Mary Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative

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Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative depicts her time spent with the Indians, wherein she was forced to adapt to her situation to survive. In this specific passage, Rowlandson’s identity seems to be changing and verging somewhere in between - not quite native, but also not quite the same Puritan woman she was before being taken captive. Mary Rowlandon’s shift in identity is seen through her evolving eating habits and taste. She initially refuses to eat, calling the food “filthy trash,” though by the third week, she willingly eats, and even enjoys, the natives’ food. In the passage, Rowlandson asks an indian for a piece of horse liver, which she apparently has never eaten before, and when he complies, she takes it to roast on the coals. However, because half of it was taken from her, she immediately eats the rest despite it only being half ready. This is a significant change because this horse liver, eaten “as it was with the blood about [her] mouth,” is not something Rowlandson would have voluntarily eaten in her everyday life, let alone enjoyed - she describes it as a “savoury bit,” blood and all. Her constant hunger feeds into this change in taste because she is desperate for …show more content…
When Rowlandson writes, “For to the hungry Soul every bitter thing is sweet,” she conveys the idea that the scarcity of the food means none of it is taken for granted, and despite the actual
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