Changes in Mary Rowlandson's Life during Captivity

A detailed Summary of Changes in Mary Rowlandson's Life during Captivity

Throughout the narrative we can see how Mary Rowlandson's views towards the food of the Indians gradually shifts throughout her captivity, and how this is related to the changes in her Puritan values and life throughout her eleven weeks of captivity.

The idea of food is constantly used throughout Mary Rowlandson's narrative, because it was the one essential physical desire that she needed to survive her captivity. Before her captivity, Mary Rowlandson was the wife of a Puritan minister that knew nothing of what suffering and affliction was like (Rowlandson & Salisbury, 16). We know this because Rowlandson stated, "Before I knew what affliction meant, I was ready sometimes to wish for it" (Rowlandson & Salisbury, 112). Rowlandson also stated, "One hour I have been in health, and wealth, wanting nothing: But the next hour in sickness and wounds, and death, having nothing but sorrow and affliction" (Rowlandson & Salisbury, 111). We can infer from this statement that Rowlandson and her family had always had plenty of shelter, clothing, and especially food before being captured by the Indians.

After the February 10, 1675 attack by the Narrhaganset Indians on her Lancaster home, Mary Rowlandson described the attacking Indians as "

As Rowlandson's travels during her captivity go on, you can see that she has learned to accept the food of the Indians and their way of life. During the eighth remove Rowlandson states, "I boyled my Pease and Bear together, and invited my master and mistress to dinner" (Rowlandson & Salisbury, 83). Rowlandson also has begun to make clothes for the Indians and in return the Indians have showed their gratitude by paying her or giving her food (Rowlandson & Salisbury, 83).

Rowlandson's life had changed after her experience with the Indians. The reoccurring idea of food and how Rowlandson's taste for it changed throughout the narrative could be used as a metaphor to show also how her identity has changed from what it was before her captivity. Rowlandson had to give up some of her Puritan values in order to survive.

Barbarous Creatures," whom she had to go with in order to survive (Rowlandson & Salisbury, 70). During the first week of her captivity, Rowlandson hardly ate a thing. The diet of the Indians was something that most of the Puritans, including Mary Rowlandson, were not use to. During the third remove, Rowlandson complained that neither she nor her child had been given any food and only a little cold water (Rowlandson & Salisbury, 73-74). This however is untrue, for she later states, "I having nothing to eat by the way this day, but a few crumbs of Cake, that an Indian gave my girle the same day we were taken" (Rowlandson & Salisbury, 92). This statement sh

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Approximate Word count = 1000
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History