Puritan Discourse and Indian Voice in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century North American Captivity Narratives
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UNIVERSITÉ DE HAUTE-ALSACE Faculté des Lettres, Langues et Sciences Humaines Ecole doctorale des Humanités (ED 520) Institut de Recherche en Langues et Littératures Européennes (ILLE – EA 4363) Thèse de Doctorat en Langue et Littérature Anglaises Puritan Discourse and Indian Voice in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century North American Captivity Narratives Thèse présentée et soutenue en public le 12 avril 2013 par Dahia MESSARA Sous la direction du Professeur Sämi LUDWIG MEMBRES DU JURY M. Sämi Ludwig, Professeur à l’ Université de Haute Alsace, Mulhouse Mme Ada Savin, Professeur à l’Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en- Yvelines Mme Paule Levy, Professeur à l’Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en- Yvelines M. Walter Hoelbling, Professeur à Karl-Franzens-Universität, Graz M. Michel Faure, Professeur à l’Université de Haute Alsace, Mulhouse Contents CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................................2 ILLUSTRATIONS...........................................................................................................................4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...............................................................................................................5 COMMENT ON TERMINOLOGY ...................................................................................................7 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................9 FRENCH SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................10 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................32 1. CONTEXTUALIZATION OF 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES ....................49 1.1. 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY COLONIAL AMERICA .............................................. 50 1.1.1. William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation ................................................ 55 1.1.2. Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation Versus Winthrop’s Journal ................ 67 1.2. COLONIAL LITERATURE EXCLUSIVELY DEVOTED TO THE INDIANS ................ 69 1.2.1. John Eliot’s New England’s First Fruits ........................................................ 69 1.2.2. Williams’s Key into the Language of America ...............................................75 1.2.3. Puritan Dissenters and Their Portrayal of the Indians ............................... 85 1.2.3.1. Roger Williams versus Thomas Morton ............................................................. 87 1.2.3.2. Anne Hutchinson: Female Dissenter, on Friendly Terms with the Narragansett Indians, a Victim of the Siwanon Indians ......................................................94 1.3. LATER GENERATION PURITAN INTELLECTUALS .......................................... 105 1.3.1. The Mathers.................................................................................................... 105 1.3.1.1. Cotton Mather’s View of the Indians .................................................................... 108 1.3.1.2. Increase and Cotton Mather’s Contribution to the Captivity Narrative Genre 112 1.4. THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY LITERARY AUDIENCE..................................... 122 1.4.1. Literacy and the Book Market in Colonial America ...................................122 1.4.2. Captivity Narratives in New England Book Market ................................. 126 1.4.2.1. Captivity Narratives and the Young Audience ........................................... 144 1.4.2.2. The Indoctrination of Children ......................................................................... 146 1.4.2.3. Children’s Initiation to Captivity Narratives .................................................... 149 1.4.2.4. The Didactic Role of Captivity Narratives ........................................................ 153 2. AUTHORITY, AUTHORSHIP, AND AUTHENTICITY IN CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES .................. 162 2.1. CAPTIVITY NARRATIVE AS AUTO/BIOGRAPHICAL GENRE ............................ 163 2.2. THE GENDER ISSUE IN CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES ......................................... 168 2 2.2.1. Puritan Patriarchal Conceptions ................................................................. 168 2.2.2. The Male Authority Behind the Narrative Voice ......................................... 175 2.3. POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS—THE RISE OF ANTI-CATHOLIC SENTIMENT ....................................................................................................... 184 2.3.1. Female Narrative Subject to Anti-Catholic Propaganda .......................... 184 2.3.2. Men’s Captivity Narratives—The Rise of Secular Issues ........................... 192 2.4. AUTHENTICITY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SUBJECTIVITY .............................. 206 2.4.1. Presupposition and Propaganda ................................................................. 207 2.4.2. Pathological Issues in Captivity Narrative—Trauma and Memory .........212 2.4.3. Trauma Survival............................................................................................ 224 3. INDIAN AGENCY IN CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES ................................................................... 241 3.1. DIRECT DESCRIPTIONS OF THE INDIANS IN PURITAN CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES 244 3.1.1. John Gyles’s Captivity Narrative ................................................................. 244 3.1.2. Rowlandson’s Captivity Narrative ............................................................. 248 3.2. NARRATIVE INCONSISTENCIES IN CAPTIVITY NARRATIVE............................ 251 3.2.1. Reported Speech in Rowlandson’s Narrative ............................................. 254 3.2.2. Omissions in Rowlandson’s Narrative ........................................................ 258 3.3. THE TABOO: SEXUALITY IN EARLY NEW ENGLAND .................................... 262 3.3.1. Early Representation of Sexuality in Colonial Writings ........................... 262 3.3.2. The New England Puritans’ Conception of Sexuality ................................. 271 3.3.3. Sexuality in Puritan Captivity Narratives .................................................. 274 3.4. MORE SILENCED ISSUES IN CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES ...................................279 3.4.1. Going Native .................................................................................................. 279 3.4.2. Historical Reality of White Indians in America ......................................... 284 3.4.3. The Embarrassing Story of Eunice Williams ............................................. 292 3.4.4. The Indian Praising of Silence and the Language Barrier ....................... 301 3.5. INDIAN VOICE AND REPORTED SPEECH ...................................................... 307 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................... 317 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 326 3 Illustrations Illustration 1. Captain John Smith’s map of New England……………………………………59 Illustration 2. The First Massachusetts seal………………………………………………………..64 Illustration 3. Title page of the London edition of Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative…………………………………………………………………………………….133 Illustration 4. Title page of the 1770 edition of Rowlandson’s captivity narrative…..136 Illustration 5. Title page of the 1173 edition of Rowlandson’s narrative………………..137 Illustration 6. The New England Primer…………………………………………………………. 148 Illustration 7. Title page to A Token for Children……………………………………………..…150 4 Acknowledgements The completion of this study marks the end of an extraordinary journey full of intellectual, professional and personal experiences, yet not without difficulties and obstacles. I have managed to overcome these challenges thanks to the wonderful support of some most precious and appreciative helpers: fellow academics, friends and family members alike. First of all, I want to most warmly thank my supervisor, Professor Sämi Ludwig, for accepting to supervise this work and for his corrections and advice, from which I have learned a great deal. I am grateful for his support and remarkable patience in accompanying my progress throughout the writing of this thesis and for his help in reaching out to the community of scholars. This has made it possible for me to attend several programs and seminars in my field. I would like to thank Professors Ada Savin, Paule Levy, Walter Hoelbling, for accepting to sit on this Committee and taking the time and energy to read my work. I am looking forward to benefiting from their criticism, remarks and questions. I would also like to use this opportunity to thank greatly Professor Michel Faure, the Deputy Head of the Ecole Doctorale Humanité, Dr. Yann Kerdiles, the Dean of the Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines, as well as the whole English department faculty. They welcomed me as a third-year student at the English department, provided me with all the academic and administrative support I needed to adapt to a new country and academic environment, and more recently welcomed me on board and supported my fist teaching steps as an ATER in the English Department. My thanks and kind regards also go out to Dr Benjamin Mark Allen, a historian at South Texas College, whom I met at the Captivity Narrative Panel at the 2010 Southwest Texas Popular