Accounts
of Captivity in Early America: A Comparison
As explorers and settlers were forging ahead on their
quest for knowledge and colonization, they encountered many different native
peoples. Their interactions with the natives ranged from uneventful and
educational to intimidating and terrible, becoming more of the latter as contact
became more frequent. The relationships of the settlers and explorers became
more strained, leading frequently to instances of violence. These episodes
often led to the captivity and imprisonment of the explorers and settlers of
America. These hostages often wrote about their experiences in journals for
personal use and then later into published accounts.
The accounts of captivity, horrendous acts of torture, and
subsequent reintegration into society became a popular literary genre by the
late seventeenth century. Previously, these stories of abduction were only
parts of larger literary works, such as John Smith’s The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles and
Cabeza de Vaca’s The Narrative of Cabeza
de Vaca. However, the Puritans began
to publish these stories as stand-alone books (Clark and Vaughan 2-3). The
accounts of the early explorers and subsequent settlers of the New World allowed
others to get a glimpse into the lives of the Native Americans and contain many
similarities; however these narratives also contain key differences.
The initial tales of captivity and slavery start with the
explorers, such as Cabeza de Vaca and John Smith, who encountered the Native
Americans early, before English and European contact with the settlers would
become more commonplace. In these early descriptions of the New World and
captivity of these explorers and settlers, treatment of the captives was
similar in most experiences; while not always the kindest masters and sometimes
cruel, the Indians did not often exhibit outrageously malicious acts of
torture. This most likely stems from the fact that, in this time period, the
interactions were less of an outright war, but more isolated as explorers and
settlers started their travels across the New World. In fact, the Indians still
often treated their prisoners kindly, making sure they food and shelter. Also,
the view of the captives themselves was less antagonistic towards the Native
Americans because they had yet to suffer years of attacks, deaths and
abductions. Overall, the earliest captive narratives provide a relatively fair
view of the life of the Native Americans because their writer’s were more
interested in learning about their captors; they are filled with descriptions
of the areas, the customs, and both fair and bad treatment by the Indians.
The differences in the early explorers’ narratives mostly
stem from the viewpoints of the authors. In John Smith’s narrative, he
encountered more instances of harsh treatment and was about to be put to death but
was saved by intervention of Pocahontas (Smith 37). He viewed his situation
more fatalistically than Cabeza de Vaca, who always looked towards his
captivity as a learning experience and always had hope that he would escape
captivity (de Vaca 10-20).
As time progressed, Puritan and Indian interaction became
more frequent, leading to an animosity towards the Native Americans not seen in
previously. This antagonistic view of the Native Americans had an effect on the
writings of the Puritan captives; these narratives, such as Mary Rowlandson’s A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration
of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, focus more on the mistreatments, tortures and
suffering of the captives (Clark and Vaughan 18). These narratives concentrate
on cruel treatment the captives, friends, and families received and downplay
incidents of kindness from the Indians towards their captives. The Puritans’
also displayed more spiritual overtones; throughout these narratives God is
referred to frequently, as is the concept that captivity was divine retribution
for their sins, with the Indians as, “His principal rod of chastisement,”
(Clark and Vaughan 9), not just for the individual but for the whole community.
The Puritans considered their release part of God’s mercy. These stories
contain a mix of observations relating to the New England terrain, trials and
sufferings, underlain with a spiritual message concerning piety to provide a
moral lesson to the readers (Clark and Vaughan 24).
Differences in the Puritan narratives are few; most
follow the same formula of religion and suffering. The most notable difference
would be style of the narrative, depending on the author of the story. Women
tended to focus more on the emotional aspect and more so the sufferings of
their families. Men’s accounts were less emotional and focused on observations
of the Indian culture and the surrounding terrain. Also, when the account of
captivity was written by the captor, as opposed to dictated to another, it
contained more details and less generalizations. Another author-based
difference was whether the captive was clerical, being a preacher or the family
of a preacher – these accounts focus even more strongly on the religious and
moral aspect of the captivity (Clark and Vaughan 22).
When comparing the early explorers with the Puritans
accounts of captivities, there are not that many similarities, due to the very
different circumstances of their situations. However, both Puritans and early
explorers displayed an admiration for the Indians, in their ability to be able
to provide food out what they considered inedible and handle a multitude of
climates.
There are more differences between the early explorers
and the Puritans narratives than there are similarities. The Puritans portrayed
the Indians in a much more negative fashion than the early explorers because
they were subjected to Indian attacks frequently, living in constant fear. The
narratives of the early explorers provided a fairer view of the Indians and
their customs. Religion also was a significant difference between the accounts
of the explorers and the Puritans; Puritans focused more strongly on God’s part
of their captivity in their narratives.
The narratives of early explorers and settlers provided
for an interesting look at the interactions between settlers and the native
peoples of the New World. Although one-sided and often portraying the Native
Americans in an almost entirely negative way, they allow readers to understand
life in captivity. These narratives, through their similarities and
differences, also allow the reader to see the progression of the initial
interactions with the Indians to those later recorded by the Puritans.
Works
Cited
Clark, Edward W. , and Alden T.
Vaughan, ed. Puritans Among the Indians: Accounts of Captivity and
Redemption, 1676-1724. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University
Press, 1981. eBook.
de
Vaca, Cabeza. "The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca." American
Literature before the Civil War. Create edition, McGraw-Hill, 2011.
Rowlandson,
Mary. "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary
Rowlandson." American Literature before the Civil War. Create
edition, McGraw-Hill, 2011, 80-83.
Smith,
John. "The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer
Isles.” American Literature before the Civil War. Create edition,
McGraw-Hill, 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment