What is considered bad for someone may be good for another. The definition of what is bad is about that person’s views on life, which leads me to conclude that one’s definition of what is good or bad is subjective, and this is why there is a plethora amount of controversy in the question: Are people essentially good? In the story “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” by Mary Rowlandson, she mentions how she believes that people are born evil and need to repel for their sins by believing and following God.
Mary Rowlandson is an orthodox Puritan that has been raised to believe that any other type of religion is wrong. Since the narrative is written in her point of view, Indians are seen as uncivilized savages that worship Satan, “Oh the roaring, and singing and dancing, and yelling of those black creatures in the night, which made the place a lively resemblance of hell”
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Mary states how much fear and hatred she has towards the Indians by comparing the Indians to the color black as the darkness of the night. Nighttime is mostly linked to fear. In this situation Mary fears the Indians because they don’t practice the same religion she does; this makes them not even worthy of being referred to as people but dark creatures. In her eyes, the Indians proceed to act like savages by doing activities such as singing and dancing, that makes her feel that the environment she is surrounded by is the burning hell. Mary continues to mention how people are born evil and can only turn good by believing in God. Christians are the only good and worthy people in the world, “It is a solemn sight to see so many Christians lying in their blood, some here, and some there, like a company of sheep torn by wolves, all of them stripped naked by a company of hell-hounds” (142). Mary justifies that the only reason why this violent act is wrong is because the people that are being killed are Christians. The author uses a simile to compare the
On February 10, 1675, Mary Rowland was captured in Lancaster, Massachusetts. While being held captive, she narrated her experiences and tried to affirm her Puritan beliefs throughout her survival of being in captivity. She’d rather go with the “ravenous Beasts” than die because she wanted to “declare” of what was happening to her throughout her journey (70). Mary Rowlandson believed God was omniscient, forgiving, and omnipotent and it shaped her perception of the world in an affirmative way throughout all the chaos and suffering.
In the times of colonies when land was untouched there was a distinct hatred between the native Indians and the new colonists. As one reads the essay: A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, written by Mary Rowlandson in 1682, one will understand this hatred. Although the Indians captured Mary Rowlandson, with the faith of God she was safely returned. The reader learns of her religious messages and how she turns to God for safety and strong will. One sees how her Puritan beliefs are of the strong New England Puritans way of life. The reader also understands through her words how she views the Indians and their way of life.
Rowlandson’s journey was uncommon among Puritans of the time. She saw a more humane side of the savage, evil Indians that most Puritans did not or refused to see. Although she attributed their compassionate and humane behavior to god, she did acknowledge it, which was a first among Puritans. Though she may not have done it intentionally, Mary Rowlandson became one of the first Puritans to treat the Indians like human beings in their writing.
Mary Rowlandson was captive under King Phillips’s wife’s sister, and varying other Algonquian masters from February 20, 1676 through May 2, 1676. She recorded her narrative “as the war was slipping away from the Indians” (Calloway 93) and published it with popular acclaim. In the context of this tumultuous time, “it would be a grave mistake to ignore the clear indications that this narrative was intended primarily as a record of the author’s spiritual practices and to assume a specific existential and moral stance in the world” (Ebersole 20). Rowlandson’s intentions for the narrative no doubt “served religious and political aim...
God displays his protective powers in various ways. She is shown to be in despair numerous times. So many things happen that keep chipping away at her spirit. The Indians come and ransack the town, basically burning it to the ground. She is separated from all of her children except for one and even in that moment, her daughter dies in her arms after being wounded by a gunshot. Rowlandson herself is injured and is forced to keep travelling despite her conditions. Chaos seems to surround her at every angle. She is initially given a very miniscule amount of water to sustain her on the trip along with some nuts and crumbs. Rowlandson states that “… still the Lord still upheld me...” and also that “he hurt me one hand, and proceeded to heal me with the other”. She believes that due to her people being unfaithful, the Lord is now punishing them so that they can repent. But her being puritan and a chosen one, instead of being killed off, she is preserved and is allowed to get back in God’s good standing. At one point she even thinks of attempting suicide and ending all the misery but she states that thanks to God, she came back her senses and reason to know that she couldn’t go through with such an act. God was using the Indians as agents to punish the Puritans and in doing so, whenever the opportunity for freedom arrived and for some reason the opportunity was not seen
"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways." (Buddha) Is man basically good or is man basically evil? In the popular novel, Lord of the Flies, William Goldings shows that man is basically evil, but that man can overcome those instincts if he tries. Simon, Ralph, and Piggy are prime examples of keeping their good character. In each of them there is a desire to do good. They show throughout the novel that it is possible, even when surrounded by evil, to put aside desires and keep good morals.
