Early Native American literature was a transition between the oral tradition. It captured the history of specific Native American groups including their migrations and the challenges they faced after the arrival of Europeans. Over time, the American literature authored by Native Americans was text- based and written in English. Literally, American traditional narratives are a form of autobiography containing a unique structure and distinctive themes that provide a window to life at a different time. The American traditional narratives started from the early 16th century in North America describing a case of the process of colonization and continued until the late 18th century including slave narratives. Typically, there are four types of American narratives. Those are travel narratives, tales of life in North America, captivity stories and slave narratives. This essay will compare and contrast Mary Rowlandson’s captivity story and Olaudah Equiano’s slave narrative critically with a different view involving aspects and perspective. “From …show more content…
a narrative of the captivity” by Mary Rowlandson and “From the interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano” by Olaudah Equiano both arose from out of the suffering and pains of life in colonial and antebellum North America. The two widely read narratives are respectively related in that experience of an adult woman captured by Indians and an eleven-year-old black male being forcibly indentured into the American slave market. The similarities between Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano indicate they were once captured in a violent raid. They both described pitiless and horrifying aspects of their captors. Although Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano each served as the protagonist of their narrative, they demonstrate differences. One particularly interesting difference worth noting is their perspective toward the religion. Mary Rowlandson was a devoted Puritan woman who found comfort within God and the Bible, whereas Olaudah Equiano did not base his fate and life off of God’s wanting until he converted to passionate Christian. Mary Rowlandson was a Puritan woman. Mary believed that she was untrue to her Puritan faith and consequently God punished her by placing her in the tough environment. European explorers and Native Americans encountered each other for the first time about five hundred years ago. In 1620, the first English Puritans landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. At that time, the alliance between Wampanoag and the Plymouth colony ensured because of the courtesy of Massasoit, the leader of Wampanoag confederacy. He prevented the failure of Plymouth colony and the almost certain starvation that the Pilgrims faced during the earliest years of the colony’s establishment. However, unexpectedly some tension between Massasoit and the colonist break up. Eventually, in the mid-1600s’, prior to Rowlandson’s captivity, strains between natives and colonist became progressively worse. Thereupon, armed conflict between Native Americans and the colonist erupted and is known as King Philip’s War. Mary Rowlandson’s recollections of the dreadful aftermath gave a clear picture of the devastations to the people of Lancaster and reflect the victimization of a huge number of pilgrims. Puritans used their religion to deal with traumatic events. The puritans regarded biblical captivity narratives, such as that of the enslavement of the Israelites by the ancient Egyptians, as allegories representing the Christians’ liberation from sin through the intervention of God’s grace. Rowlandson as well used her sturdy beliefs toward God to cope her capture and the eleven weeks spent as a captive. She viewed her experience as a repetition of the biblical pattern and uses allusions to reflect her own situation. On page 67, Mary says “But the Lord helped me still to go on reading till I came to Chapter 30 the seven first verses, where I found, there was mercy promised again, if we would return to Him by repentance; and though we were scattered from one end of the earth to the other, yet the Lord would gather us together, and turn all those curses upon our enemies. I do not desire to live to forget this Scripture, and what comfort it was to me.” Throughout her captivity, Rowlandson turns to the Bible for comfort and support. The stories of biblical figures provide her with a continual source of hope that keeps her going from day to day. On the other hand, unlike Mary Rowlandson, Olaudah Equiano was not a virtuous Christian. At first, Equiano was sarcastic about Christians. On page 87, it says that “O, Ye nominal Christians! might not an African ask you, Learned you this from you God, who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you? Is it not enough that we are torn from our country and friends, to toil for your luxury and lust of gain? Why are parents to lose their children, brothers their sisters, or husbands their wives? Surely, this is a new refinement in cruelty, which, while it has no advantage to atone for it, thus aggravates distress, and adds fresh horrors even to the wretchedness of slavery.” This is an illusion of perspective of Equiano viewing Christians before his transfer to Christianity. The quote sniped captors to think about the horrors of slavery as Christians. The bible prohibit actions such as racism (“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment”- John 7:24), murdering a slave or employ violence (“An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth”- Exodus 21:26-27) and kidnapping and selling a man (“Anyone who kidnaps someone is to by put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession”- Exodus 21:16) However, the image of Americans infringing bible scripture seemed negatively in Equiano’s point of view. Later, Equiano was baptized and learned to read or understand the principle of Christianity. It is not an exaggeration to say Equiano’s understanding of the Bible is the strongest theme in the Narrative. His new-found religious views made him feel safer and formation of views about slavery. Nevertheless, his original views of slavery were based on his childhood and the class system that existed in his village, Christianity made a great impact on his life. Being baptized gave him a sense of equality with the white man that inspired him to become a more educated person. What he read in the Bible caused him to make his stand against the hypocritical Christians. Moreover, Christianity allowed him to enter into the European culture and establish his credentials for his readers. In essence, his religion is deep and personal, but it is also a way for him to become part of the cultural mainstream and more effectively disseminate his abolitionist views. Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano both produced narratives as a sign of comfort to help them endure the things that they dealt with and to present their beliefs interrelated to their own circumstance. However, their narratives played a different role in the society. Mary Rowlandson’s narrative was noteworthy in that it depicted the role of woman in Puritan society whereas the narrative of Olaudah Equiano illustrated wish which slavery be abolished and resulted as lobbied parliament for its abolition. Mary Rowlandson’s narrative gained recognition as feminist literature.
