From the earliest European settlements, Native Americans and European colonists have been in conflict. Raids, attacks, and wars were commonplace in colonial life. In New England, decades of conflict between these groups led to King Philips War which left thousands dead. During the war, one colonists, Mary Rowlandson, was taken captive by Native Americans. She late wrote her account of her captivity in the work A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, which became one of Americas first bestsellers and highlighted the captivity narrative genre in American literature. After reading A Narrative of Captivity, you will write a 3-4 page paper describing its contents and significance. In your paper, you will need to do the following: What is Mary Rowlandsons story? What does it tell us about the conflict between English colonists and Native Americans? What does her account tell us about colonial views about Native Americans? How does she portray them? How does she portray the colonists? What role does religion play in her narrative? What does this tell us about colonial New England society? How can historians use a source like this? What problems might a historian have using this source? Formatting: Papers must be typed and double-spaced. The papers should be formatted with 1 inch margins on all sides and be written in a standard font, like Arial or Times New Roman, in size 12 font. No cover page is required. An example will be available on Canvas. Citations: When quoting or paraphrasing from, use parenthetical citations (Author, Page #). The authors name is only needed for the first citation, subsequent citations will just require the page. A Works Cited page is not required, however if you use an edition other than the Gutenberg edition, then provide the edition used.
