Puritan Reflections

Despite Mary Rowlandson and Anne Bradstreet not being typical writers of their time period, being women, their writings are still very typical of a Puritan of that time. Puritan writing often included interpretations of events such as works of God. It also had an unadorned writing style. Their writing also was about true events. Also, despite the plainness of the style, these women are still able to make their writings sort of touching.

When Mary Rowlandson talks about the small good things that came her way while she was a captive, she always credits God for them. For instance, when she recalls how her youngest child died and she was forced to spend the night beside it, she writes "I have thought since of the wonderful goodness of God to me, preserving me so in the use of my reason and senses in that distressed time" (Rowlandson 83). Even though something horrible had happened she still thanks God for that one small blessing. When Anne Bradstreet reflects on how her house was destroyed, she rebukes herself with the thought that God had given all of that to her, and it was his right to take it away if he wished (Bradstreet 16-19). Both women see events as acts of God, and because they are works of God the women always look to the bright side. After all, God only does things for the good of his people. Even though the writings are about sad things, they still seem to be slightly optimistic.

Reading through the two story, I do not believe that I read a single simile or metaphor. Even in descriptions that could use that kind of detail, like when Mary describes how much she worried about her children, the language is simple and to the point (Rowlandson 84-85). In Anne's work, the amount of flouring language is about the same. The closest she even comes to that kind of description is when she writes about all of the things that will never happen again in her house (Bradstreet 29-34). Even without all of the long descriptions that I am accustomed to, both works still make me upset because of the topic that they are about. The way the things are written makes me feel like all of the fancy words and long expressions would get in the way of the feelings behind the words. Puritans seem to get by just fine without using similes.

It seems to me that Puritans wrote about the things that happened in their lives because they believed those things were the real workings of God. That may have made them more special to the Puritans, thus inspiring them to write about them. Both Mary Rowlandson and Anne Bradstreet wrote about actual events in their lives instead of things they had imagined. because the things they wrote about were true, even though the language was plain they were still able to get across the way they felt about what happened very clearly. Because of this, I really liked reading these stories.

Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning of Our House." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.