The Sovereignty and Goodness of God - Book Report/Review Example

The Sovereignty and Goodness of God Mary Rowlandson’s work, “The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” gets attributed as a best-selling novel. It is a literature piece that has revolutionized autobiographical works and introduced the native Indian versus the colonial Anglo-Americans conflict theme in subsequent publishing by various authors in the following subsequent centuries capturing similar theme (Baym, Levine & Franklin 84). Mary Rowlandson’s determination to survive the captivity and find her way back to civilization without her goodwill as a new citizen in the land of America being crashed to oblivion and non-existent by the Indians is easily noticed in this particular exceptional literature piece. One would wonder what the exact purpose of Mary Rowlandson work was, was it merely an inclined statement of author’s religious belief? Or was it pure evidence of what she truly underwent while in captivity as a woman? Or was it to tell a story of the challenges the early colonial Americans faced? Well in a broader context her work combines both the three notions; the power of a higher intervention, strong religious belief; the power and position of a woman as viewed by her society portrayed in the most difficult of situations and the tension between the Native Americans and the Colonial Americans. Mary Rowlandson’s major work was the mentioned narrative documented in her book “The Sovereignty and Goodness of God” describing the conditions and processes she was put throughout the captivity and the religious faith in God that kept her alive and fueled her with hope (Rowlandson 25). Mary employed the spiritual aspect in telling her story referring to the captivity as maybe a test from God and an opportunity to review her self-conscience; she continuously quoted numerous bible verses in her citations like “Cast thy burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain thee”, a verse from the biblical book of Psalms. She narrates the episodes in first person as she clearly describes the events with a hopeful tone but spotted with a few instances of despair and anguish (Smith-Rosenberg 112). Subjectivity is however noted from analyzing her thoughts, motivations and feelings in general. The narrative is divided into twenty sections corresponding to the “journeys” she was taken through during the captivity ordeal from the raid through her enslavement to her release. Mary attests the passing’s of her “journeys” as the doing of God’s faith. As a woman who survived in the wilderness characterized by tough and harsh situation shows a great length in her determination to stay alive and return to her rightful community setting. The change in environment from a loving family to a harsh environment controlled by pure strangers could be said to be the least suitable situation one would rather find oneself in especially a woman.it is “amazing” to note that at some point in the wilderness she opted to go for half raw horse meat because of her determination for survival and hope. Her daughter Sarah gave in to the harsh conditions of her new surroundings under the Indians while in the wilderness. Mary’s purpose to hope for light at the end of the tunnel, while believing in the Supreme Being to give her strength to keep her safe in the hands of the “strangers”. Mary’s perception of the wilderness and the conflicts between the two factions was labeled as a way of Gods test of strong faith in handling the new challenges. Rowlandson described the way the puritans colonialist treated their women and how the Native Americans treated their women as well. This would later revolutionize women movements even in the 18nth and 19th century to fight for their rights as equal human beings and should not be treated discriminatively (Castaglia 110). Mary brought hope to the women even in the factions of the enemy of women’s role in society because it was evident with the way they harmed and injured Sarah, Rowlandson daughter who later succumbed to her injuries under the Indians care. Rowlandson society treated women with respect as clearly seen by the ransom that was quickly publicly raised by the Women of Boston and taken care of by John Hoar in Princeton in Massachusetts. This humbly showed the women’s position in this Colonial Americans community as being respected and upheld as opposed to the Native American counterparts. Tensions between the Native Americans and the colonial Americans was eminent in the 16th century when the Colonial American settlers had started establishing their colonies in this new land America but instead of peacefully blending in they are faced with numerous conflicts and challenges from the Native Americans who rage war upon the “intruders”. Mary’s narrative captured this particular aspect showing the fact that the Colonial Americans were unperturbed by this harsh resistance from the natives. Their hope was to settle in and establish their presence in the “new land”. Mary’s captivity acted as a confirmation of the early allegations by the European traders and therefore the whole community of puritan colonists and the colonial structure was eager to get an autobiography from this victim of circumstance because she had spent a considerable amount of time with these “pure strangers” especially after the rising tensions of conflicts after the king Philip’s war. Her narrative was considered a sense of hope to the puritan colonialists to better understand how to deal with this conflict by understanding the Indian themselves. Mary Rowlandson can get referred to as a spiritual person who believes in God to give her the strength and faith to overcome her obstacle in the form of the Native American invasion that resulted to her captivity. She managed to last 11 weeks in the cruel hand of the captors and she later boldly told the actual story of the events that happened and her perception of the whole scenario, at one time she adjusted to the hostage situation showing that she valued her survival rather than self-pity by eating half raw horse meat. It is amazing to note that her work revolutionized the Native American genre to be followed suit by other subsequent authors like Houghton Mifflin to further give opinions and facts. “The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” is a good book to read especially when looking for Native America encounters or simply the hope associated with spiritual nourishment by God. Works Cited Read More