Political, Social or Econmic Implications of Winthrops text
Lecture Notes
Introduction to Mary White Rowlandson and TheSovereignty and Goodness of God
Mary White was born in England around 1636. When she was three, her family moved to Lancaster, Massachusetts, where
her father, John White, was its wealthiest citizen. When she was about twenty years old in 1656, she married Joseph
Rowlandson, a Puritan minister. They had four children, one dying as an infant. As your text says (190), if it had
not been for King Philip’s War, it is unlikely anyone would have heard of Mary Rowlandson today, but this event
changed her life and made a huge impact on the early colonies.
In the early 1600s, there had been a peace treaty between the Wampanoag Indians and the colonists that had lasted
over fifty years, but as the colonies grew, tension grew between them. Colonists’ livestock would trample the
Wampanoag crops, causing disputes, and there was more demand for land and resources for the new colonists. The
leaders of both of the communities died within three years of one another. Governor Bradford died in 1657, and the
Wampanoag chief Massasoit died in 1660, causing the treaty to suffer even more. Also in 1660, King Charles II was
restored to power in England, and he once again established the Anglican Church, making Puritans want to flee the
country in large numbers, so the native population felt that they were being squeezed out of their land. In 1662,
the Plymouth court summoned Wamsutta, Massasoit’s son, to Plymouth, seeking greater authority over the indigenous
people. Wamsutta was taken at gunpoint for questioning, but he soon got sick and died, and this enraged his tribe.
When a Native American liaison between the two groups was murdered, a breakdown between the groups occurred,
eventually leading to war.
Metacomet (Photographic reproduction of a plate done by Paul Revere)
The war began in 1675, when Massasoit’s son Metacomet (called King Philip by the Europeans) led an
alliance of tribes to attack, but this divided the native population, as most who had converted to Christianity
either fought with the English or refused to fight on either side. Converts were still not trusted by the English,
so many were banished to islands off shore. However, native soldiers helped assure the British of victory, which
ended in 1976 when “Philip” was killed by a Wampanoag fighting with Captain Benjamin Church. The war took a heavy
toll: one in ten soldiers on both sides was either killed or wounded, Native Americans were sold into slavery abroad
and locally, and the damage to property took years to recover from. “About 5,000 Indians and as many as half that
number of English colonists were killed during the bitter conflict” (190).
In February 1676, a group of Native American tribes attacked Lancaster. Ironically, Rowlandson’s husband
was in Boston asking the Massachusetts General Assembly for more protection against the Indians. She and her three
children were taken captive. One wounded child, Sarah, soon died, and Mary was separated from her remaining
children, Mary and Joseph, for nearly the whole time they were held, which was almost three months. While she was a
prisoner, she sought guidance from the Bible. She considered the ordeal to be a test of her faith, a crucible.
In May of 1676, she was ransomed by the natives that held her, and people of Boston raised the sum of
twenty pounds in a public subscription in order to free her. She rejoined her husband and children in Boston and
moved to Connecticut in 1677. She apparently began to write about her ordeal before her husband died in 1678, but
the book was not published until 1682. The book was among the first in what became a genre of popular books in the
seventeenth century: Indian captivity narratives. There were many narratives like this that followed hers, which
formed the start of stories that were uniquely American in style and content. Captivity narratives always tell the
story of being abducted by an untamed enemy. There is always an allusion to similar stories in the Bible. The
abducted people face a threat to their faith and are redeemed through the experience. Englishmen wrote about being
kidnapped by Barbary pirates. Recall that Captain Smith wrote about his capture by Indians, and at least in his
case, some of his ordeal was likely fictionalized. Therefore, most captivity stories are looked at as literature
rather than actual historical documentation. They do provide insight into our early settlers, though. Later, the
tales of cowboys and pioneers would add to the list of American literature as the nation was expanding.
Rowlandson’s book was the second book written by a woman to be published in North America, the first being
Anne Bradstreet’s poetry discussed in the last lesson. The cover page made a point of explaining that it was
intended for “private use,” as was Bradstreet’s poetry, but that she consented to making the memoirs public at the
request of friends and for “Benefit of the Afflicted.” Puritan ministers felt that “works of God” should be made
available as teaching tools for all generations.
Rowlandson’s narrative would be considered a best seller, as the text explained that it sold more than
a thousand copies, roughly one for ever one hundred people in the New England colonies (192). “It was the most
popular book published in North America in the seventeenth century” (192). It begins with an anonymous Preface to
the Reader, likely written by Increase Mather, an influential Puritan minister remembered, among many
accomplishments, for his comments about the Salem witch trials a little over a decade later. He believed that
witches did exist, but rejected many of the tests that had been used to identify a witch. Since some of the Salem
judges were his friends, though, he did not publicly denounce them. Instead, he formally doubted the testimony of
those who had been accused of being possessed and disputed the evidence. He sought to calm the tensions and said
that it would be better to have ten suspected witches escape than one innocent person condemned. He felt that Indian
attacks were a result of God’s disfavor and wanted to use Rowlandson’s account to show the road to redemption.
