SOURCE: "Rebinding the Bonds: Mixed Motives and Bodies in Captivity Narratives, 1750-1900," in Captured by Texts: Puritan to Postmodern Images of Indian Captivity, University Press of Virginia, 1995, pp. 144-89.

In the following excerpt, Ebersole discusses the role of gender and religion in the captivity narratives of the nineteenth century, with particular emphasis on the peculiar combination of entertainment and moral instruction that characterizes these works.

The Gendered Bodies of American Heroes and Female Captives

In the wake of the American War of Independence, and again after the French and Indian War and the War of 1812, captivity narratives were used to feed a growing desire among American readers for homegrown heroes and heroines. In these narratives, the hero's body is not a site of divine affliction but is selflessly offered up for the greater good of the nation's citizenry. At the same time, scenes of suffering are narrated not...