Essay Comparing Rowlandson And Olaudah Equiano

Captivity Narratives have been of particular interest to the American people for hundreds of years. These narratives are often considered to be the “first literature” of the American people and were originally "Anglo [based] accounts of captivity among the Indians", but quickly expanded to cover all individuals forced into captivity (Vanderbeets 548; Luders-Manuel 1). Two of the most famous captivity narratives that were ever written are those of Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano. These two narratives are told from very different perspectives but, they contain many of the same aspects and are more alike than they are different. These common aspects include: their home life prior to captivity; their assimilation into their captive culture; and their usage of Biblical information. Prior to captivity both Rowlandson and Equiano lead privileged and happy lives. They were both born into wealthy families and lived in small, tight knit communities. For Rawlinson this community was that of Lancaster in colonial America (Baym et al. 235). She was a minister’s wife and the mother of at least three children (Baym et al. 235). This position gave her a high standing in the Lancaster community and as a result she had many …show more content…
These narratives are usually looked at separately, but when compared together they share a surprising number of similarities. These similarities range from the simple and unusual fact that both of the authors shared fairly similar lifestyles prior to capture, to their resourceful ability to adapt to their surroundings. These adaptions included nutrition and language which would have been difficult, but necessary to survival. This ability to adapt combined with their strategic use of biblical passages made these narratives bestsellers and helped to establish and revamp the popular genera of captivity