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Compare And Contrast Equiano And Mary Rowlandson

1744 Words7 Pages

Marlow 1
Kevin R. Marlow
Professor Gravely
English 2110
2 April 2017
Comparing and Contrasting the Narratives of Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano Today, many great movies and novels are written about captivity stories. Quite recently, the movie, 12 Years a Slave, received several awards for it’s true to life depiction of Solomon Northup, who was a free man who was wrongly enslaved and taken away from his family. These stories have been popular for many years, and the 17th century was no different. The stories of Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano are two such stories. Rowlandson was enslaved by Native American Indians and Equiano was enslaved by white Americans. Although it may seem that their stories are not that similar, there are many …show more content…

Rowlandson uses her religion to help her cope with her captivity. She makes reference to God numerous times throughout her story and even compares herself to King David, Lot, Job, and Samson as well (Baym). She uses her faith in God to talk to other captives and try to be encouraging throughout this trying ordeal. Another interesting thing I observed in her writings was the way she compared the Native Americans to the Puritans of which she belonged. There seems to be a tone of entitlement in regards the Native Americans. “By disempowering and objectifying Native American women in accordance with Puritan social norms, Rowlandson privileges herself and her culture, even from within the literal disempowerment of captivity.” (Allen 27) I found this to be the most interesting aspect of her narrative story. She portrays great disdain towards her captives who may have been doing what they believed they had to do to ensure the survival of their people. She manages to blanket those facts away in the fact they do not have the Puritan values of her society. Equiano, however, maintained his identity in different ways. Many times on his journey, he identifies himself as property and shows great fear at the thought of being sold to other people. “My master was several times offered by different gentlemen one hundred guineas for me; but he always told them he would not sell me, to my great joy; and I used to double my diligence and care for fear of getting into the hands of these men"

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