Mary Rowlandson The Sovereignty And Goodness Of God Summary

In “The Sovereignty and Goodness of God,” Mary Rowlandson narrates her perilous journey through captivity with a tribe of Native American Indians. In her eighteenth remove, she writes about how due to her extreme hunger, she steals food from a child, and relates herself to the desperate Old Testament character, Job. Rowlandson, a devout Christian, resorts to actions that would normally be considered despicable according to her religion, but the severity of her situation excuses them. Rowlandson as an author, intelligently influences her audience to focus more on her despair and less on her behavior. Rowlandson writes: “Then, I went to another Wigwam, where there were two of the English Children; the Squaw was boyling Horses feet, then she cut me off a little piece, and gave one of the English Children a piece also. Being very hungry I had quickly eaten up mine, but the Child could not bite it, it was tough and sinewy, but lay sucking, gnawing, chewing and slabbering of it in the mouth and hand, then I took it of the Child, and eat it myself, and

Rowlandson in this part of the text is walking around the campground scavenging and begging for food. (Cite) She enters a Wigwam where there was a chance for food. The Squaw woman in the Wigwam boils a horse’s foot, and gives a piece to Rowlandson, and one of the children. She does not give a reason to why the other child is not given a piece, such as age or health. Also, Rowlandson does not offer her scrap to the other child, like most would expect a maternal woman to do. A mother herself, Rowlandson would normally have done the Christian act and helped the children, but her hunger overwhelmed her. She probably knew the children would not survive, and she had a better chance of living, anyway. Rowlandson ate the piece, and then makes a spiritual connection, using the Bible character Job and