A Narrative Of The Captivity and Restoration

As I read A Narrative Of The Captivity and Restoration, I felt as if I was watching a long movie. I kept expecting action and waiting for something heroic to happen, but it never did. It is a very long and telling account written in historical and spiritual context. It includes the physical and spiritual journey of Mary Rowlandson.

It is like one of those stories that must be told when somebody survives death. People write about the physical experience of such events, but their message is oftentimes focused on the spiritual aspect. After going through such a traumatic experience, the person wants to reveal the story because it serves as a witness to something and because the person experiences a spiritual transformation.
However, in Rowlandson’s narrative, I find more then her spiritual and physical experience. Her narrative keeps dehumanizing the Native Americans and speaks triumphantly of the Puritans. It also reveals the desperation of the Native Americans as they were faced with the overpowering presence of the British.

But in the most personal way, the story reveals the strength of a woman in captivity. She was fragile and went through a lot of physical and emotional pain and suffering, even though she does not reveal a lot of this. She reveals a pious woman who found strength in God.

Outside the historical and religious context of the story, the narrative can be most valued by the experience of a woman and a mother who went through such a traumatic experience and survived. Rowlandson’s narrative reminds me of a woman held in captivity by a terrorist group in Colombia. She is kept hidden in the jungle and has become an object of political interest. So, Mary Rowlandson’s story is not removed from present day reality.

I believe that Rowlandson’s story is idealistic because she is interested in the telling the story from a religious perspective. More than anything, the story has a salvific purpose.

A Model Of Christianity

I find John Winthrop’s work to be a master piece because of the way he weaved Biblical images. The use of imagery is very thought provoking and idealistic. As I was reading his literary work, I thought, “John Winthrop is like a good salesman.” He convinces people by using strong and provocative Biblical arguments and his argument meet the needs of the people and of the time. He is a lawyer and uses law to create an orderly and cohesive society. He appeals to love as the foundational Christian rule for law.

Winthrop is creating a perfect marriage amongst the people. He needed to do so in order for the community to survive in harmony. He uses a model that is familiar to the people. Winthrop used the first Christina communities as an example. He sets a number of rules and refers to these rules as “articles of our convent with Him.” He is remembering the exodus of the Israelites. It is appropriate and symbolic for the situation of the new settles.

Winthrop is persuasive when says that community is a body knitted all together and when one member of the body suffers, the whole body feels the pain. He uses Jonathan and David as an example of spiritual unity. “Jonathan, a valiant man endowed with the spirit of Christ, so soon as he discovers the same spirit in David, had presently his heart knit to him by this lineament of love, so that it is said he loved him as his own soul.” He also refers to Adam and Eve as a symbol of the unity in flesh and bone and goes on to say how the mouth receives the nourishment for all other body parts and how all the parts of the body receive a due proportion. Winthrop appeals to peoples feels using very seductive Biblical imagery. He does not do it to brain wash them. He does it as a means of unity, order, survival, and the creation of a new society in a new land.

Winthrop’s sermon is idealistic and was preached in 1629, but is not outmoded. The same type of sermon is being preached today in many Sunday sermons, and his idealistic community model is practice in some religious communities. His sermon is very eloquent in style and contemporary in the Christian world. He knitted it so well that he made a master piece out it. I do not know what make Winthrop’s sermon Puritan other than the fact that Winthrop is Puritan because the kind of sermon he delivered is contemporary and likely to be heard in different Christian

Culture Clash

Elias Puentes

In reading the letter of Thomas Harriot, Alvarez Nunes Caveza de Vaca, Bartolome De Las Casas, and Christopher Columbus, I come to understand the confusion and ignorance that Native Americans and European explores had of each other's cultures. These letters give a broad perspective because of the different interest of the explorers and the different regions they explored. Some described the richness of the land or the harsh environment, others focused on cultural and religious values. De Las Casas takes a social justice view. Each one views this new world through their personal interests. Nevertheless, they offer an overview of clashing cultures.

Some opinions are worth noticing. One of them is a total and shared ignorance and confusion among both the Natives and the Europeans. Harriot's letters reveals this exaggerated confusion when he points to the people getting sick and dying. The Natives associated this to an offence done to the god of the Europeans, and Harriot seems to believe this as well. I understand that people did not know much about disease, but I also find an ignorance blinded by confusion.

After reading all the other letters, De Las Casas surprises us with his social justice view. This view seems to be very advanced for his time. He is not only writing as a way of reporting, but he pressures the authorities to enact laws against the injustices. De Las Casas seems to have had a conversion of heart.

Another fact that seems to be over look when discussing history is the suffering that the early explores went through. I just stopped to think about this and imagined all the physical and emotional harshness they endured. I believe that the interest of the first explorers was more of a visionary bent than a motivation of wealth.

I see how America is like a quilt woven by the Natives and by the different European groups that came to settle five hundred years ago. What I find fascinating is that this "quilt" continues to be woven by the most resent immigrant groups, and we face some of the same conflicts and difficulties that the early settles and Natives had because we are confused by new immigrants, and they are confused by us. We all come from different parts of the world speaking different languages and having different cultures. I am positive that some of the letters that immigrants send back to their countries of origin have narratives similar to the ones the explores wrote.

Native American Encounters with Europeans

Elias Puentes
ENGL 470.01
September 05, 2008

Narratives about the encounters of Native Americans and Europeans are interesting because they present two sides of the story. Unfortunately, we do not have enough Native American narratives, and I wonder if what we have is accurate, or if somehow, it has been influenced by the Europeans.

I find Red Jacket’s Speech to the U.S. Senate to be original. I really did not find European influence. Red Jacket delivers a magnificent speech which appeals to the intellectual and emotional aspect of the Europeans. In his short speech, he covers the difficulties that the Natives have encounter since the arrival of the Europeans, but one of his strongest judgment is on religion. He makes a very intelligent argument about Christianity. It is very academic in style and his argument is difficult to refute.

The only disadvantage Red Jacket recognizes is that Christianity is written in books, but other than this, he says, “We are told that your religion given was given to your forefathers, and has been handed down from father to son. We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers, and has been handed down to us their children.” He also acknowledges that overall; there are difference, but that the Native American religion comes from God as well.

In his speech, Red Jacket also implies something like this: If you claim that your religion is the one in which to follow God, why is it that you have come to our land and caused so much harm. In fact, he refers to the arrival of the Europeans as an evil day. He does not say this for the sake of saying. He gives evidence of the conflicts that White men have inflicted on them.

I find that Red Jacket's piece of literature was not influenced by a Western point of view. Red Jacket remains very true to his believes and origin. However, not every Native American narrative remains true to their faith and culture.

Pontiac’s speech is an example. It is very apocalyptic. He keeps having visions and encounters with the Great Spirit, and the purpose of these visions is for the Natives to return to their origins. Well, I am not sure. I wonder if the visions are influenced by the Bible because a lot of the imagery and language makes reference to Biblical scenes.

I think that Pontiac’s speech was more about the enculturation and the evangelization of the Natives, and less about returning to the origins. This is why I think so. “The children of your great father, the King of France, are not like the English. Never forget that they are your brethren…. The Great Spirit next gave his hearer various precepts of morality and religion….. A prayer, embodying the substance of all that he had heard, was then presented to the Delaware. It was cut in hieroglyphics…. And he was directed to send copies to all the Indian villages.”

Pontiac is really persuading the Natives to subscribe to something new. This is definitely European influence, while Red Jacket’s speech is not. He remains true to
himself and to his culture.