The Threatening Landscape
The threatening wilderness through which Rowlandson moves
characterizes the dangers and threats of the New World as a whole.
Rowlandson’s journey begins with an uphill trek, which suggests the
difficulties to come. From the summit, Rowlandson gets the last glimpse of
civilization she’ll have for some time. The next day, the travelers set off
down a steep hill, and Rowlandson and her daughter tumble off their horse:
their descent into the hell of the wilderness has begun. The landscape grows
increasingly bleak, and Rowlandson crosses desolate swamps, dark thickets,
and icy streams. As she travels, Rowlandson sees farmlands gone to
waste and slaughtered farm animals, and she fears the triumph
of the Indians and the dark, unknown wilderness over the order and reason of
civilization.
Christian Imagery and the Bible
Rowlandson frequently quotes the Bible and alludes to biblical tales,
which emphasizes her own faith, her own knowledge of the scriptures, and
their centrality in her life. She also uses the Bible to reinforce her
descriptions of a world of dichotomies: punishment and retribution, darkness
and light, and evil and good. By casting the Indians as children of the
devil, Rowlandson depicts them as a large, permanent enemy. That is, the
Indians are not just the enemy of the colonists in this war, in a specific
time and a place, but rather represent the enemies of Christianity,
goodness, and light throughout all time. By alluding to the Bible so
frequently, Rowlandson turns her own story into an epic and allegorical tale
that is broader than the story of one woman’s captivity.