Young Mary headed into the Residential School full of faith and ambition to devote herself to God’s true beliefs. She taught the Native children religion and music in class, which they all seemed to greatly enjoy. Although, it did not make up for all
In summary, what Mary Rowlandson understands about the Native Americans changes greatly during her confinement. This change in her day-to-day life enables her to live among a Native American tribe while still being a faithful Puritan. The change in her viewpoint gives her not only an understanding of the Native culture, but also her own as well. Although it was never written that her role in the Plymouth colony changed after her return, one could speculate that she may have at least questioned her own beliefs and questioned what God may truly be looking for in a Puritan.
I believe that humans are generally good. I believe inheritance and the environment play a role in the “bad” decisions one chooses to make. I think humans are flawed but if they accept God as their creator and worship him,
In the beginning of the narrative, Mary Rowlandson describes the manner in which the Indians invade her home, kill many of her friends, and drag her away from her husband and two children. She watches as the “murderous Wretches [burn] and [destroy]” her home before her eyes. It is the “dolefullest day that [her] eyes have ever [seen].” At this point in time, Mary has no knowledge of the Indian lifestyle, or even of their motive for ravaging the land of the colonists. She sees them merely as merciless heathens who come from Satan. Mary writes that before the incident, she said that if “the Indians should come, [she] should choose rather to be killed by them then [be] taken alive,”(124) but when that choice actually comes to her, she chooses to go with them, despite her unwillingness. At this point, she puts her life into the Indians’ hands. Once they leave the town, Mary and the Indians begin a series of “removes,” or moves to different areas of the New England wilderness. Mary describes the celebration rituals of the Indians, where they dance and chant, and “[make] the place a lively resemblance of hell!” Their unchristian lifestyle...
The lines that define good and evil are not written in black and white; these lines tend to blur into many shades of grey allowing good and evil to intermingle with each another in a single human being. Man is not inherently good or evil but they are born innocent without any values or sense of morality until people impart their philosophies of life to them. In the words of John Locke:
All the records about the American captivity indicate and give suggestions about what the captives felt towards the Native Americans. To begin, Mary Rowlandson encounter with the Native Americans was not negative who burned her village and captured the villagers when they attacked her village. She was among those who were caught. Mary being one of them took some of the villagers. Mary often tells mistreatment that her fellow captives were subjected, and some of them killed while being mangled and slain by the natives. She wrote that seeing many Christians lying here and there like a sheep company torn by wolves (Rowlandson 14). She quite often referred to their captors as savage and inhuman, and therefore
Mary Rowlandson was a pretentious, bold and pious character. Her narrative did not make me feel sorry for her at all, which is strange since she really did go through a lot. During the war, the Narragansett Indians attacked Lancaster Massachusetts, and burned and pillaged the whole village. During the siege Mary and her six year old child were shot, she watched her sister and most of her village either burn or get shot. She was kept as a captive, along with her three children and taken with the Narragansett’s on their long retreat. The exposition of the story is set immediately. The reader is perfectly aware of Missus Rowlandson’s status and religious beliefs. She constantly refers to the Narragansetts in an incredibly condescending way, to the point that you know that she does not even consider them human. She paints them as purely evil pe...
The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson is a personal account, written by Mary Rowlandson in 1682, of what life in captivity was like. Her narrative of her captivity by Indians became popular in both American and English literature. Mary Rowlandson basically lost everything by an Indian attack on her town Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1675; where she is then held prisoner and spends eleven weeks with the Wampanoag Indians as they travel to safety. What made this piece so popular in both England and America was not only because of the great narrative skill used be Mary Rowlandson, but also the intriguing personality shown by the complicated character who has a struggle in recognizing her identity. The reoccurring idea of food and the word remove, used as metaphors throughout the narrative, could be observed to lead to Mary Rowlandson’s repression of anger, depression, and realization of change throughout her journey and more so at the end of it.
...ly or mentally, a conscious effort to injure others that is no obvious benefit to the human race is not good. I believe that people try to do good most of the time. For example, the person had a motorcycle accident. He hated by a car on the local road and stocked under the car. The car was flamed. This news is from the yesterday of FOX25. When I saw many people stopped and together to get the car off the person and being without thinking about the flames, I am so grateful. The man was saved and no life injury and the story have a good ending. Accordingly, people are innately good. I think I am actually a good person. I like to open doors, push in chairs, listen to people, and help little kids. No meter outside the world how changed it doesn’t influence my good personality at all. I agree Carl Rogers’s theory people should be capable of becoming conscious good.