At that time, a woman played a limited role in society. Women had to be quiet and obedient wives. The society was inferior to men. Mary Rowlandson’s narrative was a significant piece of literature because it was the only non-poetry work written by a woman published in the 17th century. The narratives were vital since it record colonial history from a female perspective. Also, those are considered to be resources to define early relationships between Indians and Europeans. Mary Rowlandson’s publication was the unofficial start of the feminist movement which led a woman to gain more respect and equality. As Mary Rowlandson recorded her captivity, she demonstrated the restrictive roles of women during the 17th century. When her narrative became popular, it encouraged other women to write stories. It allowed women to be involved and have a voice in
society. Olaudah Equiano involved in the movement to abolish slavery. In 1789, he published the narrative. Equiano knew that one of the most powerful ways to raise arguments against a slave was his own stories based on his experience being a slave. When his book was published, it became immensely popular. It was also translated into many languages. His book helped the abolitionist cause and made Equiano a wealthy man. It is one of the earliest books published by a black African writer. Equiano spent is much of life presenting campaign against slavery. He unfolds horrible cruelties that he has witnessed inflict of his fellow slaves over the years. When the printing press was invented, Equiano’s work was considered to be the most influential slave narrative ever. Olaudah Equiano is now considered the first widely read and influential slave narrative. “From the Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano” exhibits voice of a brave, ambitious, and compassionate man who eager to help people who are trapped in slavery. Thus, his narrative played a huge role on provoking antislavery movement. As stated earlier, the purpose of this paper was to analyze compare and contrast Mary Rowlandson’s captivity story and Olaudah Equiano’s slave narrative critically with a different view involving aspects and perspective. Mary Rowlandson included her Puritan beliefs and her role as a woman shaped her time as a captive. Olaudah Equiano illustrated his suffering that African slaves endured and of their intense desire for freedom. The both narrative became the most influential forms of early American literature.
King, Thomas. “Let Me Entertain You. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005. 61-89. Print.
Rowlandson, Mary. A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.In Women’s Indian Captivity Narratives. Ed. Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola. New York: Penguin Books, 1998.
In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were
McNickle, D'Arcy. "A Different World." Native American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology. Ed. Vizenor, Gerald. United States of America: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, 1995, 111-119.
The article, “Native Reactions to the invasion of America”, is written by a well-known historian, James Axtell to inform the readers about the tragedy that took place in the Native American history. All through the article, Axtell summarizes the life of the Native Americans after Columbus acquainted America to the world. Axtell launches his essay by pointing out how Christopher Columbus’s image changed in the eyes of the public over the past century. In 1892, Columbus’s work and admirations overshadowed the tears and sorrows of the Native Americans. However, in 1992, Columbus’s undeserved limelight shifted to the Native Americans when the society rediscovered the history’s unheard voices and became much more evident about the horrific tragedy of the Natives Indians.
In a lively account filled that is with personal accounts and the voices of people that were in the past left out of the historical armament, Ronald Takaki proffers us a new perspective of America’s envisioned past. Mr. Takaki confronts and disputes the Anglo-centric historical point of view. This dispute and confrontation is started in the within the seventeenth-century arrival of the colonists from England as witnessed by the Powhatan Indians of Virginia and the Wamapanoag Indians from the Massachusetts area. From there, Mr. Takaki turns our attention to several different cultures and how they had been affected by North America. The English colonists had brought the African people with force to the Atlantic coasts of America. The Irish women that sought to facilitate their need to work in factory settings and maids for our towns. The Chinese who migrated with ideas of a golden mountain and the Japanese who came and labored in the cane fields of Hawaii and on the farms of California. The Jewish people that fled from shtetls of Russia and created new urban communities here. The Latinos who crossed the border had come in search of the mythic and fabulous life El Norte.
