Rereading Captivity: White Anxiety and Indian Assimilation in A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison and A Narrative of the Captivity and Adventure of John Tanner

Abstract

James E. Seaver’s A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison and Edwin James’ A Narrative of the Captivity and Adventure of John Tanner are accounts of white captives among the Native Indians. Unlike other American captivity narratives, the two accounts present the theme of white assimilation into the Indian society along with the portraits of Indians as noble savages. Ethnography which permeates the narratives signifies racial agenda behind the dialectic of exoticism.