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Mary Rowlandson

Mary Rowlandson. King Philip’s War: 1676-1677 Representative Affliction Representation of Natives Captivity Narrative/Stockholm Syndrome Psychology of Affliction. King Philip’s War: External. External Cause: Restoration of the Monarchy in England (1660)

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Mary Rowlandson

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  1. Mary Rowlandson King Philip’s War: 1676-1677 Representative Affliction Representation of Natives Captivity Narrative/Stockholm Syndrome Psychology of Affliction

  2. King Philip’s War: External • External Cause: Restoration of the Monarchy in England (1660) • Reassertion of royal power in the colonies • Land claim disputes adjudicated by royal appointees unfamiliar with situation

  3. King Philip’s War: Internal • Internal Cause: colonists less interested in religion than previously • New class of immigrants, the frontier class, wanting more land • Frontier class created more land disputes with natives • Frontier class unwilling to follow the lead of Boston’s religious and ruling elite

  4. King Philip’s War: Religion • Official interpretation: God’s judgment on New England for its sins • Jeremiad: sermon that castigated the people for the sins; compared them unfavorably to predecessors • Mary Rowlandson’s text as Jeremiad

  5. Significance of War to American History • Significant dispute over the issue of local colonial government. • Early dispute between “common” and “elite” power • Test of religious elite’s authority over growing colony. • Test of power of religion to determine experience

  6. Representative Affliction • Rowlandson’s afflictions those of New England’s • God is taking special notice of Rowlandson and his chosen people • Rowlandson an example for others: how to persevere and remain faithful in a time of great suffering

  7. Representation of Natives • Bloodthirsty and inhuman • “Praying Indians”: converts to Christianity still hypocrites • Indians also capable of kindness and compassion • Indians unpredictable and unknowable: ultimately represent the unknowable mind of God

  8. Representation of Natives • Weetamoo: the proud squaw, Rowlandson’s chief antagonist • Rowlandson wants to imagine herself different from Weetamoo, but identifies with her anyway (dead children)

  9. Captivity Narrative • White woman’s captivity to natives a metaphor for New England’s experience in the New World • Anxiety of female captivity: that she may choose to stay, become part of the community • Creolization: Rowlandson participates in barter economy, society of her captors

  10. Captivity Narrative as Critique • Captive identifies with captor • Rowlandson voices complaint of New England (army is ineffectual; New England still sinful) • Captivity narrative threatened the collapse of boundaries between home and captor culture, between white and native identity

  11. Psychology of Affliction • Rowlandson’s suffering ultimately private and meaningless • Sleeplessness a symptom of her ongoing trauma • Suffering not necessarily tied to religious significance • Psychological trauma a modern rather than religious condition

  12. American Themes • White colonist struggling in the wilderness • Unresolved conflict between indigenous and settler communities • America as “City on the Hill” shaken to its foundations • Individual vs. community

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