In all the cruelties and gruesome accounts described in A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison, there also lies a prominent moral message that is carried throughout the book-be kind, dutiful, and accept life for what it is. These lessons appear in some form throughout the text. They are seen in the early lessons from Jemison's mother, who asked that her children "support our troubles without complaining" (p. 68), to the way Jemison handled herself in captivity (p. 71), in the chosen details about her children's character (p. 139), and even in the elaboration on the conflict between Thomas and John (p. 124-125). Overall, there seems to be the message that if you are a good, responsible, quiet person, then life will turn out alright in the end.
While this message is uplifting, the fact that it appears in an autobiography makes me question the extent to which this message is actually put forth by Jemison herself. I do not doubt that Mary Jemison was kind and hardworking; however, it seems unlikely that when revealing the incredible events of her life to Seaver that she would take time to interject this moral lesson. In considering ths presence of two voices in the text (Seaver's and Jemison's), it wouldn't surpose me that Seaver exerted his influence in this particular area to make these lessons of moral education more prominent. Since these morals were highly emphasized in American society at this time, he may have used this message to make the book more appealing to children and members of white society at the time of publication.
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2 comments:
I apologize for leaving out an 's' in 'message'.
When you take the "author(s)" out of the story as we were instructed to do in class on Wednesday the moral message stands out more prominently. You see that there are twists and turns to everyones lives, both Indian and white, and you must deal with them or deal with the consequences.
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