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American Lit I
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Introduction
Here we continue reading the prose and poetry of Puritans writers. We begin with a thrilling -- and true -- story recounting the capture and "redemption" of a Puritan mother.

An important concept for understanding this first reading, Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative, is Richard Slotkin's theory on the connection between these kinds of stories (captivity narratives), and the myth of the fall and apocalypse. Both

begin with man in a happy condition of innocence or complacence. By divine intervention, this happiness is disrupted; man is alienated from his happy state and plunged into a trial and ordeal in which his soul is in peril. Ultimately (assuming the soul is not predestined for hell) the experience results in a figurative rebirth, the attainment of a new soul. All are myths of self-transcendence, of initiation into a new state of being (101).

Most importantly for Slotkin, it suggests that only through "violence" can this transcendence be attained (102). For contemporary readers, punishment is bad; for Puritans, it is a theological necessity. While this seems like a rather grim overview of a book, you'll find the reading quite engaging, a kind of Puritan action film. And it's an illuminating glimpse of the way one culture can demonize another by treating it like " The Other ."

Terms and People to Know
See previous pages on Puritanism

For a brief overview of the captivity narrative genre, see the following:
Captivity Narratives . Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800 . Ed. Michael L. LaBlanc.  Vol. 82.  Detroit: Gale, 2002.  From Literature Resource Center .

For an engaging look at a modern manifestation of Puritanism (or more broadly, Christian Exceptionalism - circa 2011), see The Daily Show, 2-3-11.

Life
See biographical introduction in textbook.

Times
Still in the Purtian era: which means the Bible is still crucial.

Our friend Richard Slokin notes that

The Indian war and captivity narratives, for example, grew out of the fact that many pious and literate New Englanders were continually falling into the hands of the Indians or attempted to explain their actions in battle. Once in literary form, the experience became available as a vehicle for justifying philosophical and moral values which may have been extrinsic to the initial experience but which preoccupied the minds of the reading public . . . . [after many of these had been printed] the experience would be reduced to an imitable formula, a literary convention, a romantic versions of the myth. When enough literature had been written employing the convention, it might become a sort of given between writer and audience, a set of tacit assumptions on the nature of human experience, on human and divine motivations, on moral values, and on the nature of reality. It is at [21] this point the convention has some of the force of myth: the experience it portrays has become an image which automatically compels belief by a culture-wide audience in the view of reality it presents (19-21)

"As Phillips D. Carleton first noted, not only did the content of captivity narratives provide unity, but their standard formal elements of attack, capture, and escape or return also gave them coherence and definition as a group." (Chapter 2 narrative online)

For the work's emphasis on punishment, consider the Biblical verses below:

Proverbs 13:24 "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes."

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Philemon
12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

And repeated from Wigglesworth's page . . . .

Two links below: the first is more historical, the second is more literary. they should be considered as a supplement to the overview on the period included in your textbook.

Puritanism The Oxford Companion to United States History

Puritanism: The Sense of an Unending: From the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature This has a particularly good bibliography.

Class Discussion

• The idea of "remove" is puritan shorthand -- it acts as a reminder that while on earth we are both physically and spiritually separated (removed) from God.
• These narratives speak to the anxities of a people far from home, trying to create a western civilization, yet adapt to a "New World" (cf. Slotkin "The Puritan was no longer sure of his abilit to conquer the wildness in a righteous manner; instead he felt himself weak enough to be debased by the wilderness to the level of the depraved natural man, the Indian" (99) and "They [puritans] had resisted to the best of their ability, the tendency to acculturate to the Indian way of life fostered by the wilderness" (Slotkin 98)
• Slotkin's comments
• Central myths of christianity "the fall of man, the apocalypse, and divine judgement" (Slotkin 101)
• Notes that, like the fall and apocalypse, the captivity and other narratives "begin with man in a happy condition of innocence or complacence. By divine intervention, this happiness is disrupted; man is alienated from his happy state and plunged into a trial and ordeal in which his soul is in peril. Ultimately (assuming the soul is not predestined for hell) the experience results in a figurative rebirth, the attainment of a new soul. All are myths of self-transcendence, of initiation into a new state of being" (Slotkin 101). Cf. our reaction to 9/11
• Most importantly for Slotkin, it suggests that only through "violence" can this transcendence be attained" (102) cf. 9/11. and connect to Flannery O'Connor -- a contemporary religious writer.
• Early work by a woman as well.

