Captivity narratives are stories of capture, bondage, and escape, often told by those taken captive. They were prevalent during European colonialism, and included tales of white settler captivity and slave narratives. They played a role in the abolition of slavery in the US and continue to fascinate readers, as seen in Anne Frank’s diary and Patty Hearst’s memoir.
Captivity narratives are true or imagined stories of capture, bondage, and escape, as told by the person taken captive. This type of story was especially prevalent during the historical era of European colonialism. During this period, captivity narratives often described the experiences of an explorer or pioneer who had been captured by indigenous tribes. The term has also been used to include narratives about slaves, especially those originating in the United States before the Civil War. In modern times, former concentration camp prisoners or terrorist organizations have composed their own captivity narratives.
The history of the human race has regularly been punctuated by conflicts between tribes and nations. Those inhabitants of a conquered territory who were not killed outright were often captured as slaves, prisoners of war, or both. Educated prisoners sometimes wrote down their experiences during or after their captivity. Many survived and fled to see these chronicles later published. Captivity narratives were a popular publishing trend in America and Europe from the 16th to 19th centuries.
During this period, tales of white settler captivity fascinated readers in Europe, for whom the Americas represented a mysterious frontier. These narratives offered insights into the daily lives of bands of pirates or Native American tribes. They were often biased by the prejudices of the time, but that wasn’t a problem; many readers have preferred to reinforce their prejudices. However, there were those captives who preferred the lifestyle of their captors, such as Mary Jemison, an American frontierswoman who became an influential member of the Seneca tribe who captured her. Her widely read captivity fiction contained an accurate portrayal of her adoptive people.
Captivity narratives played a role in the abolition of slavery in the United States. Literate slaves and former slaves recounted the cruelties they suffered during their lifetime as human property. Writers such as Frederick Douglass helped transform popular anti-slavery opinion with their autobiographical works. During the 1930s, numerous slave narratives were recorded by the federally funded writers of the Works Progress Administration. The former elder slaves have transmitted more than 2300 stories, many of which have been collected and published.
During World War II, teenage diarist Anne Frank movingly wrote about her virtual imprisonment as a Jewess hiding from Nazi pogroms. After Frank’s death in a concentration camp, her diary has been published in translations around the world, inspiring films and a Pulitzer-winning play. Fictionalized narratives from the same era include Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, and the graphic novel Maus by art spiegelman. Both books contain detailed factual information about the real survivors of Nazi captivity. In 1982, American heiress Patty Hearst’s memoir of her life as a prisoner and member of a terrorist group became a best seller, demonstrating the reading public’s continued fascination with captivity narratives.
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