Mather gave jeremiads to influence the citizens to behave in a moral fashion. His son, Cotton Mather, also became a
minister and more well known throughout history. It is believed by some that both Mathers consulted with Mrs.
Rowlandson on this book.
A jeremiad usually refers to a sermon or narrative (sometimes even in poetry) that explains the
tribulations of a population as a penalty for their disobedience to God. The message is that with change, things
will get better. The term comes from the Biblical prophet Jeremiah, who preached that the tragedies that occurred in
Israel were because of a breach of the covenant with God. Puritan Jeremiads usually followed a set formula where the
speaker would first remind his listeners about the courage and religious piety, then deplore {disapprove of} the
present circumstances, and then ask for a return to those former days in order to prevent a downfall. The late
Reverend Jerry Falwell and Dr. James Dobson could be considered modern presenters of jeremiads.
In the Preface, the anonymous author refers to the “Enemy”, calling the Narrhaganset Indians Barbarians
and Heathens and indicates there is “causless [sic] enmity” (undeserved hostility) towards the English. The Preface
does indicate, however, that the natives had been driven from their land and were desperate for provisions. The
tribe attacked Lancaster on February 10, 1675. Buildings were burned, families killed, and other captured by “these
cruel and barbarous Salvages [sic]” (193).
The Preface’s author quotes from the Biblical book of Job, who was a rich man tested by God by
delivering him to Satan. He lost his children, his wealth, and his health, and he wondered why he was punished so
severely. He also refers to the troubles of Joseph, David, and Daniel, suggesting that Mrs. Rowlandson was tested in
her faith as they were. He says that due to her modesty, she did not want to publish her story, but she consented
because of her gratitude to God and her desire to benefit others. He asks to “excuse her then if she comes thus into
publick [sic]” (195). In this book, one sees “an instance of the Sovereignty {supreme power} of God” (196). He
tells the reader that if he or she does not receive benefit from reading this text, it is the fault of the reader
and not the text. “Thou also through patience and consolation of the Scripture mayest have hope” (196).
The Sovereignty and Goodness of God manuscript
Notice Mrs. Rowlandson does not waste time on exposition.She begins on the day of the attack, occurring
at dawn. The sound of gunfire is heard (the Indians had guns that were given to them by Europeans in trade), and the
sight of burning homes and smoke “ascending to heaven” is described. Rowlandson describes horrific killings by the
Indians, calling them “murderous (modern spelling) wretches.” Of course, we know that they came to her house, and it
was “the dolefullest day that ever mine eyes saw” (197). She tries to leave with her children and one belonging to
her sister, with the house on fire above them, but the Indians shot at them, and the dogs were too scared to attack,
though normally they were fierce. They were forced to exit the house despite the Indians and their weaponry awaiting
them outside. Rowlandson’s brother–in-law becomes the first casualty, as he had been wounded before they tried to
flee the burning house. He fell down dead. She and her daughter Sarah were shot. Her sister’s son William was killed
and then his mother, who had said she wished to die with them. Mary is then separated from her children. The Indians
told her that if she went with them, they would not hurt her. Of the thirty-seven residents of the house, twelve
were killed and twenty-four were taken hostage. Remember, her husband was in Boston asking for more protection.
Before this attack, she had thought that if it happened, she would rather have been killed than taken hostage, but
when it actually happened, she chose life.
She breaks the sections down into twenty “removes,” each indicating a change of location in the
“wilderness,” which is both indicative of her surroundings and an allusion to the untamed world of the “savage”, the
lack of civilization, the unknown. Her struggle is allegorical to those in the Bible (Job and the Israelites as
examples); she becomes an archetypal Christian figure wandering in the Wilderness, and her message is that the soul
can triumph despite the hardship suffered, like the story of Job. The Puritans had thought of “The New World” as
almost a Garden of Eden, with the chance to build a paradise (the city upon a hill), and along with that, of course,
came the “evil,” as they perceived the Native Americans to be. Mary Rowlandson was fearful that she would not pass
God’s tests and that she might fall backwards religiously, a theme common to Puritans.
