Within this article, the author argues that throughout Mary Rowlandson’s captivity it is not her resilient faith that enables her to remain close to God throughout her capture, but, is instead a result of her obligation to maintain her gender identity and need to be subservient as a result of her social upbringing.

    I found that, within this article, the author drew primarily upon Rowlandson’s need to maintain her gender identity and dependence upon Puritan beliefs, but I disagree. Personally, when I read Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, I did not see Rowlandson always attempting to maintain her female identity or her Puritan lifestyle. On the contrary, I thought that Rowlandson broke from both when, in her narrative, she took food from an infant and ate it herself. This is a clear example of a Puritan woman breaking from motherly instinct and her religion in order to satisfy herself. Rowlandson’s ability to separate herself from her gender identity and religion demonstrate the ability of American women to break from the expectations impressed upon them in order to get what they want.

    This article, also used in reference to Mary Rowlandson, explores the details of Rowlandson’s life during her captivity through exploring her writing. While digging into Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, the article provides a perspective of how Rowlandson viewed the “savages” around her, her struggle to maintain her Puritan faith, and the manners in which Rowlandson’s writing maintains a feminine form even within such barbaric surroundings.

    I thought that this article provided a great deal of context within which I could really begin to understand how Rowlandson interpreted what was going on during her captivity. From this article, the author discusses how, during her captivity, Rowlandson was actually a slave of Weetamoo, one of the most powerful North American Indian women of the Colonial era, which I found to be very ironic since, within her narrative, Rowlandson refers to Weetamoo as her mistress. This article provides insight into the initial tears from social, and religious, norms that American women felt through the complete role reversal experienced by Mary Rowlandson.

    Within this image, the viewer see’s Phillis Wheatley seated at a wooden desk, pen in hand, contemplating what poem to grace society with next. Yet, when looking further into the context of the photo, you would never guess that the woman pictured here was a slave unless you were looking at this image during the time in which it was painted. Wheatley is depicted here as an elegant, intelligent women, something also conveyed within her poetry. Her clothes are clean and tidy, demonstrating how greatly she values the way in which she projects herself to society. Also, by having herself painted with a pen and paper, Wheatley is conveying that she is an educated black women, something unheard of during her time and by showing herself as such, Wheatley is subtly demanding equality for herself within American society.

    Here, the author is making that argument that Wheatley’s ability to become well-educated and a published writer occurred only because influential, white Americans chose to make it happen. Wheatley, an indentured slave, was educated and financially supported by Boston’s social elites who eventually paid for Phillis to travel to Great Britain. Wheatley’s traveling to Britain at this time was highly unusual for an African American slave women to do to say the least. Yet, the author argues that it is because of this trip that Wheatley was able to acquire such notoriety throughout America.

    Phillis Wheatley’s growth from an African slave to an educated woman provides a superb example of how far women have come due to their writings. Wheatley exemplifies the fact that any individual, regardless of race or ethnicity, is capable of becoming educated, something that was not a shared viewpoint throughout American society during this time.

In the image to the right, Anne Bradstreet is seated, her body almost entirely covered in clothes, holding a single pale pink flower. The viewer sees a seemingly religious women, starring deeply into the painter's eyes and conveying no sense of happiness whatsoever. Contrary to this image, Anne Bradstreet was, indeed, a happy woman. She was married to a man she truly loved, had children that she cared for deeply, and sought to define herself as a writer. Although Bradstreet is heavily clothed here, I believe that it was more so the social fashion etiquette of the time that played a major role in determining what she wore, not her religious devotion.

    As the title of this article might suggest, the author is discussing the attributes which made Anne Bradstreet a controversial and rebellious woman of her time. For the author, proof of Bradstreet’s rebellious side and frank manors of expressing herself are clearly visible through her actions in comparison to what was customary at the time, her poetry, and her personal diary entries. During the time in which Bradstreet wrote her poetry, women were not considered intellectually equal to the men around them, therefore Bradstreet calling herself a poet was a highly controversial thing to do. Also, the author discusses how, within her poetry, Bradstreet made allusions to her sometimes lacking faith in God, as well as, the possibility of an eternal life after death. Within one of Bradstreet’s diary entries she writes, “Many times hath Satan troubled me concerning the verity of the scriptures, many times by Atheisme how could I know whether there was a God; I never saw any miracles to confirm me, and those which I read of how did I know but they were feigned.” In including this journal entry, the author is demonstrating Bradstreet’s frank manner of expressing herself, as well as, how she often breaks from majority female Puritan belief system.

    Personally, I found this article to coincide greatly with what I’ve learned about Anne Bradstreet throughout our English course. Although, until reading this article, I did not understand how greatly Bradstreet questioned God or the possibility of an afterlife. Through this article, Bradstreet demonstrates her desire to break from Puritan social norms and pave a new path for women within a society where they are considered the equivalents of men, capable of speaking freely, and allowed to question their religion.