The Sovereignty and Goodness of God

A detailed Summary of The Sovereignty and Goodness of God

Personally, I would characterize the roles of women in the seventeenth century New England based on Rowlandson's narrative as sub servant to men. Men in this society were the head of their households, pillars in the community and leaders in the church. There were a few women for example, Anne Hutchinson who tried to speak out publicly. The fact that that she was a women declaring her spiritual authority in a public setting made her even more dangerous in the eyes of Massachusetts authorities. Therefore, she and her closest adherents were banished from the colony, with most, including Hutchinson herself, moving to the more tolerant Rhode Island. (Pg 9) This is an excellent example that New England women knew their role and violation of their role was not tolerated. In the seventeenth century women's primary existence was to serve their husbands and take care of the children and homes. In today's society that might sound like slavery of some sort but this was the way of life for the women of New England. Their skills consisted of cooking, cleaning, sewing and taking care of the children. They were responsible for making clothes for the entire family, cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner and taking care of the children and cleaning. W

omen also expressed their devotion in church. Women of that time seemed to be extremely educated in the subject of the church and their religion. The book notes her as a Puritan saint who seemed to find divine providence in the grueling situations. Throughout her ordeal she uses quotes and scriptures to help her cling on to hope and to somehow stay alive through her deadly situation. In the beginning she would walk along wounded and carrying her sick and dying child. " The Lord upheld me with his gracious and merciful Spirit, and we both alive to see the light of the next morning". (Pg 73) These are words from a woman of strength, courage and determination. You cannot obtain these skills overnight, she obtained these skills from years of being a strong productive housewife and enable to whatever it took to hold on and to survive for herself and her family who were depending on her strength. She used her sewing skills to sew things for the Indians who would in exchange give her food and items needed for survival. There were times that she would be so hungry that she could barely move, but yet she depended on god and believed that he would somehow provide her with the food that she need to survive another day. Even though the food that she received was food that it had not been for her situation she would never dream of eating because she thought of it as food fit for only animals and savages. But because she knew that she had to survive she ate it anyway. Through divine providence one of the Indians brought her a bible that she gladly accepted. Though she believed that the Indians were people of the wilderness who possessed pure evil there were some who did little or in some instances did huge things that made her believe that she would

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1178
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English