Mary's Master

The primary story in Mary's Master centers upon the captivity of one of the English women during that war, Mary Rowlandson. Her narrative is considered to be the most widely read American captivity story ever written. The accounts of other English captives reveal behavior by the natives that shows humanity in great contrast with the savagery attributed to them by most contemporary writers. Mary Rowlandson's "master" is, Quanopin, a Narragansett sachem whom Mary admires despite all the anti-Indian rhetoric she has been exposed to by others. While their time together is brief, it is exceptional because she expresses an admiration for him not conveyed toward any other Indian, which was unusual for those times and still is today.