Encountering the Others Comparison of Mary Rowlandsons Captivity Narrative and Ooronoko
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Encountering the "Others"
In the 17th century, several stories were published describing people's encounters with "Others". Two such stories were Aphra Behn's "Oroonoko", published in 1688, and Mary Rowlandson's "Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson", published in 1682. "Oroonoko" tells the story of an African prince tricked into slavery. Rowlandson tells of her abduction and eventual release by the Wampanoag Indians.
"Oroonoko" is considered by some to be one of the first novels ever written. It is also often classified as a travel narrative. Unlike Rowlandson's travel narrative, "Oroonoko" is told through third person perspective. Despite this, Behn claims that this does not distort the truth because she states: "I was an eye-witness, to a great part, of what you will find here set down; and what I could not be witness of, I received from the mouth of the chief actor in this history" (94). She did not write "Oroonoko as a novel to entertain the audience, she wrote it because she wanted the world to know Oroonoko's story...