Essay On Mary Rowlandson

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The Sovereignty of Goodness and God with Related Documents written by Mary Rowlandson was published in 1682 by Samuel Green and edited by Neal Salisbury. Within the text is also an introduction put together by Neal Salisbury. Neal Salisbury graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles and became a professor of history at Smith College. This narrative was written to tell a story of how Rowlandson was help captive by Indians and the trauma she went through while in captivity and after being released. Born to John White and Joan West in approximately 1637 in Somerset County in England; Mary was John and Joan’s fifth child out of the eight that they had. In 1653 Mary White moved her family to Lancaster where the towns…show more content…
It had been reported by Nathaniel Saltonstall that during Rowlandson’s captivity, she was forced to marry Monoco, the Nashaway Nipmuc. She talks about the Indians treated her respectfully and how they never touched her inappropriately. Making people think that she may have been raped or overall mistreated by the Indian people. Due to being accused of doing many things while in captivity, Rowlandson thought that it would be a good idea to tell what really happened so she could clear her name with anything bad that had been said about her. She writes how even though her master Quinnapin was drunk, he would chase after only his wives and never her. She writes how they helped her in times of need providing her with food, but never how they inappropriately touched her in anyways. She was also very anxious about writing her thoughts down to make all rumors die down and so people would leave her alone wanting to talk about her time in captivity and how the Indians really acted and treated others. Not many people had had encounters with the Indians as a captive, so no one really knew how to think of Rowlandson after being released back into society. I also think that she resented being a female captive and being a captive of a higher
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