The Trials of Mary Rowlandson

            Mary Rowlandson allowed her Puritan beliefs to shape her response to Native Americans and the way she understood and interpreted her captivity. For example, she referred to various Bible passages in her narrative, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. In many instances, she described some event and then proceeded to make sense of it by referring to a Bible verse. For example, in the thirteenth remove she felt burdened by her captivity and wished to return home. To find comfort, she quoted Isaiah 54; 7: "For a small moment have I [The Lord] forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee" (90). As a strict Puritan, Rowlandson held beliefs that the Native Americans, or "heathens" as she called them, forbid her from performing. She always "celebrated" the Sabbath-day by attending church and resting afterwards. The Indians did not allow her to follow these practices. She asked them to let her rest on the Sabbath-day and perform twice the amount of work the next day (79). The Indians respond by threatening to break her face. She struggled to make sense of her treatment but failed at first. In her despair, she noted how well God provided for these "Hellish-beings." Ultimately, she consoled herself with a verse from the Bible, Psalm 81: 13-14. The Native Americans were her enemies and she wanted revenge. "Oh, that my People had hearkened to me, and Israel had walked in my ways, I should soon have subdued their Enemies, and turned my hand against their Adversaries" (80). The message for a Puritan like Rowlandson was this: if you are a true follower of God, soon He will break the forces of the Indians.
             At the outset of her narrative, Rowlandson wrote about the Indian attack on the town of Lancaster. She thought it a doleful sight to see many Christians lying in a pool of their own blood (70). She did not say it was a sad sight to see any injured or hurt people, but only injured or hurt Christians.