Narrative of the Lord's Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant, a Black by John Marrant

First published: 1785

Type of work: Autobiography

Time of work: 1755-1785

Locale: South Carolina; the Atlantic Ocean; England

Principal Personage:

• John Marrant, an African American freeman who recounted his adventures in his highly popular narrative

Form and Content

On account of its author’s freeman status at birth, John Marrant’s autobiographical A Narrative of the Lord’s Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant, a Black is not, strictly speaking, a slave narrative. Because Marrant was a black man who experienced capture and enslavement at the hands of American Indians, most scholars place his work in the slave-narrative tradition. Another reason for classifying his work as a slave narrative is that Marrant was an influential figure in the development of that genre.

Marrant’s narrative is both the story of his Indian captivity and a spiritual autobiography. The two sections of the narrative feature a three-part structure. In the religious work, the parts deal with a person’s experiences of sin, conversion, and spiritual rebirth; the three sections of the Indian captivity account focus on Marrant’s experiences when he is taken captive, the transformation that occurs in him during his exposure to Indian culture, and his attainment of a freedom that is marked by a deeper awareness of life.

Marrant relates the story of his experiences to the Reverend Mr. Aldridge, who serves as editor of the account; both men are primarily interested in communicating a spiritual message to readers. At the beginning of his narrative, Marrant sets forth the religious purpose and tone of his work by stating that he hopes the example of his life will be useful in encouraging men and women to become stronger believers in the Christian faith.

Marrant recalls that he was born on June 15, 1755, in New York, but he does not relate his early experiences there. Neither does he say much about his later schooling in Florida and Georgia. Yet, he describes how his early youth was devoted to pleasure and drinking and how he loved to play the violin and French horn at all the balls and gatherings in town. Marrant describes himself as a slave to every vice until the age of thirteen. At that time, he is living in Charleston, South Carolina, where an event occurs that accidentally gives him the opportunity to hear the words of a great religious leader.

On that fateful day, Marrant and his wayward companions are passing a church when they decide to disrupt the services. Marrant’s friends dare him to enter the church and blow his French horn during the delivery of the minister’s sermon. The bold youth goes into the church and prepares to cause a commotion until he is struck by the sight of the famous George Whitefield, an English evangelical preacher known throughout the American colonies. As Marrant is about to blow his horn, he hears Whitefield pronouncing striking verses of Scripture from the pulpit. The words transfix Marrant; he listens to the sermon and becomes so moved and disturbed by it that he faints and collapses in the church.

Later, the stricken youth is restored to health by Whitefield, who visits him at home and prays with him until he recovers from his state of anxiety. Subsequently, Marrant abandons his sinful ways and seriously studies the Scriptures. His family members are not sympathetic to his new religious life, however, and thus he departs from them and goes into the southern wilderness to sort things out. There he is captured by Cherokee Indians, who twice threaten him with execution. Both times he is spared when he utters aloud prayers containing powerful biblical passages. The Indians understand him because Marrant, miraculously, is able to speak their own language. They then ask him to pray over their king’s daughter; as Marrant delivers the prayers that heal her, he experiences a mystical communion with the Lord. Soon after this marvelous event, the Cherokee king and his daughter ask Marrant to convert them to Christianity.

Subsequently, the grateful Indians allow the young captive to wander among them at will, and he uses his liberty to serve as a missionary to the tribes living in the forest. During the several years he spends trying to convert the Indians, Marrant adopts their style of dress. His garments are the skins of wild beasts, his hair is cut in the “savage” manner, and he carries a tomahawk on his side. He also becomes more fluent in the Indian language, and he develops a close friendship with the Cherokee king.

Finally, after meeting with little success in his efforts to convert the Indians, Marrant decides to return to his home in civilization. When he arrives in Charleston, he is unrecognized by all of his family members except his eleven-year-old sister.

Now Marrant sees himself as a newborn Christian who has undergone a chastening experience in the wilderness. In the rest of his narrative, he emphasizes his dedication to furthering the spiritual lives of men and women, and he illustrates his special providential role in this world. During the Revolutionary War, Marrant is impressed into the British naval service. In one harrowing episode at sea, he is washed overboard three times during a storm but manages to survive. Later, he is wounded during a fierce battle and is sent to England to recover. There, he continues his religious pursuits and eventually trains to become an ordained Methodist minister. His friends encourage him to engage in missionary work among the black population in Nova Scotia, and Marrant ends his narrative by entreating his Christian readers to pray for the success of his future religious efforts.

Critical Context

Marrant’s autobiography appeared in London in 1785, and despite a derisive review, the work went through six editions in a short period of time. It was published in the United States in 1789 and became one of the three most celebrated Indian captivity narratives published in America (the others were a 1757 work by Peter Williamson and the narrative of Mary Jemison in 1824). Marrant’s popular account was translated into several European languages and published in countries on both sides of the Atlantic; there was even a Welsh version printed in 1818. Editions of the narrative continued to appear well into the nineteenth century.

Many early African American writers knew Marrant’s spiritual autobiography and were influenced by its themes and form. Strong evidence exists that Marrant’s work was well known by Olaudah Equiano, who is credited with writing the first major slave autobiography, the prototype for the numerous nineteenth century fugitive-slave narratives. Equiano’s two-volume work, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vasa, the African, appeared in 1789 and included references to other works that mention Marrant’s story.

Marrant continued relating the story of his life after 1785 in the journal he kept of his missionary experiences in Canada and in New England. In 1790, Marrant’s journal was published in London and was marked by the same spiritual tone and purpose as his earlier work.

Although Marrant’s autobiographical accounts say little about matters concerning black men and women, the sermons he wrote and delivered as a minister include strong comments about racial prejudice and injustice. His sermons also stress the need for African Americans to learn about the contributions of great Africans in history and to feel proud of their African heritage.

Bibliography

Andrews, William L. To Tell a Free Story: The First Century of Afro-American Autobiography, 1760-1865. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986. Chapter 2 provides a thorough study of several early slave narratives. Illustrates how the first narrators relied on captivity and conversion traditions to tell their first-person accounts to a white audience.

Costanzo, Angelo. Surprizing Narrative: Olaudah Equiano and the Beginnings of Black Autobiography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1987. Explains and analyzes the slave-narrative tradition as it developed in the eighteenth century. Discusses the significance of the early black writers upon the form and structure of the slave narrative as a literary genre. Contains a detailed examination of Marrant’s narrative, with a special emphasis on the portrayal of his character as a biblical type.

Foster, Frances Smith. Witnessing Slavery: The Development of Ante-bellum Slave Narratives. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1979. Provides a study of the history, influences, development, plots, and racial myths of the slave narratives. Discusses the eighteenth century accounts that were the forerunners of the numerous slave works published by abolitionists just prior to the Civil War.

Kaplan, Sidney. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution, 1770-1800. Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1973. Describes Marrant’s narrative and parts of his journal. Also deals with the rousing and inspiring content of the sermon Marrant preached in Boston in 1789, in which he attacked racism and summoned black men and women to develop pride in their African heritage.

Williams, Kenny J. They Also Spoke: An Essay on Negro Literature in America, 1787-1930. Nashville, Tenn.: Townsend Press, 1970. Emphasizes how Marrant credited divine providence for the success of his spiritual life. Chapter 3 provides a useful general account of the slave-narrative structure. Also deals with the melodramatic and didactic elements of slave works and their various religious and realistic prose styles.