The following Narrative is as plain and artless as it is surprising and extraordinary. Plausible reasonings may amuse and delight, but facts, and facts like these, strike, are felt, and go home to the heart. Were the power, grace and providence of God ever more eminently displayed, than in the conversion, success, and deliverance of John Marrant?
The actual full title printed on the title page of the text is A Narrative of the Lord’s Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant, A Black (Now going to reach the gospel in Nova Scotia) Born in New York—North America Taken down from His Own Relation, Arranged, Corrected, and Published By the Rev. Mr. Aldridge. Like other famous colonial accounts of the lives of blacks—whether slave or free—this one was also actually composed by a white man based on oral recollections by its subject. As his title suggest, Mr. Aldridge’s purpose in writing this narrative account of another is less historical in basis than religious. It is to be considered as history tangentially to the primary story at its heart: the redemption of a sinner brought to the light of the gospel by one who knows better.
“In those troublesome times, I was pressed on board the Scorpion sloop of war, as their musician, as they were told all I could play on music….some time after this I was cruising about in the American seas, and…were overtaken by a violent storm; I was washed overboard, and thrown on again; dashed into the sea a second time, and tossed upon deck again…I was in the sea the third time about eight minutes, and the sharks came round me in great numbers, one of an enormous size, that could easily have taken me into his mouth at once”
The centerpiece of the narrative is Marrant’s time spent living with an Indian tribe which is usually described as a state of captivity but does not directly come across as such in Marrant’s account. In fact, while the centerpiece of his life, that account of time spent among the Indians is not really the most gripping part of his narrative. Marrant lived a colorful life packed with smaller moments of incident and activity and some of the most memorable passages deal with these passing circumstances. Such as this story about being tossed overboard and rescued from death no less than three times during a single storm. As always, of course, the story is framed within the thematic structure of solidifying his faith in God.
"The king…expressed his fears of my being used ill by the next Indian nation, and, to prevent it, sent 50 men, and a recommendation to the king, with me. The next nation was called the Creek Indians, at 60 miles distance. Here I was received with kindness, owing to the king's influence, from whom I had parted; here I stayed five weeks. I next visited the Catawar Indians, at about 55 miles distance from the others: Lastly, I went among the Housaw Indians, 80 miles distant from the last mentioned; here I stayed seven weeks. These nations were then at peace with each other, and I passed among them without danger, being recommended from one to the other. "
Here is the perfect example of Marrant’s accounting of his time among the Indian tribes which seems to be quite at odds with the general view that his narrative should be considered a slave narrative despite being born a free black in New York. Marrant has almost nothing bad to say about his time spent among the tribes which inevitably raises the specter that the conventional view that his time is analogous to a slave narrative has more to do with the writer of the text than the teller. Marrant is even willing to transform a notice of execution into a positive experience deepening his faith.
"I have now only to entreat the earnest prayers of all my kind Christian friends, that I man be carried safe there; kept humble, made faithful, and successful; that strangers may hear of and run to Christ; that Indian tribes may stretch out their hands to God; that the black nations may be made white in the blood of the Lamb."
The narrative somewhat abruptly ends with an entire paragraph (of which that quoted above is but an extract) that references Canaan, Moses and Jesus. It has the hallmarks of a sermon and seems somewhat out of sync with Marrant’s speaking style up to this point. That the book in clearly intended as Christian propaganda is made abundantly clear with this conclusion. More distressing, however, is that last expression of hope in the extract above. To suggest that a black man during the age of slavery might actually call upon Jesus to make them “white” is at the very least troubling and at most unfathomably difficult to believe represents the mind of Marrant rather than that of Aldridge.
