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A Narrative Of Captivity And Restoration Of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson

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From the import and enslavement of Africans to the mass movement and genocide of a multitude of Native peoples, the captivity and enslavement of these peoples are among the worst travesties in the history of the United States of America. In Mary Rowlandson’s “A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson”, she writes autobiographically about the Native American raid on her village, the capture of herself and others including her children and other relatives, the way she was treated by her captors, and her eventual release back into English custody. Next, we have excerpts from “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass. Douglass’s account of his life as a slave in the American south showed how horrendous …show more content…

In “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” Douglass says that the slaves on Mr. Lloyd’s plantation were only allotted a bushel of corn meal and eight pounds of either pork or fish for the entire year (1175). To start off, a starved, impoverished and enslaved people will never have the strength to fight back. Also, even though physical abuse is enough to keep a population in control, starvation is probably one the best controls. Without a proper diet, someone cannot function at their fullest mental capacity nor can they be of any resistance to their masters. Most importantly, if they are starved, they will not have the energy or capability of running away. In comparison, Mary Rowlandson wrote in her biography “A Narrative of the Captivity and Capture of Mary Rowlandson” that the Natives did not give her anything but a few drinks of cold water for four nights (272). Except for a few exceptions during her captivity, Rowlandson claims that she was practically starved for the entirety of her bondage save for a few handful of nuts and other naturally occurring nourishment she could find. Again, we find that a starved person is easier to control and less likely to run due to the physical weakness brought on by starvation. The state of constant starvation is something that we as a people do not have the misfortune to understand. However, their captors must be bone-chillingly cruel to be able to starve their captives to the point that they did and not have any

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