Puritan Writing

I have just read the story "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." I found this story kind of confusing and I didn't really know what was going on. For one thing I never knew where she was, she said she was trying to travel back home but I don't know where she was when the story started and why she had to go there. I also did not know who she was traveling along with. So since I did not know these facts I thought it was hard to follow and made it harder to fully understand what was going on to Mary Rowlandson. But, the Puritan writing style is very much seen in this story. One thing that was shown was that Mary never used any figures of speech. She described situations exactly as they were and never made any comparison using metaphors or similes. She was very straight to the point throughout the whole story. Which, is a lot different than writing styles are now. So I think that also may have made it harder to read. Another Puritan writing style that was shown was mentioning God throughout the story. She thanked God for helping her out through her struggle and she kept mentioning how great he was. She said God protected her and he watched over her so everyone was nice and respected her. She firmly believed that was why she came across nice people on her journey. I disagree with this thought though, I think it was just luck she was with nice people the whole time. She also put bible passages in the story which is also a Puritan style, mentioning God. "Cast they burnden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee." Psal. lv. 22 and "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." Exod. xiv. 13. These two bible quotes were mentioned in the story.
"Upon the Burning of our house" was written in a really negative way. She thought differently than Mary Rownlandson. Mary thought positive in her bad experiences and was thankful God was with her and she met nice people. But, Anne Bradstreet focused on the negative. She only spoke about losing everything she owned in a fire. She never mentioned that she was thankful to God but she seemed almost like she was mad at God. But, she asked God to be with her and help her through what she was going through. "And to my God my heart did cry to strengthen me and my distress and not to leave me succorless." (Bradstreet 91) So they both had different attitudes towards God. Mary was thankful and Anne was asking for help but they both involved him in their lives and in the troubles they were going through. This had to do with the Puritan writing of style. God and religion were a big part of the Puritan's lifestyle so it was found in these writings. I bet God was mentioned in almost all of the Puritan's writing. Bradstreet was also very straight forward with what she was saying but she was poetic about it. But, basically all she told us was that there was a big fire and she lost all of her things. Neither one of the writers got into too much detail with their stories. But, the Puritan style of writing was shown in these writing and it was very easy to recognize it.

Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning of Our House." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm, Ph D. American ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Co, 2009. 91. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm, Ph D. American ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Co, 2009. 82-85. Print.