Captivity Narrative

What Makes a Captivity Narrative? Captivity narratives were commonly popular in the 1700’s by both European and American populations. Captivity narratives in America portrayed either whites enslaved by savages or the African enslaved by the white slave owner. Captivity narratives were written to show the reader of one’s experiences while being in captivity. Two authors who wrote a couple of these narratives are Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano. Mary Rowlandson’s narrative is entitled, “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.” The title of Olaudah Equiano’s narrative is “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African, Written by Himself.” Captivity narratives test a person’s faith and his or her ability to survive in a specific given situation. Both authors must learn to survive in a different culture. Both desire their freedom, but fear the dangers of escape. Rowlandson relies on her religious strength to help her through her suffering, while Equiano relies on his moral and eventually religious strength to help him through his suffering. Examining these two narratives will show similarities and differences in their purpose but will ultimately show the reason for the narrative which was to sway a person’s way of thinking. Both Equiano and Rowlandson were living an ordinary life until they were torn away. Equiano was living a carefree life, enjoying his time growing up in his village along with his family. That day came to an end when he and his sister were captured and sold into slavery. Equiano states, “One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as usual, and only I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, two men and a women 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 in the nearest wood” (690). Rowlandson’s narrative begins with

Cited: Equiano, Olaudah. “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African, Written by Himself.” 1789. The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Beginnings to 1820. Ed. Nina Baym, et al. 8th ed. Vol. A. New York: Norton, 2007. 688-721. Rowlandson, Mary. “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.” 1682. The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Beginnings to 1820. Ed. Nina Baym, et al. 8th ed. Vol. A. New York: Norton 2007. 257-288.