Perspective

"Colonial American Travel Narratives" is a collection of four narratives written at different times in history. Each of the authors presents an independent perspective. The first narrative, written by Mary Rowlandson, tells the story of her captivity for eleven weeks among the Native Americans who were hostile toward the English colonists. Written after her rescue, Rowlandson presents a religious interpretation of her ordeal, framing the events in terms of God's will. She writes that she feels she was put through the crisis to provide an example to others that God will preserve the faithful. Rowlandson travels unwillingly, and she is suspicious and fearful of her captors. Her perspective in describing them afterwards is critical and hostile.

The second narrative presented is by Sarah Kemble Knight. Knight is a businesswoman and teacher traveling from Boston to New Haven, Connecticut, to help a relative with some business affairs. She is...