Your reading passage begins with the First Remove, as she journeys with her captors (“Barbarous
Creatures”) away from her home, with heart and body bleeding. As you read, be aware of her intended audience, which
was to be other Puritans of her time and some generations into the future. Also be aware of the intended purpose of
the narrative. Ironically, they travel to a hill where she can still see her town, which was to be a Puritan city
upon a hill. As she arrives at the top of this hill, she wishes to stay in an abandoned house, and they refuse, so
to her it is a “lively resemblance of hell” (199). Mrs. Rowlandson will often refer to the Indians as children of
the devil, living representations of the enemies of their faith. They tell her that they will kill her husband when
he returns home, and her wounded daughter is more dead than alive, but she cannot help her.
In the Second Remove, Mrs. Rowlandson had to leave even the ability to glimpse her town and venture into
the “desolate Wilderness.” After she is too tired to walk, they let her ride on horseback, but since the Indians
didn’t use saddles, when she, holding Sarah, were going down a steep hill, they both fell off the horse, and the
Indians laughed at them. Through all of this, she did not lose her faith; she said her strength was renewed. Her
daughter is suffering from fever, likely infection from her wound, and her own wound is causing stiffness. Yet, they
live through another night outside in the snow.
In the Third Remove, they leave again. Mary and Sarah had not eaten; they had only had a little cold
water in the four days since they had been abducted. They finally reach an Indian town called Wenimesset. She feels
guilt for the Sabbaths that she “misspent” and felt that her troubles were a punishment from God. “Yet, as he
wounded me with one hand, so he healed me with another” (200). There, she meets Robert Pepper, another captive who
had been with the Indians for quite a while. He helps cure her of her wounds, but nothing helps her wounded
daughter, who moaned all day and night. She is comparing herself to Job. Nine days after the child was shot, she
finally died. Mrs. Rowlandson is surprised that she didn’t lose her sanity and thanked God that she did not. She
also is thankful that she didn’t give in to the urge to kill herself, which of course is a sin. She was forced to
leave her dead child, and the Indians buried her “upon the hill.” It is an ironic parallel that this is a spot they
found fitting to bury the child.
She is then able to see her daughter Mary, who was also taken to Wenimesset. Mary was ten years old and
was taken by a “Praying Indian” and traded for a gun. Rowlandson asked God for some sign of hope, and her son
appears, whom she had not seen since they were captured. When some Indians returned after another attack, she was
offered a Bible that one warrior had taken. She reads Deuteronomy, which tells of there being no mercy for her and
she is cursed, but reads on until mercy is promised once again. Recall what the ruling principles that Winthrop had
based his speech on that would guide their community. What were the two rules “for the good of all”?
In the Fourth Remove, she had to part from Mary, whom she did not see again until Mrs. Rowlandson was
released from captivity many weeks later. Mrs. Rowlandson tells the story of a woman, Goodwife Joslin, who was about
ready to give birth and had a young toddler in addition. {Note: All wives were called “Goodwife” and their last
names, which was shortened to “Goody”.} Apparently, Mrs. Joslin complained so much and demanded her release so often
that the natives became “vexed with her importunity” {angry about her demands} and stripped her, sung and danced
around her, killed them, and cremated them. Even in this horrific story, Mrs. Rowlandson added that the other
children said Mrs. Joslin prayed all the while. Likely, this detail, whether or not it was true, was to show the
contrast between the “goodness” of the Puritan captives and the savagery of the Indians.
The fifth remove appears to show a shift in Mrs. Rowlandson. Her views toward the food begin to
gradually shift, and this change appears to accompany a spiritual change as well in her Puritan values in order to
survive. The shift in her attitude about the food is indicated, as she says that in the first week, she had very
little to eat, the second week it was “hard to get down their filthy trash” (204), but in the third week, she began
to think of the food as “sweet and savory {pleasant or agreeable} to my taste.” She has also noticed that the tribe
reveres their old by carrying them. She makes clothing items for them, calling her captor “her mistress”. She takes
note that God has “preserved the heathen.”
Continuing her change of attitude in the Seventh Remove, an Indian passes her with some horse liver,
which she tries to roast before eating it. When some is taken from her, she eats the rest half raw and enjoys it,
quoting Proverbs 27:7 from the Bible, “For to the hungry Soul every bitter thing is sweet.” In the eighth Remove,
she is able to talk with her son, and they both discuss the changes that had come over them. They realize that their
lives had many comforts before their captivity and compare themselves to Job. She eats a tiny pancake fried in bear
grease and “had never tasted pleasanter meat in my life” (207). With her growing acceptance of the food, she grows
kinder in her description of the natives as well, noting that a Squaw was “very kind” to her and gives her food. By
the twelfth remove, she is talking of her Master as “the best friend that I had of an Indian” (210).