Using the OED for redemption, scourage, affliction, remove

• What does she cite as her reason for writing the book? (319)
• Bunyan's pilgrim, Christian, is set upon and isolated: see analogy on 316, 318 "I myself in the midst, and no Christian soul near me"

Portrayal of the natives

• Why refer to the Indians as "hell hounds" (237)?
• Why does the first camp have "a lively resemblance of hell" (238)?
• Contrast/Compare Bradford's description of the destruction of the indian village on 188-89 with description on 236-237.
• How does she alienate/separate the Indians from mankind?
• As a mother who has lost her own childern and as a christian, what is her reaction to the Indian babies -- or papooses?
• After a very short and simple observation, "When I came ashore, they gathered all about me, I sitting alone in the midst. I observed they asked one aonther questions, and laughed, and rejoicied over their gains and victories. Then my heart began to fail: and I fell aweeping" (319) Why cry here?
• Does her opinion shift 332 -- as she is shown some kindness? See earlier remark about being glad to see her master and being treated kindly by the old wife.
• How does she get a bible?
• Is she ever shown kindness by the natives?
• Descriptions of NativesAppearances
• Great passage on dress. Notes that a group of natives comes dressed in English clothes but she contrasts the "lovely faces of Christians, and the foul looks of those heathens" (254). What do you make of this change? What does this suggest about Native Americans and assimilation, and especially her only use of irony in her description of the "Praying Indians" 333

Who does she blame for her captivity?

• She almost questions God on 261 "I cannot but take notice of the strange providence of God in preserving the heathen." What's her answer for this?
• Why has she stopped smoking? 246 What does King Phillip offering her tobacco signify, to a puritan audience?

What does she ascribe all of her fortunes (limited though they are) while in captivity? Cf 317 "a favor from God to my weakened body" and 318 beaver dam

What do you make of this quote:

"And here I cannot but take notice of the strange providence of God in preserving the heathen" (317)

Master and slave relationship

• What does this quotes suggest about the psychology of the master and slave relationship? "I carried the knife in, and my master asked me to give it him, and I was not a little glad that I had anything that they would accept of, and be pleased with" (320-21). And see also paragraph at bottom of 321.
• Stockholm Syndrome? I n 1973, four Swedes held in a bank vault for six days during a robbery became attached to their captors, a phenomenon dubbed the Stockholm Syndrome. According to psychologists, the abused bond to their abusers as a means to endure violence.
• But she doesn't truly identify with the captives

Story of rebirth?

• Why use the word "redemption" (246) to describe being freed? What is the meaning of the word?
• Interesting economic connection. In a store you "redeem" something by getting money back: how will she be freed? Why do the settlers want more land (WANT MORE MONEY), so in a way their desire for "redemption" is the cause of their problems. If they were solely interested in a religious community, why not live an ascetic life?

What does she suggest is needed before she can be redeemed? PUNISHMENT. What shows this?

• "as he wounded me with one hand, so he healed me with the other" (239) cf. Flannery O'Connor
• Quotes Job, after "bemoaning our doleful condition" with her son: "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return: the Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, blessed by the name of the Lord" and "I gave him my Bible, and he lighted upon that comfortable Scripture 'I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the Lord: the Lord hath chastened me sore yet he hath not given me over to death' (Psalm 118.17-18)"(245)
• After a horrible passage where she describes being told that her son was "roasted" and has ash thrown in her eyes and has lost her wits several times, she invokes Job and then writes her own thoughts "But I knew that He laid upon me less than I deserved" (250), "wonderful providence . . . for further affliction to our poor country" 261 "But now our perverse and evil carriages . . . have so offended him"; "But now I see the Lord had His time to scourge and chasten me" (266) -- why use the word "scourge"?; quotes David "It is good for me that I have been afflicted" (266)

this is a common idea among religions. Cf. scourging, asetic. How does this fit into the spirit/body dichtomy?

