The American Frontier Hero in Mary Rowlandson’s Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration

Abstract

“Standing amazed, with the blood running down to our heels …” (Rowlandson 4). Thus Mary Rowlandson describes her emotional state in the opening scene of The Sovereignty & Goodness of God, Together, with the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed; Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, relating the February 1676 battle between Algonquians and Puritans in Lancaster, Massachusetts.¹ While we may no longer be familiar with her text outside of academic circles, Rowlandson’s Narrative was once the most popular and compelling story in the Americas, one that riveted the populace’s attention. Copies of her book were passed from person to person and literally read to shreds. Rowlandson’s tale was so popular that her story quickly entered the body of common knowledge of her contemporaries. Even those who hadn’t read her Narrative (or had it read to them, as was a common practice) knew her adventures by hearsay. The mention of her name was all it took to evoke her tale. And, this name-recognition persisted for approximately one hundred and fifty years, even as the population increased to approximately ten times its levels in 1682, when the first edition of the Narrative was published.² Although we no longer instantly recognize her name or recall her tale, Rowlandson and her Narrative still affect us, our literature, and our culture today.