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Compare/Contrast Writers

Good Essays

There are various things that make up a piece of literature. For example: choice of diction, modes of discourse, and figurative language. Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano were great examples of authors that used these elements of literature. There are similarities and differences in A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson and From Africa to America. Though Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano shared similarities in experiences, they had different writing personalities, purposes, attitudes, tones, and relations with their communities. There are four main modes of discourse: expository, narrative, descriptive, and persuasive. In Mary Rowlandson’s A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary …show more content…

It is apparent that Mary Rowlandson is more extrovert than Olaudah Equiano. Rowlandson communicated with the people she was surrounded by. Olaudah Equiano showed that he was more introvert than Mary Rowlandson because he did not attempt to have any sort of conversation with another being. He only spoke of what he saw going on in the lives of the people around him in his story, and there was no dialogue. Mary Rowlandson’s personality was more apparent than Olaudah Equiano’s because she showed that she was a caring woman. She did not want to leave her child behind, even though it was already dead. Mary was also caring and loving because she took the time to go through bible scriptures and Psalms with another woman to give her the hope and guidance she needed from their Lord. Following the Lord was one of Mary’s main purposes in life.
Mary Rowlandson used the rhetoric device appeal to authority in her literature. She spoke of God as if He were somehow relevant to every aspect of her life, whereas Equiano mainly used appeal to emotion in his work. Olaudah spoke of the slavery and apprehensions on the slave ship and in the new world. “..Much dread and trembling among us and nothing but bitter cries to be heard all the night..” (74) There was also figurative language used in Mrs. Rowlandson’s excerpt. “My sweet babe like a lamb.” (2) Mary might have compared her child to a lamb in order to describe her

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