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Seton Hall University

“The Indians gaping before us”: Anxieties of Consumption in Mary White Rowlandson’s Sovereignty and Goodness of God

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>This paper traces the theme of consumption throughout Mary White Rowlandson’s captivity narrative <em>The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. </em>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.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
MA English
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
English
Year dc:date.available
2016

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Woodington, Samantha
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Mary Balkun, Ph.D
  • John Wargacki, Ph.D

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2223
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:scholarship.shu.edu:dissertations-3281

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Seton Hall University
Base URL
scholarship.shu.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Woodington, Samantha. “The Indians gaping before us”: Anxieties of Consumption in Mary White Rowlandson’s Sovereignty and Goodness of God. Thesis thesis, 2016. https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2223