Captivity of Mary Rowlandson and the Relation

Both of these writers encounter and more importantly, live amongst the Native people of the Americas as captives at one point of their lives. However, each experience different situations and go about representing those situations in their writing in two completely dissimilar narratives. Each of them enter into captivity with distinctive roles-?Rowland as a Puritanical mother and Caber De Vacate as a Spanish Imperial explorer. Railroading’s overall tone in her narrative can be described as edifying in the sense that A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs..
Mary Rowland can be used as a example for readers, especially in her overall belief in God. She says, m{et the Lord still showed mercy to me, and upheld me; and as He wounded me with one hand, so he healed me with another (Bam and Levine 261). ” Rowland demonstrates the recurring theme of the centrality of God and HIS will In this one sentence which could possibly be used to correspond to the entirety of her captivity. Notice her use of a dichotomy in the sentence. She is “wounded. ” But then, she is “healed. ” With what?
With God’s Hand. This exhibits Railroading’s belief that God Lana everything: good and bad. It can also be concluded that Railroading’s narrative shows the more generalized view of the Puritan beliefs. Also, note Railroading’s tone in this passage of the narrative that can be associated to the good and bad that God plans. ‘Wounded” carries a more despaired tone while “healed” holds a more hopeful tone-?the hope In God that He will carry her out of her despair. Rowland continuously revisits the idea of God’s centrality in her whole narrative.

She says: I have thought since of the wonderful goodness of God to me in reserving me in the use of my reason and senses in that distressed time, that I did not wicked and violent means to end my own miserable life… When I came I asked them what they had done with It; then they told me It was upon the hill. Then they went and showed me where It was, where I saw the ground was newly digger, and there they told me they had buried it. There I left that child in the wilderness, and must commit it, and myself also in this wilderness condition, to Him who is above all.
God having taken away this dear child… (Nina and Levine 261-262). As a Christian and other, this must have affected Rowland severely. The thought of her dead baby being buried by soulless savages without any proper Christian funeral rites probably outraged her, but nonetheless, she refuses to end her “miserable life” and quickly punishment from God, but also notes that through and after captivity, God saved her. Alva Ounce Caber De Visa’s account of his captivity with the Karakas Indians and several other Indian tribes also has this presence of God that is explicit in Railroading’s narrative.
The Relation constantly addresses “God our Lord. ” He says in is dedication, “Although everyone wants what advantage may be gained from ambition and action, we see everywhere great inequalities of fortune, brought about not by conduct but by accident, and not through anybody fault but as the will of God (Bam and Levin 44). ” It is important to make a note of the fact that Caber De Vacate was an imperial explorer for Spain under Painful De Narrate.
The reason for his expedition in America was to claim the Florida territory for Spain, but the expedition failed greatly and led to the captivity of Caber De Vacate and three other men. Like Rowland, Caber De Vacate returns to civilization. Although he does not refer to his captivity as punishment from God, he does mention his incarceration as nobody’s “fault but as the will of God. ” It can be implied that Caber De Vacate says this to escape any actual punishment he may receive from the Spanish crown. After all, the expedition was funded with the expectation of profit I. . Gold and silver. He mentions at the end of the dedication, “l beg that it may be received as homage, since it is the most once could bring who returned thence naked (Bam and Levine 45). ” The underlying tone in this sentence is desperation-?desperation in that sense that the king accept his narrative and desperation, and even perhaps hope, that God will deliver him from any forthcoming punishment made from the king. Caber De Vacate “begs” that his account can be viewed as a gift while claiming the role of “God’s will” in his captivity.
Thus, he implies that his nakedness in both appearance and profit be seen as something God himself determined. Caber De Vacate says, “Eating the dogs seemed to give us strength enough to go forward; so commending ourselves to the audience of God our Lord, we took leave of our hosts, who pointed out the way to other nearby who spoke their language (Bam and Levine 48). ” Like Rowland who put her faith in God, Caber De Vacate, along with the other survivors, commends himself to God’s guidance. However, he actually comes to respect the Indians as he resides with them which is expressed near the end of The Relation.
He shares: To the last I could not convince the Indians that we were of the same people as the Christian Slavers… We ordered them to fear no more… After we had dismissed the Indians in ace and thanked them for their toil in our behalf… [The Christians] took us through the forests and wastes so we would not communicate with the natives and would neither see nor learn of their crafty scheme afoot. Thus we often misjudge the motives of men; we thought we had effected the Indian’s liberty, when the Christians were but poising to pounce (Bam and Levine 51).
Notice how Caber De Vacate refers to the Spanish as “the Christians. ” He does not include himself in the passage as one of the Christians probably because he has been able to tolerate and come to respect he native people. He does try to persuade the Indians that he is of the same race simply for their safety. He says: Lazar bade his interpreter tell the Indians that we were members of his race who had been long lost… The Indians paid no attention to this. Conferring to themselves, they replied that the Christian’s had lied: … E healed and lanced; we coveted nothing but gave whatever we were given, while they robbed whomever they found and bestowed nothing on anyone (Bam and Nina 50) This differs from Rowland who regularly refers to the Native Americans as savages. In Caber De Visa’s text, it is these “Christians” who appear to be the savages. The tone in this passage is almost regretful. Caber De Visa’s use of dichotomies in this passage iterates the sadness on the idea that these supposed holy men ravage on helpless, innocent Indians according to God’s will.
This is exactly the opposite in Railroading’s text where she views the native people as nothing short of barbaric like in the instance where her baby is improperly buried according to Christian guidelines. However, there are instances where Rowland comes to note the molarities between the Englishmen and the Indians. She also comes to somewhat embrace the savagery of the Indians when she eats bear’s meat and finds it “savory’ and “pleasant” rather than repulsive as Caber De Vacate does when he eats dog meat and prances around naked.