See OED for redemption, scourage, affliction,

I recently read an interesting view of this from a secular standpoint: think of the current "fitness" craze? What are we trying to do to the body? Deny it. We're trying to make it what it is not.

Religion/providential

• Dogs not barking (310); son comes to her as consolation after death of her daughter (314); sends bible (315)

Connects the idea of Captivity and affliction itself to the bible Deuteronomy

• See footnote on page 315
• See original title

Slavery

• Although she was a captive, what would be another name/label to place upon her -- but one she doesn't use: slave. Yet she knows that she is treated like a slave 314 "not that he first took me, but I was sold to him by . . ." and "bade me come again; and told me they would buy me, if they were able" (240). On her niece "they that owned her" (255); "my son's master" (241) --- identification with the tribes of Israel who were enslaved in the bible
• How much was she fed throughout her ordeal?
• Picking up on indentifcation with her captives -- is "glad" to see her master 329

Structure/style of the story:

• How does the story open? Is it effective?
• Works with contrasts

Religion

• Though understandable, a bit revengeful for modern day ears " through the Lord's wonderful mercy, their time was now but short" (259). Cf. Bradford and povidence. But cf. 9/11 survivors and widows and their feelings towards muslims

• How do you think this type of narrative developed? What did it turn in to?

Group Questions

For each response, prepare a list of quotes that supports your argument, and then offer brief explanations of how the quotes answer the question.

1. Richard Slotkin, in Regeneration Through Violence writes that

   The Indian war and captivity narratives, for example, grew out of the fact that many pious and literate New Englanders were continually falling into the hands of the Indians or attempted to explain their actions in battle. Once in literary form, the experience became available as a vehicle for justifying philosophical [religious?] and moral values which [. . . ] preoccupied the minds of the reading public

Given this view, what values, either philosophical or moral, seem to have been on the minds of puritan readers?

2. How does she alienate/separate the Indians from mankind (remember to choose quotes to illustrate the "how")?
3. The critic Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola argues that

   The major ambiguity in Rowlandson's characterization is whether she fashions herself as a victimized, spiritually fallen woman who regains her sense of devotional direction by submitting to a trial of faith and then writing a spiritual autobiography or whether she reveals herself as a tough, victorious survivor, and thereby a chosen Child of God, who adapts to her situation by using strategies including barter, manipulation, and even theft" (249).

What do you find is the narrative thrust: vicitimized and fallen to spiritual rebirth (suggesting passivity), or working hard for her money and thus a chosen survivor (suggesting she's an active agent in her affairs)?

4. Is this narrative relevant for today? What connection does it have with contemporary America ?

Puritan Review

5. Given our readings, make a list of Puritan values; how are these values reflected in society today?

Images From the Past

Links

A short page with some relevant links http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/rowlandson.htm

Hutson, Matthew. "Are Americans Still Puritan?" New York Times. 3 August 2012.

Think we're all past this? "Rethinking the Age of Evangelicalism" for the latest manifestation of religion in America.

Quotes from Critics

Hugh Henry Brackenridge edited a narrative by Knight and Slover (Narrative of a Late Expedition 1783). IN a prefatory note he wrote "these Narratives may be serviceable to induce our government to take some effectual steps to chastise and suppres them; as from hence they will see that the nature of an Indian is fierce and cruel, and that an extirpation of them would be useful to the world, and honorable to those who can effect it" (qtd. in Pearce 10-11)

Notes that the genre had degenerated into "the American equivalent of the Grub Street criminal biography" (Pearce 7)

"It is as the eighteenth-century equivalent of the dime novel that the captivity narrative has significance for the history of our literature" (Pearce 13)

