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 “

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During the eighteenth remove, Rowlandson was in a wigwam where there were two English children and everyone in the wigwam was given the feet of horses to eat. This statement shows how little she cared for the food of the Indians during the beginning of her captivity. Through this paragraph you can see how Rowlandson’s personal views of the food of the Indians have changed. Rowlandson did the same thing to that English child than an Indian had done to her by stealing her piece of liver and corn earlier. Rowlandson quoted, “For to the hungry Soul, every bitter thing is sweet” (Rowlandson & Salisbury, 81). Rowlandson then decided to eat the rest of it raw, to prevent it from being stolen (Rowlandson & Salisbury, 81). Rowlandson had to give up some of her Puritan values in order to survive. During the first week of her captivity, Rowlandson hardly ate a thing. 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).

As Rowlandson began to grow hungrier, she had to hold back her personal views towards the food of the Indians in order to survive. Rowlandson later described the liver as a "savory bit" (Rowlandson & Salisbury, 81). This is another example of how food and hunger changed her life during her captivity. After eating the liver Rowlandson quoted a verse from the Bible, Proverbs 27:7, to explain her liking of the food of 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.

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

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