Indian captivity narrative definition literature

  • Captivity narrative in a sentence
  • Native american captivity narratives
  • Famous captivity narratives

    • •

    Definitions According to Richard Slotkin, "In [a captivity narrative] a single individual, usually a woman, stands passively under the strokes of evil, awaiting rescue by the grace of God. The sufferer represents the whole, chastened body of Puritan society; and the temporary bondage of the captive to the Indian is dual paradigm-- of the bondage of the soul to the flesh and the temptations arising from original sin, and of the self-exile of the English Israel from England. In the Indian's devilish clutches, the captive had to meet and reject the temptation of Indian marriage and/or the Indian's "cannibal" Eucharist. To partake of the Indian's love or of his equivalent of bread and wine was to debase, to un-English the very soul. The captive's ultimate redemption by the grace of Christ and the efforts of the Puritan magistrates is likened to the regeneration of the soul in conversion. The ordeal is at once threatful of pain and evil and promising of ultimate salvation. Through t

    •

    Captivity Narratives
    by
    Kendall Johnson
    • LAST REVIEWED: 04 January 2022
    • LAST MODIFIED: 25 February 2016
    • DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199827251-0115

  • Calloway, Colin G. North Country Captives: Selected Narratives of Indian Captivity From Vermont and New Hampshire. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1992.

    Calloway’s collection includes eight accounts of captivity published from 1745 to 1780. In describing the Champlain, Connecticut, and Merrimack valleys of a “North Country” that would eventually become the states of New Hampshire and Vermont, Calloway emphasizes the intermixture of cultures (Abenaki, Mohawk, British, French), religions (Catholic, Protestant), and languages that characterize the lived experiences of the captives and captors during decades of shifting alliances.

  • Coleman, Emma Lewis. New England Captives Carried to Canada. 2 vols. Portland, ME: Southworth, 1925.

    In this early collection with comprehensive scop

  • indian captivity narrative definition literature

    • •

    Captivity narrative

    Genre of accounts by survivors

    Captivity narratives are usually stories of people captured by enemies whom they consider uncivilized, or whose beliefs and customs they oppose. The best-known captivity narratives in North America are those concerning Europeans and Americans taken as captives and held by the indigenous peoples of North amerika. These narratives have had an enduring place in literature, history, ethnography, and the study of Native peoples.

    They were preceded, among English-speaking peoples, by publication of captivity narratives related to English people taken captive and held by Barbary pirates, or sold for ransom or slavery. Others were taken captive in the Middle East. These accounts established some of the major elements of the form, often putting it within a religious framework, and crediting God or Providence for gaining freedom or salvation. Following the North American experience, additional accounts were written after British peo