It is no secret that many Americans were held ransom by Native Americans, or that many African Americans were taken captive to be sold into the slave trade throughout the early American history. “Captivity narratives” are one of the main ways we learn today about the brave souls who overcame these hardships. A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Rowlandson and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African are two very popular “captivity narratives” in American literature. Even though there are clear differences between the two narratives, surprisingly there are also a lot of similarities. During this essay the similarities and differences of Mrs. Rowlandson’s and Olaudah Equiano’s …show more content…
Rowlandson was a white woman, mother of three, and the wife of a Puritan minister. Rowlandson’s story involved being taken hostage with her three children by Native Americans and held for ransom. Rowlandson wrote, “On the tenth of February 1675, came the Indians with great numbers upon Lancaster: their first coming was about sun rising; hearing the noise of some guns, we looked out; several houses were burning, and the smoke ascending to heaven” (Baym, 236) On the other hand though, Olaudah Equiano was just an eleven year old African American boy when he was taken captive from his native land with his sister. Equiano narrated, “One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as usual, and I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, two men and a woman got over our walls, and in a moment seized us both, and, without giving us time to cry out, or make resistance, they stopped our mouths, and ran off with us into the nearest wood.” (Baym, 677) Unlike Rowlandson, Equiano was not held for ransom, after being captured he was sold into the American slave trade. Both Rowlandson and Equiano were separated from their families, and moved numerous times during their captivity. Remarkably enough, during the times they were relocated, they both were reunited with a family member for a period of time. Rowlandson was reunited with her daughter, while Equiano was reunited with his
Equiano was nearly kidnapped into being a slave while loading a ship to
Both Rowlandson and Equiano were captured for the financial gain of the captors: the Native Americans held Rowlandson for ransom to be able to obtain much-need food and supplies (“Mary Rowlandson” 38) while Equiano was sold as a slave for financial gain by his captors and owners. Both captives were separated from their families; interestingly, both had a female relative (a daughter for Mary Rowlandson and a sister for Olaudah Equiano) who was also a captive and with whom they were reunited at least for a time. Both were sold to a series of owners: Mary Rowlandson to various “husbands” and Olaudah Equiano through a chain of owners taking him from his home to the West Indies. Both captives suffered from shortages of food: Rowlandson’s situation seem to be the result of the hardships suffered by her captors, but Equiano’s seem to be the result of cruelty as when his captors on the ship threw food overboard rather than share it with the slaves. Rowlandson’s situation and her attitude toward her captors improve as she becomes better acquainted with the women in the Native American tribe and as she realizes that the Indians do not have food to share.
This time he was sold closer to the sea coast, where he saw his first large body of water ever. After being enslaved, Equiano was transported across the Atlantic, first to Barnados and then to Virginia. This is when he first witnessed how cruel the white men were. One day they had caught a fish, although hearing the cries of the hungry slaves, the
According to PBS Africans in America, after Equinao bought his freedom he became an active abolitionist in England. Olaudah Equiano’s descriptions of the middle passage severed a purpose for
Olaudah Equiano had a much different life than Jarena Lee. As a child, Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped from Africa and sold into slavery. Equiano spent much of his life on warships and trading vessels at sea. Olaudah Equiano was bought and sold numerous times. This is how he gained much experience as a slave.
While aboard the ship, the slaves were placed in a common living quarter under the deck of the ship; hundreds of slaves were packed like sardines and chained during the voyage across the Atlantic. When first introduced to a new setting, under the deck, Equiano remarks, “there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: So that with the loathsomeness of the stench and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat…” (Rowlandson 56). Equiano was placed in an environment with sickening conditions compared to Rowlandson’s discomfort and change of standard of living that made her conditions
In Equiano's personal slave narrative, "The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African", Equiano flips the idea that the African people are backwards and barbaric, thus ripe for slavery, by demonstrating his personal exceptionalism through his literacy to show that it is truly the white people who are backwards and barbaric through their own hypocrisy. This reversal that Equiano demonstrates in his slave narrative shows that the savagery of African people exists as a misconception and makes the reader fully grasp the need to abolish slavery and any inequality present. On page seventy-eight, Equiano uses first person pronouns like 'I', 'my', and 'me' to separate himself from the other African people and whites around him. This separation that Equiano creates demonstrates his exceptionalism as an African slave.
