Alex Hagerty P9
September 28, 2009
Academic English 11-Ms. Byrne
Comparative Essay
When people started capturing others, chaos started breaking out in the world.
There was cruelty, torture, and many other things that started to cause trouble for
everyone. In the narratives by Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano, they both had
very different experiences with their captors. The 3 biggest differences between the
narratives are their treatments, their means of captivity, and their relationships with their
captors.
The treatment between Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano were completely
different. Rowlandson, although captured, was not treated all too badly. She had food,
water, and was relatively well kept and taken care of. Her captors even gave her a Bible,
something she treasured and desired very dearly. Equiano, on the other hand, had terrible
living conditions, was not given a ton of food (only enough to survive), and was beaten
daily because he refused to eat. Equiano’s journey was also a lot longer and more
stressful than Rowlandson’s. The treatment between Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah
Equiano were very different.
The means of captivity between Rowlandson and Equiano were also extremely
different. Equiano was kept and traveled on a ship with hundreds of other captives. He
was stuck in a small room with a ton of other people and not allowed to be outside for
long periods of time. He was mistreated, abused, and not kept in good health.
Rowlandson, on the other hand, did not have any of those problems. She had plenty of
food and water and even some company at times and a Bible to read. Rowlandson
definitely had the better means of captivity than Equiano.
The final differences between Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano’s
experiences were their relationships with their captors. Rowlandson’s captors were fairly
kind to her over all. They treated her well and fed her plenty of food and even gave her
one of her most prized possessions, a Bible, to read. Equiano, on the other hand, was
tortured and beaten by his captors daily. They kept him in a small room with many other
captives and only let them out a few times. A few of those captives even tried to escape
this punishment by jumping overboard, but their captors held one of them back.
Rowlandson obviously had an easier time with her captors and a better relationship with
them then Equiano.
Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano spent their captivity practically on
different planets. Rowlandson overall had a much easier time that Equiano, but both
experienced their own hardships and tortuous times. Their treatment, their means of
captivity, and their relationships with their captors were very different and affected both
of their experiences tremendously.