The Jeremiad has created a long-standing history for itself in American literature, largely because of America’s Puritanical roots. The “American Jeremiad” was essentially invented by the Puritans to foster social harmony and preserve their lives in the foreign, dangerous New World.
John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity” may be the first example of the “American Jeremiad”, and even if it is not the first, it is clearly the standard for them. His jeremiad can be broken into three components that are common to all Jeremiads: an establishment of a biblical or moral standard for the public, an outline of the ways in which a group of people have fallen below this standard, and an envisioning of an ideal return to that standard.
Rowlandson’s Narrative as a Jeremiad
Mary Rowlandson’s A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson contains these three components, but Rowlandson subtly works the Jeremiad into an autobiographical captivity narrative, which makes it much more persuasive than the typical, abrasive Jeremiads. Moreover, Rowlandson is able to transform her captivity narrative into a subtle Jeremiad by employing Biblical typology, paralleling her struggles with those of men and women from the Bible.
Rowlandson opens her Narrative with a gruesome description of the Narragansett invasion of Lancaster. Rowlandson is astounded that God allows such ruin and evil to be wrought upon her community, but she realizes that her community must have failed God. Because of her Puritanical upbringing, she believes that God punishes sinners with the purpose of teaching them something. For example, in the third remove she laments her prior ingratitude and irreverence, “I then remembered how careless I had been of God’s holy time; how many Sabbaths I had lost and misspent, and how evilly I had walked in God’s sight.”
She also believes that her suffering serves a purpose. She remarks, “It is not my tongue, or pen, can express the sorrows of my heart, and bitterness of my spirit that I had at this departure: but God was with me in a wonderful manner, carrying me along, and bearing up my spirit, that it did not quite fail.”
She feels the sorrows she has endured have brought her closer to God. This idea is furthered when she states, “He wounded me with one hand, so He healed me with the other,” as if God is experimenting with Rowlandson’s faith. These thoughts continue to resurface in Rowlandson’s mind throughout her Narrative and illustrate how the autobiographical perspective allows her to infuse components of the Jeremiad.
However, the resonance of the Jeremiad to Rowlandson’s Puritan audience and audiences of generations to follow is expressed most strongly in her use of biblical typology. Rowlandson scarcely goes a remove without incorporating some biblical allusion or scriptural citation. Rowlandson has trouble rationalizing the situation in which she has been thrust in until she is given a Bible by one of her Indian captors, which highlights the importance of Biblical typology not only to the narrative but also to Rowlandson.
After receiving her Bible, every remove is saturated with Rowlandson fastidiously connecting the events of her captivity and travels with the Indians to scripture or biblical stories. Moreover, these allusion and citations usually carry a moral and spiritual lesson or connection that Rowlandson has learned and wishes the audience to learn too.
For instance, during the fifth remove she describes how she feels that her safe and dry passing over a river with the Indians as a sign of God’s favor for her. She legitimizes her claim to the audience by citing scripture: “When thou passeth through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee.” Later in her narrative, Rowlandson likens her survival of captivity with the Indians to the prophet Daniel’s survival after being thrust into a lion’s den and Shadrach’s, Meshach’s, and Abednego’s survival after being thrown in a fiery furnace for refusing to commit idolatry. Rowlandson relates these biblical stories to illustrate that she has won God’s favor back and others can to by dedicating themselves to God.
Conclusion
Rowlandson’s own experiences in captivity serve as the components of the jeremiad. In her eyes, she has fallen below the standard she feels God desires her to adhere to, which she perceives as divine justification for her captivity. The captivity itself is her fall from God’s grace, and she realizes how she failed God through her captivity. After this realization, she resolves to return to God’s favor. Her success is realized when she is safely returned to her husband and her Puritan community; furthermore, other captive members of her family are returned to her as well. Rowlandson, recognizing this pattern in her experiences and extends the message of her story from purely personal to one important to all Christians on a spiritual and moral journey.
Sources
- Rowlandson, Mary. A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Wayne Franklin, Philip F. Gura, Arnold Krupat. New York: Norton & Company, 2007. 236-67.
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