The two books we have read tell the stories of both societies, slaves and Native Americans. John Demo's The Unredeemed Captive and Odaulah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative share the same elements of race, holding captives, and play a large part in the history of the Atlantic region of the world. They share many of the same features; however Equiano's tale is one of displacement and slavery, while Demo's story reflects the Indian warring culture and the practice of taking prisoners and assimilation into the culture. Eventually prisoners of both communities take on the practices and lifestyles of their captors, but are never the same as if they were never captured at all.
The practice of taking captives, whether they are prisoners, kidnappings, or other ways of capturing people, has been around since the dawn of man. It is a tradition that still continues to this day, and almost seems to be human nature. The worst period of forced captivity was during the Atlantic slave trade. Millions of people were captured against their will, and forced to work in an unknown territory, doing hard labor in harsh conditions. The Native Americans of Northeastern North America also took captives, although it was mostly from the spoils of war. Their captured were not treated so badly, and allowed many of the rights that every man deserves.
Odaulah Equiano begins his story in Nigeria, where he compares his culture to that of the Israelites of ancient times. He cites examples of circumcision, respect for elders, and cleanliness as the main similarities between the two cultures. Taking captives was even a part of his society, as prisoners of war were taken and made into slaves, while criminals in the community along with some prisoners of war were sold to passing “mahogany-coloured men” (Equiano 27), who traded guns and other items for the men. The forced to be slaves were only captives or convicts, making it acceptable in Equiano's mind to trade them or force them into slavery. While the people of Equiano's village kept slaves, they “did no more work thank other members of the community, even their master. Their food, cloathing, and lodging were nearly the same as theirs, except that they were not permitted to eat with those who were free born and there was scare any other difference between them.” (40) When Equiano was kidnapped from his home along with his sister, he soon learned that slavery outside of his home was very different indeed. Stolen from his home by two captors, Equiano and his sister were dragged across the land and before Equiano reached his final destination, he was separated from his sister. This separation “while they were clasped in each other's arms” (48), was one of the hardest things to bear for the young Nigerian. Eventually he ended up belonging to a chieftain of a nice land who treated him well. However, this separation of family is an example of the cruelty that was all too common during this time. After escaping and being recaptured, Equiano was dragged across his the land to various places until finally boarding a slave ship to set sail for the West Indies. Equiano's first view from the coast was the slave ship, which “…filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror…” (55). Equiano describes the horrible, small, disease-infested space of the slave ships that took him to his future as another man's property. Equiano's status as property is shown later in his life in many instances, such as when money he has earned is taken without regard for the years of work put in for him to earn it. Another occurrence was when Equiano and a companion of his had fruit for sale, only to have it taken from them by some white men. Overall, the captivity and slavery of the Africans was far different from that described by Equiano in The Interesting Narrative.
The captivity in Northeast North America was not as harsh or cruel as that or their counterparts in the South and Caribbean. The Iroquois nation did not usually take slaves out of necessity for farming or other tasks, but kept prisoners of war as their own, and enslaved them. Some prisoners were returned, such as in the case of John Williams and his son Steven, something that would never be done by the slave traders. For Eunice Williams, she hailed from a very powerful Massachusetts family, and was taken by the Mohawk Indians at a young age. She remained with the Mohawks from age four until the day she passed away. Many attempts were made to rescue her, but she was “unwilling to return” (Demos 146) to her Puritan ways, choosing rather to live with the Mohawk. She took a Native American husband and became fully assimilated into the Mohawk culture. She adopted Catholicism, even though her father was a prominent Puritan minister. Attempts for rescue were made by multiple people, but none worked, and it is even said that Eunice forgot how to speak English at one point. While Eunice was gone, her family acted as if she was still living in their hometown of Deerfield. They included her in their wills and notes as if she “lived just around the corner” (Demos 225).
