directly
doubts her faith in God. Then also I took my Bible to read, but I found no comfort here neither,
which many times I was wont to find Yet I can say, that in all my sorrows and afflictions, God
did not leave me to have my impatience work towards Himself, as if His ways were unrighteous.
But I knew that He laid upon me less than I deserved. (272) She is saying that throughout this
entire time all she has done is be faithful to God, but yet he has not rewarded her proportional to

what she deserves based on her giving to Him. On the flip side, Rowlandsons lack of faith and
questioning of God should - according to her belief system - warrant punishment far more sever
than she has experienced. She is a bit ungrateful towards Him, and this highlights her difficulty
in keeping her faith throughout her trying times. It is important to point out though, that almost
immediately, she seems revert back to her faithful ways. It is almost as if she snaps out of it
and realizes what she is saying and starts to write in a positive manner about God and the Bible
again. This could again be because she feels the pressure of her identity weighing on her - how
would the townspeople react if they found out that their very own ministers wife is losing her
faith? What would that say about her husband, the minister? After reverting back to her
normalcy, it seems as if she is trying to cover up for her blasphemous writings. She tells of
how hard it is to keep her faith, and how difficult it is to live among the Indians - she is making
excuses for her lack of faith.
The final point of interest with Mrs. Mary Rowlandson and her internal religious conflict
is when she returns home to the loving Christians. When she is returned home, she reverts
back to calling the Indians savages and heathen for the last time, and it is as if she is enlightened
again when she gets home. Back in the presence of loving Christians again, there is no excuse
for sympathizing with the Indians, and she knows that if she does, it will not be taken well. So
because she knows this, she discards any thought of how nice the Indians were to her at times,
and discards her gratefulness towards them for keeping her alive and offering her compensation
for her work and blends right back into her Christian society, though it is clearly not that easy for
her to transition back. She tells: I was not before so much hemmed in with the merciless and
cruel heathen, but now as much with pitiful, tender-hearted and compassionate Christians. (285)
With this line, Rowlandson admits that she is having trouble adjusting back to life as it was

before, but she justifies it by cushioning the statement with her careful choice of language. The
mention of merciless and cruel heathen, and compassionate Christians, tells the reader that
yeah, maybe she is feeling a bit weird upon her arrival, but how could that not be expected after
being a captive of these savages? When she incorporates this into her writing, it is very easy to
see the change back to her original ways, and it is interesting to see this, considering the entire
recount is written after she is returned home safely. If the story had been written throughout the
time of her captivity, it would have made a bit more sense that her stories included some
sympathy for the Indians or lack of faith at times. The story, however, is written entirely after she
is safe from her captors. Was she perhaps trying to subtly tell her fellow loving Christians that
perhaps these merciless heathen werent so bad after all? That they may have been simply
retaliating for all of the horrors inflicted on them? It does seem to be that case, but it could also
be something completely different which she is trying to accomplish with her writings. She
could, by writing of her sympathetic feelings and trying times with her faith, be trying to show
all of her Christian brethren, Look! I was held captive for so long, and they were so brutal and
unforgiving that they actually tricked me and brainwashed me into doubting my faith and
sympathizing with them at times. But I persevered through and was able to conquer their tricky
mind games despite my condition because of my faith in God! If that is the angle she was trying
to take, then it would justify her inclusion of her stories of trading with them, being compensated
for her work, and the fact that she actually enjoyed some of their savage food - all things which
she didnt have to include but chose to.
Whether her stories were a subtle forgiveness and sympathizing to the Indians, or a call
for action against the savages, the fact remains that Rowlandson struggled with her religion and
her identity as a Christian during the time of her capture. Despite her struggle, however, she was

still able to get through the tough times with hope and optimism that she likely received from her
faith, and even when her faith failed her, she received a push from the pressure of her identity.