"Archibald Loudon calls his two-volume collection (1808) A Selection of Some of the Most Interesting Narratives of Outrages Committed by the Indians in Their Wars, with the White People. . . .' The historian will here find materials to assist him in conveying to after ages, an idea of the savages who were the primitive inhabitants of this country; and to future generations of Americans, the many difficulties, toils, and dangers, encountered by their fathers, in forming the first settlement of a land, even at this day so fair, so rich, in every kind of cultivation and improvement . . . . The philosopher who speaks with delight, of the original simplicity, and primitive innocence of mankind, may here learn, that man, uncivilized and barbarous, is even worse thatn the mos ferocious wolf or panther of the forest" (qtd. in Pearce 17-18)

"And the captivity narrative is interesting and valuable to us, I submit, not because it can tell us a great deal about the Indian or even about immediate fronteir attitudes towards the Indian, but rather because it enables us to see more deeply and more clearly into popular American culture, popular American issues, and popular American tastes. As religoius confessional, as propaganda, and as pulp thriller, the cpativity narrative gives us sharp insight into various segments of popular American culture" (Pearce 20)

on why the early puritans liked narratives

"it pitted the English Puritan colonists against a culture that was antithetical to their own in most significant aspects. They could emphasize their Englishness by setting their civilization against Indian barbarism; they could suggest their own superiority to the home English by exalting their heroism in battle, the peculiar danger of their circumstances, and the holy zeal for English Christian expansion with which they preached to or shot at the savages. It was within this genre of colonial Puritan writing that the first American mythology took shape -- a mythology in which the hero was the captive or victim of devilish American savages and in which his (or her) heroic quest was for religious conversion and salvation . . . . If the first American mythology portrayed the colonist as a captive or destroyer of Indians, the subsequent acculturated versions of the myth showed him growing closer to the Indian and the wild land" (Slotkin 21)

"The sufferer represent the whole, chastened body of Puritan society; and the temporary bondage of the captive to the Indian is the dual paradigm -- of the bondage of the soul to the flesh and to the temptations arising from original sin, and of the self-exile of the English Israel from England . In the Indian's devilish clutches, the captive had to meet and reject the temptation of Indian marriage and/or the Indian's "cannibal" Eucharist. To partake of the Indian's love or of his equivalent of bread and wine was to debase, to un-English the very soul. The captives' ultimate redemption by the grace of Christ and the efforts of the Puritan magistrates is likened to the regeneration of the soul in conversion. . . . Through the captive's proxy, the promise of a similar salvation could be offered to the faithful among the reading public" (94-95)

Notes that, like the fall and apocalypse, the captivity and other narratives "begin with man in a happy condition of innocence or complacence. By divine intervention, this happiness is disrupted; man is alienated from his happy state and plunged into a trial and ordeal in which his soul is in peril. Ultimately (assuming the soul is not predestined for hell) the experience results in a figurative rebirth, the attainment of a new soul. All are myths of self-transcendence, of initiation into a new state of being" (Slotkin 101). Cf. our reaction to 9/11

Most importantly for Slotkin, it suggests that only through "violence" can this transcendence be attained" (102) cf. 9/11

Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola "Captivity Narratives." Teaching the Literatures of Early America . Ed. Carla Mulford. New York : MLA, 1999. 243-255. Print.

"an estimated 1,641 New Englanders were captured between 1675 and 1763 alone" (Derounian-Stodola 244)

"The major ambiguity in Rowlandson's characterization is whether she fashions herself as a victimized, spiritually fallen woman who regains her sense of devotional direction by submitting to a trial of faith and then writing a spiritual autobiography or whether she reveals herself as a tough, victorious survivor, and thereby a chosen Child of God, who adapts to her situation by using strategies including barter, manipulation, and even theft. To reveal this strain, I usually begin by asking student whether they think they would be passive or active if they were taken hostage [. . . .] Then I complicate matters and move beyond easy polarization by referring to recent scholarship on Rowlandson that examines her 'liminal' state between two cultures and the difficulty she had when released in reintegrating and revalidating herself within the dominant white culture (Burnham; Toulouse)" ((Derounian-Stodola 249)

 © 2009 David Bordelon