Comparing Rowlandson’s Captivity Narrative with Jacobs’ Slave Narrative
Mini-Research Essay i) Mary Rowlandson's A Narrative of the Captivity and A Restoration is a captivity narrative. Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a slave narrative. While they are considered distinctive genres, they share some characteristics. Look at the excerpts you have from them in your reading. How are they similar? How are they different? Be sure to provide evidence from the texts to support your conclusions. Answer the above questions in a 1,000-1,250-word essay. ii) Prepare this assignment according to the MLA guidelines found in the GCU MLA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. iii) Include three outside sources. These sources may be printed work or you can make use of the Grand Canyon University online library. You might find these databases helpful: EBSCO Host's Literary Reference Center and LION. Both are available through GCU's online library. Comparing Rowlandson’s Captivity Narrative with Jacobs’ Slave Narrative The fugitive slave narrative and the Indian captivity narrative are distinctive genres in the American literature; however, they share some characteristics and frequently are subject to comparison. The first captivity narrative in the American literature was Mary Rowlandson's A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration in 1682, in which she wrote about her awful captivity experience by the Indians. Over sixteen decades later, Harriet Jacobs shared her autobiography in her Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl slave narrative in 1861 to help the abolitionists eliminate slavery. Even though Rowlandson’s and Jacobs’ narratives belong to different genres and time spans, comparing them to each other is interesting. Rowlandson and Jacobs wrote their narratives after they won their freedom. They wanted to reconnect with their inner self through writing their experience and gain support for their cause (Martin, 2007). Both of
Cited: Introduction. Retrieved on January 9, 2011 from http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/212rowl2.html Rowlandson, Mary Anthology of American Literature. 7th edition. Nina Baym. Volume A. New York, NY. W.W. Norton & company, Inc. 2007. Pages 236-266. Print.