In The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration, the diary that Mary Rowlandson wrote during the time of her captivity, after falling prisoner to the hands of the Indians in one of the wars fought between them and the White man, we find descriptions of the Indians’ way of life. Rowlandson’s Narrative is so rich in detail and narrated in such simple English that it is truly a precedent for the technique and realist language that would make the rise of the novel possible. This diary and the quintessential contribution of the narrative work of Aphra Behn, who had most likely read Mary Rowlandson’s testimony, enrich that tradition of realistic accounts which would spawn the great novel of the eighteenth century.
The following fragments are telling evidence of the technique and manner in which they are written (or the manner in which the above are written):
“My master had three squaws, living sometimes with one, and sometimes with another one … ” (The Nineteenth Remove)
“the water was up to the knees, and the stream very swift, and so cold that I thought it would have cut me in sunder” (The Sixteenth Remove)
“About two hours in the night … on Feb. 18, 1675” (The Third Remove)
“They eat also nuts and acorns, artichokes, lilly roots, ground beans, and several other weeds and roots, that I know not.” (The Twentieth Remove)
Thanks for bringing this up, Luis. It's interesting to reflect on the value of realism at a time when the fancies of romance were the norm. Furthermore, the fact that the author of this narration is a woman turns it into a liberatory text, though Indians and not man in general are the oppressor here.
ReplyDeleteLet's see what Clara has to say about this text.
In a scale of 5, I give you a 4,5. However, I think your blog involvement already deserves a 5. Congratulations!!