On February 10, 1676 Mary Rowlandson was captured and held captive by Native Americans. The invasion of her town, Lancaster, led to the destruction of her home, the death of her youngest child, and a long term separation from the rest of her family. During Rowlandson’s captivity, she was treated with brutally and was constantly starving. Though Rowlandson was treated brutally, Kathryn Stodola, an author who wrote an article on Rowlandson’s captivity, believes that Rowlandson was treated fairly well for a captive. According to Stodola, Rowlandson was purposely kept alive because she was a popular figure that was seen as a person that could demand a high ransom.
Mary Rowlandson was supposedly a target for the Native American’s because she was the wife of Joseph Rowlandson, Lancaster’s Puritan minister. The Native American’s clearly saw her as a prime target because she was the wife of the Puritan minister and “would command large ransoms.” (Stodola 34). The Native American’s were right because, eventually somebody was willing to pay for her ransom. The women of Boston put up some ransom money in order to set her free from her captivity. Obviously, the Native American’s got what they expected out of Rowlandson, which was guaranteed ransom money.
Though Kathryn Stodola’s claim about Rowlandson being a political figure is fairly accurate, her opinion of Rowlandson being treated well proves to have some weaknesses. Though Rowlandson was kept alive by the Native American’s, she received some harsh treatment. At one point in Rowlandson’s account of her captivity, she writes about how the Native American’s fed her a raw piece of horse meat. She went on to say that though the meat was raw, “to [her] hungry soul every bitter thing was sweet.” (Rowlandson 68).
Rowlandson’s captivity was clearly no accident due to her political value. In a sense, she was used as a bargaining chip. The unjust treatment that she received was not only during her captivity, but also after her captivity. Once the Native American’s got what they wanted, they released her because they had no other use for her.
Works cited:
Derounian-Stodola, Kathryn Zabelle. "The Indian captivity narratives of Mary Rowlandson and Olive Oatman: Case studies in the..." Studies in the Literary Imagination 27.1 (Spring94 1994): 33. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library], [San Jose], [CA]. 1 Sep. 2009
Rowlandson. Mary White. The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives. Ed.
After reading this blog, it showed me what Mary Rowlandson experienced when she was kidnapped and captured by Native Americans. It did tell me that her kid died in her hands because she could not do anything and the Native Americans did not help her at all. I was so surprised that she was still alive after she was captured by Native Americans because they had to travel and sometimes she did not have food to eat. I think if you were a slave in that time there was no guaranteed that you would treat fairly and nicely.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the Native Americans kept Mary Rowlandson alive because she was the wife of Puritan minister which they could get a big ransom. However, was that the only reason why the Native Americans kept her that long and alive? The only thing I did not like about this blog was it was more focus to the book that we had to read.