THE INDIAN CAPTIVITY OF
MARY ROWLANDSON
Monique Enih
Texas Tech University
WHO IS MARY ROWLANDSON?!?




Orthodox Puritan
Young woman who lived in
Lancaster, Massachussets
with her parents
At 18, married a minister
named Joseph
Rowlandson, and had 4
children
Her youngest child,
Sarah,6, died during their
captivity by the Indians
from the wounds she
suffered
THE 411




Tensions had built up between
the Indians’ (New England) and
the British colonists
King Philip, war chief of the
Indians’s, was not happy about
the expansion the British
colonists were making in America,
so he set his army out to attack
Killed in 1676, his body was
chopped into pieces and the
remains thrown into trees for
entertainment.
His surviving wife and son were
captured and sold as slaves in
Bermuda
WHY WAS MARY CAPTURED?





During King Philip’s War, 1675, the Native American’s
came to her town and began firing bullets into her home;
then set it on fire
During this attack, she was wounded by a gunshot, with
the same bullet that struck the baby she was carrying
She was forced to go along with her captors, where she
carried her wounded baby on a long 3 day trek, without
food, water, or shelter
On the 4th day of her grueling journey, she met another
captive, Robert Captive, who suggested that she put oak
leaves in her gunshot wound to speed her recovery
Unfortunately, her baby did not make it.
DURING HER CAPTIVITY



Her children are given
away to the warriors, and
she is given a bible to read
She couldn’t bring herself
to eating the Amerindian
food: nuts, acorns, various
roots, and beans
She was also subject to
forcing herself to eat: bear,
beavers, frogs, skunk, and
snakes (all without proper
cooking methods)
AS THE DAYS WENT BY…
Mary made clothes
and sold them to the
tribe who captured
her
 She wasn’t paid in
money, but rather
with other forms of
payment such as
knives or soup made
from tree bark

MARY’S REACTION TO THE CHAOS



Mary does not see this
period of her capture as
torture, but rather as a
“remove” from
civilization.
She is truly convinced
that all of her struggles
are the works of God,
and if she “believes”,
then she will be freed
Ex. She says although
she gets lost in the
woods, she will plot her
way through Christian
existence.
RESEARCH QUESTION:
WHAT WAS HER TRANSFORMING RELATIONSHIP
WITH FOOD??




Prisoner amongst
“barbarians” and
“heathens”
The Narragansets were
very limited on their
food due to the harsh
winters
They were forced to
survive off horse guts,
bear, and tree bark
After trying to avoid
this food for so long, she
finally submits to the
wilderness, and begins
eating with nature
RESEARCH QUESTION:
MARY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NATIVE
INDIAN AMERICANS




She initially refers to the Indians as “wild beasts of
the forest” and refuses to join in any of their customs
Her 1st week of capture, she fast because she cannot
handle the nature of the food. The 2nd week, she
begins to overcome her fear. The 3rd week, she finally
begins to eat
Although everyone is not friendly to her, she makes a
“bestfriend” to an Indian named Quanopen.
Sexual abuse also took place during her capture
RESEARCH QUESTION:
WHAT ARE MARY ROWLANDSON’S SURVIVAL
SKILLS
She begins to find her
niche in Indian society
in order to cope with
her need for food and
shelter
 She would perform as
a seamstress in
exchanges for food
 As time passes, she
learns to assert
herself more amongst
the Indians

MARY ROWLANDSON BEFORE AND AFTER



Sometimes she feels guilty that she is the one
who survived out of all that were captured
She sees herself as “Rowlandson the survivor” vs
“Rowlandson in search of faith in God”
She convinces herself that her captivity and the
experiences she has endured are all part of God’s
way of communicating with her
HER BOOK


An intense reading of
her stories and
survival techniques
during captivity
Very important and
prominent figure in
English Literature