In the twelfth remove, she learns that she would be sold back to her husband, and in the thirteenth
remove, another shift seems to occur, and she turns more hostile in her language towards the Indians, perhaps as she
prepares to return to “civilization”. She calls them “barbarous heathens” once again and finds out stories about her
husband, which she assumes are lies, as they say her husband has remarried thinking her dead; others say they killed
him. She compares the Indians to Satan, who “was a lyer [sic] from the beginning” (212). The next few removes
discuss food often, as she is getting very little food. In the sixteenth remove, she again hears that she may be
able to go home. When she is given little bits of food, her soul is revived as well.
Finally in the nineteenth remove, there is more talk of negotiating her release and what sum could be
raised for her. Twenty pounds was her price. She ends the nineteenth remove by teaching her readers that when people
have plenty, they do not prize the “common mercies” (220). As the wife of the town’s minister, she had the most
status, in addition to her family’s wealth, so her captivity has taught her to appreciate things she took for
granted. This is one of her main lessons other than that faith in God will sustain them in all things. She can be
contrasted to her Master’s wife, Wattimore, who was vain and dressed herself as materialistically as the British
upper class with necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. She has learned that even a little broth is worth more than
these things, and of course before she was taken, she had lost all of her material possessions in the fire.
In the twentieth remove, at long last, Mr. John Hoar, a lawyer from Boston representing her husband,
came, along with two Christian Indians. In her last remove, she marvels at God for preserving the “heathen” and not
allowing them to starve. Rowlandson spends a lot of time describing what they would eat in their desperation to
survive. She “stands in admiration to see the wonderful power of God, in providing for such a vast number of our
Enemies in the Wilderness, where there was nothing to be seen” (223). At long last, she is released and travels
home to Lancaster, which had been completely destroyed, so she reunited with her husband in Boston but still did not
know where her two remaining children were. Eventually, the children were released in different places, and their
parents found them, with Rowlandson continually praising God for his mercy.
Narraganset Woman
Learning Object Info: Lecture Notes: Wk 3 Type: HTML Submitted By: MeriRogoff
Week Three Essay
You will write a minimum 800-1000 word paper on one of the topics below worth 150 points, and you will complete the
quiz. Make sure that you first read all of the format information in the Preview Lesson as you write the paper and
make sure it complies with these rules. If you do research, your paper must have in-text citations as well as a
proper Works Cited section in MLA format. It cannot be more than 15% quoted material. Send the essay to the dropbox
below and send it to Turnitin.com (instructions are in Class Announcements). The topics are below. If you have any
questions, please email me.
Topic Choices:
1. The original editor’s “Preface to the Reader” (probably written by Increase Mather, a Puritan minister)
characterizes the Indians as “Barbarians” and “Heathens” motivated by “causless enmity.” It characterizes Rowlandson
as a modest, “worthy and precious gentlewoman” who only publishes her narrative because her friends “judge it
worthy of publick view” for the “benefit of the Afflicted.” Discuss the extent to which the narrative proper
upholds, complicates, or negates these characterizations of either Rowlandson or her captors. How does her
description of the natives change throughout her narrative?
2. Consider the roles for Puritan women presented in Bradstreet’s poetry and Rowlandson’s narrative. How do the
accounts of Puritan women differ from the writings of the men of their time, such as John Winthrop’s A Modell of
Christian Charity in terms of their depiction of daily life, religion, gender roles, and values?
3. Explain the political, social, or economic implications of Winthrop’s text.
4. How did reading William Bradford’s text alter your preconceived views of the Pilgrims? For example, what
surprised you or what insights did you gain about these people and their way of life? How did his description differ
from Columbus’ view of America as a land of plenty with docile and primitive inhabitants?
5. We often think of America as
a land of independence; however, Winthrop’s text emphasizes the important role of
interdependence for the Puritans. Explain the nature of humans’ responsibility to one another in Winthrop’s model.
6. Other ideas you may have can be discussed and approved by me.
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Practice
Week Three Quizzes
Your Week Three exam is in two parts. The essay described above is worth 150 points and is uploaded into the
dropbox below as well as sent in to Turnitin.com, and you must go to the quiz link below. Please follow paragraphing
rules from Preview Lesson in the short essay questions, and to be safe, you should save your essay questions in a
Word file before submitting your week three quiz.
Preview to the Short Essay Questions on Quiz
Why did Mrs. Rowlandson call each chapter a “remove”? (At least 100 words, please.)
Why did Mrs. Rowlandson allow her story to be published? In your answer, explain what a jeremiad is, Puritan
beliefs, and how this narrative fits that genre. (Minimum:150 words)
Quiz/Exam: Engl-150 Quiz Wk 3
Quiz/Exam: Quiz/Exam (Open)
http://seaport.coastline.edu/Ext/Squid/view/Quiz.cfm?QuizID=38