Rowlandson And Jemison Narrative Analysis

In beginning, this study will compare the captivity narrative of Mary Rowlandson and Mary Jemison. These narratives of Indian captivity in the mid-17th century provide a way to understand the methods that both women employed to survive. The first similarity between these two women is related to their Protestant background, which was a normative part of colonial life in New England during this historical period. In this manner, Rowlandson utilizes the religious tenets of practical religious belief to define her captivity with the Indians: “Life-mercies are heart-affecting-mercies: of great impression and force, and to enlarge pious hearts in praises of God” (Rowlandson 10). This is also evident in the Protestant upbringing of Mary Jemison, which defines the foundations of their original cultural heritage that is shared in these capacity narratives: “For it was the daily practice of my father, morning and evening, to attend, in his family; to the worship of God” (Jemison 130). These are important cultural similarities about Rowlandson and Jemison protestant

In Similar ways, Rowlandson and Jemison had protestant backgrounds during the initial time of their capture. More so, both women did not attempt to run away from their captors, especially during a time of war between colonists and Indian tribes. However, Jemison chose to stay with the Seneca Indians due to her being kidnapped a much younger, and more impressionable age than Rowlandson. Jemison had come to embrace the Indian way of life, which Rowlandson refused to fully adapt due to her much early conditioning as a Puritan. These are the comparative ways in which the Indian capacity narratives of Rowlandson and Jemison have been defined, yet with the differing aspects of Jemison’s earlier conditioning as a teenager in the decision to stay with the Seneca