| The discourse surrounding John Jewitt' s captivity at Nootka Sound by the Nuu-chah-nulth (1803 to 1805) is examined in this thesis. Particular attention is focused on the construction of John Jewitt in his Journal, purported written while he was a captive, and his Narrative, ghostwritten several later in 1815. Drawing on the work of Stephen Greenblatt and other literary theorists, this thesis seeks to challenge the hegemonic status of Jewitt's Narrative as a window into Nuu-chah-nulth early contact life. By presenting other disparate stories of the capture of the Boston, the Narrative's authority as a historical document is challenged. It is argued that scholars must recognize the shifting and evolutionary nature of all historical texts. This thesis further asserts that Jewitt's Journal observations must be recognized as refracted through a masculine, English middle-class lens. Similarly, Jewitt's ghostwritten Narrative must be placed within the literary genre of the captivity narrative, and it must be recognized that its author's own conceptions of appropriate American masculinity substantially shaped the Narrative. |
