Early American Literature and Portrayal of Hardships
A Spell of Plague
Every person has gone through an assortment of obstacles in their lives. Whether the challenges were good or bad, they have ultimately shaped the person afterwards. An individual becomes an individual because of the battles and hardships they have faced and persevered. Albert Camus once said “one way of making people hang together is to give ‘em a spell of plague” (Camus 196). Authors in early American literature use hardship to forge an understanding of the character. It is important to take the reader through the experiences of the character so they understand the ultimate goal of what adversity does to a person. From the hardships of slavery, kidnapping, illness and the experiences of a new life in a new country, each of these things has created a character stronger and better through their times of destitution. While some authors attempt to show character flaws through hardship, they use the theme of hardship to forge individuality and growth within a community with the thought it will create a stronger, and better individual that shows a sense of morality.
Character is formed through ones experience. The intent of most authors is to show the change of the character after they have gone through some form of adversity. In the case of Mary Rowlandson she was kidnapped by American Indians for six weeks, this experience shapes her and gives her a closer relationship to what is important to her in her life. Rowlandson in A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration gives her self a closer relationship to god. Rowlandson’s narrative is a first hand account. While she was always a Christian woman she now has forged a greater sense of community towards the Christian faith. Rowlandson shows a revelation from the beginning of her narrative to the end. In the beginning when she is first kidnapped she expresses regret of not honoring god in the way she feels she should have “The next day was the Sabbath. I then remember how careless I had been of God’s holy time […] how evilly I had walked in god’s sight […] that it was easy for me to see how righteous it was with god to cut off the thread of my life and cast me out of His presence forever. Yet the Lord still showed me mercy” (Rowlandson 139)....