“The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson”, arguably the most famous captivity tale of the American Indian-English genre, is considered a common illustration of the thematic style and purpose of the English captivity narrative. As “the captivity genre leant itself to nationalist agendas” (Snader 66), Rowlandson’s narrative seems to echo other captivity narratives in its bias in favor of English colonial power. Rowlandson’s tale is easy propaganda; her depiction of Native American brutality and violence in the mid-1600s is eloquent and moving, and her writing is infused with rich imagery and apt testimony that defines her religious interpretation of the thirteen-week captivity. Yet can a more comprehensive understanding of Rowlandson’s relationship to Indians exist in a closer reading of her narrative? As “captivity materials . . . are notorious for blending the real and the highly fictive” (Namias 23), can we infer the real colonial relationships of this captivity in applying a modern understanding of economic, political and cultural transformations of American Indians?
In Mary Rowlandson, “A Captivity Narrative”, Rowlandson recounts her experiences as a captive of the Wampanoag tribe. The tribe took captives from Lancaster in 1676 because of the ongoing violent altercations between the English colonists and Native Americans during King Philip’s War. Since many of the Native Americans brethren had fallen in battle, they saw it fit to take English folk captive and use them to take the place of their fallen brethren, trading/ransom pieces, or killing them in revenge. This was becoming a common practice for the Native Americans to attack villages and in result, some English started fleeing the area or started to retaliate. Rowlandson was a Puritan wife and mother, in her
Discuss the distinctive qualities that define the way stories are told in Native American cultures. How do these differ from what you might have thought of as a traditional story?
Louise Erdrich’s short story “American horse” is a literary piece written by an author whose works emphasize the American experience for a multitude of different people from a plethora of various ethnic backgrounds. While Erdrich utilizes a full arsenal of literary elements to better convey this particular story to the reader, perhaps the two most prominent are theme and point of view. At first glance this story seems to portray the struggle of a mother who has her son ripped from her arms by government authorities; however, if the reader simply steps back to analyze the larger picture, the theme becomes clear. It is important to understand the backgrounds of both the protagonist and antagonists when analyzing theme of this short story. Albetrine, who is the short story’s protagonist, is a Native American woman who characterizes her son Buddy as “the best thing that has ever happened to me”. The antagonist, are westerners who work on behalf of the United States Government. Given this dynamic, the stage is set for a clash between the two forces. The struggle between these two can be viewed as a microcosm for what has occurred throughout history between Native Americans and Caucasians. With all this in mind, the reader can see that the theme of this piece is the battle of Native Americans to maintain their culture and way of life as their homeland is invaded by Caucasians. In addition to the theme, Erdrich’s usage of the third person limited point of view helps the reader understand the short story from several different perspectives while allowing the story to maintain the ambiguity and mysteriousness that was felt by many Natives Americans as they endured similar struggles. These two literary elements help set an underlying atmos...
...also showed how poorly the colonists treated and thought of Native Americans. In conclusion, Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative is a great resource in exploring early American religion and conflict with Native Americans.
Imagine being taken away from your family and friends due to invadors, stroming in distroying the only home you have ever know. Being taking away thousands miles away, going to a place unknowm, surrounded by people whom you don’t know; but with familar of your invadors. Rowlandson, Equiano, and Douglass wrote narratives detailing their experiences in captivity. These narratives expose the brutality of the Native and English invadors while also expressing the growth of these writers through the difficulty of being in the unknown. Rowlandson, Equiano, and Douglass narrative’s have simalities in elements, plot, and growth within themselves; along with the use literary elements to paint vivie pictures of their survival during there horrid
Native American literature from the Southeastern United States is deeply rooted in the oral traditions of the various tribes that have historically called that region home. While the tribes most integrally associated with the Southeastern U.S. in the American popular mind--the FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole)--were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) from their ancestral territories in the American South, descendents of those tribes have created compelling literary works that have kept alive their tribal identities and histories by incorporating traditional themes and narrative elements. While reflecting profound awareness of the value of the Native American past, these literary works have also revealed knowing perspectives on the meaning of the modern world in the lives of contemporary Native Americans.
In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man’s ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. “Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition” (back cover) is a great way to show that the author’s stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will discuss the major themes of the book and why the author wrote it, it will describe Native American society, its values and its beliefs and how they changed and it will show how Native Americans views other non-Natives.
Throughout literature’s history, female authors have been widely recognized for their groundbreaking and eye-opening accounts of what it means to be a woman in society. In most cases of early literature, women are portrayed as weak and unintelligent characters who rely solely on their male counterparts. Also during this time period, it would be shocking to have women characters in some stories, especially since their purpose is only secondary to that of the male protagonist. But, in the late 17th to early 18th century, a crop of courageous women began publishing their works, beginning the literary feminist movement. Together, Aphra Behn, Charlotte Smith, Fanny Burney, and Mary Wollstonecraft challenge the status quo of what it means to be a woman during the time of the Restoration Era and give authors and essayists of the modern day, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a platform to become powerful, influential writers of the future.