Such stories were regularly utilized as promulgation or propaganda: accordingly, Europeans frequently stereotyped Native Americans as merciless and whites started to see subjugation of African-Americans as detestable. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the two narratives which are A Narrative of the Captivity and The interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equianoa. A Narrative of Captivity by Mary Rowlandson and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano are two generally read imprisonment accounts , which, individually, relate the encounters of a grown-up white lady caught by Indians and an eleven-year-old Black male caught for the American slave market. Looking at these two accounts uncovers fascinating similitudes and contrasts and in addition in the encounters and responses of these two prisoners.
Captivity is defined as the state of being imprisoned or confined. A tragic experience is given a whole new perspective from Louise Erdrich 's poem, “Captivity”. Through descriptive imagery and a melancholic tone, we can see the poem and theme develop in her words. Erdrich takes a quote from Mary Rowlandson’s narrative about her imprisonment by the Native Americans and her response to this brings readers a different story based off of the epigraph. Louise Erdrich compiles various literary devices to convey her theme of sympathy, and her poem “Captivity” through specific and descriptive language brings a whole new meaning to Mary Rowlandson’s narrative.
When Mrs. Auld stopped teaching him, he took it upon himself to get an education. At the end of the story, when Douglass finally made it to New York, he met a man that took him in and allowed him to stay at his home until Douglass was able to get on his feet. There were many similarities between Douglass’ and Rowlandson’s stories. Both Fredrick Douglass and Mary Rowlandson underwent the hardships of being held captive as slaves. Although the authors were of different racial backgrounds, were held by captors of different races, and were slaves in a completely different time periods and geographic locations, their stories were very alike.
There are many stories that tell about the horrors of captivity but not like that of Mary Rowlandson. In her record of her life in captivity called A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, she writes a heart-breaking and horror filled recap of her time in captivity. Rowlandson is explaining how her captors treated her, what she lost in her insane reality, and what kept her strong throughout her days in captivity. Mary Rowlandson’s time in captivity is one that she’ll never forget. What she really won’t forget was how the Indians treated her when capturing her.
According to Allen, “Most of the seventeenth and eighteenth century North American captivity narratives were written retrospectively – with often up to a couple of years’ interval between the release of the former captives (subjects of the narrative) and the publication of the narrative” (“The Captivity Narrative” 13). Writers of captivity narratives wanted to describe their own captivity situation, inspire those people who became captives of Native Americans, and describe the absurdism of wars between Europeans and indigenous population. Pioneers of this specific literature genres were trying to show the main characters as some heroic people who were able to overcome difficulties and had some mysterious strength of will. From their point of view, those individuals who returned home after many years of captivity were real heroes and it was of great importance to describe their lives in order to inspire Europeans to achieve victory in their colonization efforts. Although some of the first captivity narratives were fictional, there were also cases when captives of Native Americans decided to describe their own lives captive experience (Lyndgaard 12).
17.1 Captivity and Enslavement, Olaudah Equiano, the interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano written by himself 1. What are Equiano’s impressions of the white men on the ship and their treatment of the slaves? How does this treatment reflect the slave traders’ primary concerns? Equiano’s first impression of these white men is a feeling of uncertainty and sorrow for the future. As his story goes on Equiano is afraid of these white men, but also he is wishing to end it all because of the conditions and treatment of the slaves.
After having read both Frederick Douglass’s Narrative and Harriet Jacobs’s Incident 1. How were Douglass and Jacobs similar and different in their complaints against slavery? What accounts for these differences? In both the inspiring narratives of Narrative in the Life of Fredrick Douglass by Frederick Douglass’s and in Incidents in the life of a slave girl by Harriet Jacobs the respective authors demonstrate the horrors and disparity of slavery in there own ways.
“A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson”: The Influence of Intercultural Contact on Puritan Beliefs “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” by Mary Rowlandson gives a first person perspective into the circumstances of captivity and cultural interaction and an insight to Rowlandson 's attitude towards the Indians, both before and after she was held captive. Rowlandson displays a change in her perception of "civilized" and "savage", in spite of the fact that her overall world view does not alter. It should be covered below that in the following Essay, since the author and the narrator are the same person, will not be individually distinguished. For one thing, Mary Rowlandson provides all the conventions typical of a Puritan perspective.