Captivity and Restoration

The captivity narrative was fascinating and horrifying at the same time. I do admire Rowlandson for remaining mentally stable throughout the death and hardship surrounding her and for her seemingly unshakable faith in the Lord. The narrative was obviously one-sided, but understandingly so. It would be difficult to see things from the eyes of the natives after witnessing deaths of loved ones, destruction of your life, and being forced into captivity at their hands. I did find it unnerving that Bradstreet, being a Christian, viewed the natives as more animals or almost demons than fellow humans; in her eyes, they were used only to purify "God's people"-the Puritans. Her attitude toward the natives and the situation was insight into the attitude of the settlers of the time. Her comparison of the Christian settlers to the Israelites and the natives to the heathen peoples of the Old Testament and her application of the Old Testament to the situation of the settlers strongly displays the idea that the Puritans were the "New Israel" and the New World was the "New Promised Land", as we experienced with Winthrop.
It was interesting to read Bradstreet and Rowlandson back-to-back, especially comparing "...Upon the Burning of Our House" to the captivity narrative. Personally, I thought Bradstreet was a little more accessible. Bradstreet's writing walked us through her thought process, showing emotional and spiritual struggle before she turned back to her faith as her foundation.  She touches her audience with her humanity. Granted, Rowlandson wasn't writing this narrative within the situation, but she doesn't show much of an internal struggle. For the number of times she compares herself to Job, she doesn't follow his process of honesty, questioning, or grieving. Everything is very logical and almost stoic. It was hard for me to read her without feeling like a little bit of a bad person; I doubt I would have accepted the situation and trusted God's work in it as easily as she presents herself as doing.