F. Douglas And M.Rolands

6 Pages 1590 Words

Mary Rowlandson’s, “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” and Frederick Douglass’, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” are separated by 142 years of history, yet their accounts of captivity parallel the occurrences in American under New World conditions and link the span of time between them. Both, Mary Rowlandson and Frederick Douglass experience the evils of slavery against their will, while succumbing to the conditions the New World presents to them. Through their times of desperation, both take comfort in the fact that America is a land of freedom and prosperity to which they will attain salvation. Both of their definitions of America are altered through their encounter of captivity and slavery. America becomes a land of the free that will prosper and remain when all the evils perish and cease to exist upon their escape. Both of these accounts, written after escaping signal the importance of their captivity and the effect it had on each of them. Each account demonstrates the power of the written word as well as strong personal perspective.
Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan woman lived in American since childhood. Her matrimony to the Reverend Joseph Rowlandson brought the responsibilities of mother and frontier wife. In 1675, she was taken captive by Indians in their assaults on the Massachusetts colonists and remained in captivity for eleven weeks, finally ransomed for twenty pounds. Her account of captivity documents her strong Puritan faith as the force that allowed her to survive. Mary viewed her capture as a test of will as well as a punishment from God. Her release to freedom was a gift from God, which strengthened her faith in Him, and America. Her account evokes individualism as well as nationalism for America, in her view, the home of the colonists that will forever prosper and be plentiful under the Lord.
Frederick Douglass, an African-American, experien...