A Contrast Between the Puritan and Indian Cultures in Mary Rowlandson Writings

Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan minister's wife, was captured during the war in an Indian raid on Lancaster, Massachusetts. She was held captive by a leading Indian family for eleven weeks, before being returned to her husband. In the book Rowlandson later wrote about her experiences, she describes traveling from one "remove" to another with her Indian masters, experiencing the difficulties of hard work and the cold outdoors. She continuously quotes Scripture- she found it to be a source of strength and guidance for her in her time of trouble.

One interesting contrast between the Puritan and Indian cultures can be seen in Mrs. Rowlandson's view of her male master Quanopin's wife, named Wetamo. Wetamo was a "squaw sachem"- a woman who led the Wampanoag village of Pocasset. Wetamo had allied herself with King Philip (Metacom) early in the war, and despite the tradition of wifely obedience to one's husband was, on her own initiative, one of the key leaders during the conflict.

Mary Rowlandson, however, never recognized Wetamo's independent authority, which caused conflict between the two throughout her captivity. Wetamo took her anger at Indian war losses out on her slaves, of whom Mary was one. She would do such things as throw away Mary's Bible (her one great comfort), arbitrarily deny her food, and force her to do difficult work- or, at least, work not expected of a New England Puritan wife. Rowlandson called Wetamo "a severe and proud Dame"1, viewing her authoritative stance as vain and insolent.2 As par!

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At of a more patriarchal society, Mrs. Rowlandson found it difficult to understand Wetamo's behavior as other than just a woman being excessively assertive. Wetamo, however, was acting out a role which was acceptable in her own culture. It is also of interest to note that, as a minister's wife, Mary Rowlandson was a high-status individual in her own Puritan society. Yet she would have no chance to have the kind of power which Wetamo possessed.

In Rowlandson's writing, it becomes apparent that New England Puritan women were used to a less strenuous lifestyle, one with greater "creature-comforts", in comparison to how the Indians lived. She remarks on the distaste she has for their food, calling it "filthy trash".3 She also seems surprised at how tough the Indian women must be, because they are able to cross a river, carrying everything they own, unaided.

In contrast, at one point Rowlandson complains about how the load she is given is too heavy for her to carry- in response to her gripe, Wetamo slaps her and tells her to go on.5 When she is asked to work on the Sabbath day, Rowlandson refuses at first- in the Puritan culture it was not permitted to work on the Sabbath, for religious reasons. But she is threatened with bodily harm, and forced to work.6 All of these incidents show how Indian people, and particularly women, were expected to do more physical labor and be hardier than their Puritan counterparts.!

And as the case of Wetamo shows, at least some positions of higher power were available to the Indian women, avenues that were not open to Puritan women.

Rowlandson's narrative, the last and most famous one concerning King Philip's War to be published, helped create an archetype of American literature, the "captivity account". As the female victim of male savagery, her tale can represent a rallying point for the English victors in the conflict. This text provided solid evidence for what they saw as the innate depravity and barbarism of the defeated Indians. For if they treated Mrs. Rowlandson so poorly, and allowed a woman such as Wetamo to hold power, how civilized could they be?

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