Religion plays a key role in two important texts: A Tale of Captivity and Restoration and The Interesting Account of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano both play religious roles in their own stories. After reading both stories, I learned that there are many similarities and differences between the two. Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano's faith and religious beliefs had a huge impact on their lives. Both Rowlandson and Equiano write captivity narratives, while Equiano writes about being held captive by white men, Rowlandson writes about being held captive by Native Americans. Reading these stories shows the similarities and differences in the purpose of each written story as well as the experiences Rowlandson and Equiano had. Both stories show the emotional, mental and physical hardships they endured while in detention. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayMary Rowlandson is the author of A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration. She wrote about her captivity by Native Americans in 1675. Mary Rowlandson was an adult woman at the time she was taken. She found herself kidnapped in the middle of King Philip's War. Mary Rowlandson describes waking up and hearing “the sound of some guns, we looked out; several houses were burning and the smoke rose to the sky” (Rowlandson 132). In this moment, she writes about her family and her people who are either trying to fight for their lives or wait for the Indians to take over. “Lord, what shall we do” (Rowlandson 133)? It is clear from the beginning of the story that Mary Rowlandson's faith and beliefs are what allows her to survive the cruel treatment she endures as a captive of the Native Americans. In the second part of the story, Rowlandson is forced to travel with the Indians into a desert wilderness. During this time, Mary Rowlandson and her family were severely abused physically, mentally and emotionally. She writes about the spirit she had when she was forced into the woods. “God was with me in a wonderful way, carrying me and sustaining my spirit, so that he did not completely fail” (Rowlandson 135). Mary Rowlandson faced many discouragements. For example, her youngest daughter died without having enough food or care. Faced with these terrible difficulties, Mary Rowlandson believes that God gave her the strength for this unknown journey and did not want her to give up but to believe that she can continue despite the fears and confusion. “The Lord renewed my strength again and carried me that I might see more of his power” (Rowlandson 135). Mary Rowlandson's faith in God keeps her alive. I think Mary Rowlandson accepted her situation as a captive and instead of asking herself “why me?” she managed to get through it, kept her faith in God and understood that God had planned this for her and that she had to fight to survive. By believing in God, she was able to overcome her current situation as a captive and understand some of the things she needed to do to live. The faith she had in the face of these impossible challenges is what kept her alive and ultimately allowed her to be restored. Olaudah Equiano published her story The Interesting Story of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. It was published in 1789 in London and printed in the United States two years later. It tells the story of him and his younger sister being captured by kidnappers when they were just children. He then recounts his trip to the West African coast. Equiano thinks that being capturedwas destiny. They were each sold to different slave owners and he and his sister were later separated. After being kidnapped, he discovered his Christian faith. In Olaudah Equiano's story, we begin to see how religion played an important role in her life during this time. Throughout Equiano's argument against slavery and the slave trade and in his writings about it, he drew connections between his experiences living as a slave and faith in God throughout the process. Equiano was sold to many different masters and traveled throughout America and the West Indies. One of his masters in London introduced Equiano to Miss Guérin who treated him kindly. He learned from her that he could not go to heaven unless he was baptized. Equiano writes “this made me very uncomfortable, for I now had a vague idea of ​​a future state” (Equiano 386). After that time, Olaudah Equiano met God in a sense and learned to have faith in the Lord. He was then baptized in the Sainte-Marguerite church. Equiano was very intelligent; he had learned to read and write. After some trials and near-death experiences, Olaudah admired God more than ever. Equiano writes about better days and wishes to be in a state of freedom. “My mind was therefore filled from hour to hour with inventions and thoughts of liberation” (397). Equiano wanted to trust the Lord to free him, “so in the midst of these thoughts I looked up anxiously to God for my freedom” (Equiano 397). Equiano had more and more respect for God and his faith because of all his trials as a slave. Equiano knew how to believe that God was responsible for his destiny and his freedom. For example, Olaudah Equiano states "but as I thought that if it was God's will, I should one day be released, it would be so, and, on the contrary, if it was not his will, it would not would not happen” (Equiano 400). He put his faith in God and knew that He would make the ultimate decision and chart his path for him. While working so hard and finally being able to purchase his own freedom, he watched as God brought him out of slavery. After reading both stories, I was able to find similarities and differences between the two. Mary Rowlandson wrote this story of captivity to her Puritans who were still in England. Rowlandson's main message was that white people did not treat Native Americans cruelly, but quite the opposite. Native Americans killed and kidnapped white people for no real reason. Olaudah Equiano, however, wrote against slavery. He wrote about his personal experiences owning different masters and what it was like to have faith throughout his journey and ultimately be able to learn that he could buy his own freedom. I believe that Olaudah Equiano's kidnappers were much more violent in their actions than Mary Rowlandson. Just one example: “I saw one white man in particular, while we were allowed to be on deck, whipped so mercilessly with a thick rope near the foremast, that he died; and they threw him overboard as they would have done with a brute” (Equiano 380). Olaudah Equiano uses the word “brute” and compares her to a human. Equiano describes them throwing someone's body overboard as if it were a wild, violent animal. To me, this treatment just seemed unrealistic, but Equiano explains how it made him fear these people even more than before. Equiano writes, “I expected nothing less than to be treated the same way” (Equiano 380). I noticed that Olaudah and Mary were writing about the Bible and how they believed that at certain times God rewarded them for, 2017.