Saturday, February 25, 2012
Were there other people who could relate to Rowlandson's captivity narrative?
Mary Rowlandson's "Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" has been acknowledged as one of the first best selling captivity narratives in American literature. http://college.cengage.com/english/lauter/heath/4e/students/author_pages/colonial/rowlandson_ma.html Her novel tells her story of being held captive by the Wompanog Indian tribe during King Philip's War. Her story helped revolutionize American literature by using the genre of a captivity narrative. Many people think that Rowlandson is the only author that had been captured by and Indian tried, but little do they know about a Reverend names John Williams.
U all may be asking yourselves, "Who is John Wiliams?" John Williams was a New England Puritan who was well known for writing "The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion". He was also uncle to the famous John Edwards. "The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion" was a narrative written by Williams to show people how his life was being held captive during the Raid on Deerfield in 1704. http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=24758 He was inspired to write his captive narrative because of Rowlandson's "Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson".
He was also inspired to "Survive" because of Rowlandson's narrative. During the invading of Deerfield Williams two children and his negro slave was killed. http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/gen/deerfild.html While held captive Williams was forced to convert to Catholicism, but ignored the rules. Another thing Williams had in common with Rowlandson was that they both survived being held captive. Both of their narratives also helped focus on their religions and captivity experiences. These two authors helped give readers a better understanding of not only how life wast as a Puritan, but also how life was being held captive during the colonial times.
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