Date of Award
Fall 12-8-2016
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
MA English
Department
English
Advisor
Mary Balkun, Ph.D
Committee Member
John Wargacki, Ph.D
Keywords
Early American Literature, Consume, Mary Rowlandson, Captivity Narrative
Abstract
This paper traces the theme of consumption throughout Mary White Rowlandson’s captivity narrative The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. From Rowlandson’s fear of actual cannibalism at the outset of the work, her obsession with recording the strange foods she consumes, her status as a consumer of Algonquin culture, and lastly, the consumption of the novel by both contemporary and modern readers alike, consumption becomes the leitmotif of the text. A closer analysis elucidates that the fear of consumption truly belies a fear of colonialism and the cultural exchanges taking place at the frontier.
Recommended Citation
Woodington, Samantha, "“The Indians gaping before us”: Anxieties of Consumption in Mary White Rowlandson’s Sovereignty and Goodness of God" (2016). Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). 2223.
https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2223
