In Captivity and Restoration, the author, Mary Rowlandson recounts her experience a captive of a group of Native American Indians after her settlement is raided. While the book touches on many themes such as the pain of captivity, the fear of the unknown, and the dichotomy between savagery and civilization, the theme of faith being challenged by adversity is especially poignant when taking into account the author’s background and the historical period the work was written in.
Mary Rowlandson was a Puritan woman living in 17th century new England and thus her work is strongly influenced by religious themes. The Puritans were a protestant sect that felt that the church of England was too catholic and was becoming corrupted. One group of devout puritans who were expelled from England set up a colony in what is now Massachusetts. Mary’s Puritans faith is evident throughout the book as she discusses the importance of keeping her faith throughout her captivity. Mary seeks comfort in her bible from which she is reminded that god is always with her. This ties into the Puritan concept of predestination which states that god has a plan for all people that cannot be changed no matter what. As a result of this, Mary sees her captivity as a religious ordeal that will challenge her faith.
It was good to see Mary eventually reconcile with the Native Americans. Her Puritan belief may have been keeping her from accepting them for who they were. Nevertheless, throughout her time in captivity, Mary expresses unwavering faith in God and his plan. There were times when she may have questioned her faith, but not once did she give up on it. British colonists in the 17th century believed that their way was the right way, and anything else was wrong or inferior. Mary would end up throwing away her preconceived notions of Native Americans and allowed herself to forgive and respect them as human beings.
While I agree that Mary definitely revised her thoughts and feelings towards Native Americans, I do not believe she necessarily ended reconciling and respecting them as humans beings. She had a greater appreciation for their culture after her experience but she still referred to them as “heathens” (Page 83) and even called them her enemies,”I can but stand 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, but from hand to mouth.” (Page 78.) Her feelings did change drastically towards them, but I don’t see it as extreme as to say she fully respected them.