Genre Type and Its Significance by "Briton Hammon" Briton Hammon's Captivity Narrative was a well-recognized African-American prose text that was published in North America. His life was limited to the information contained in his story. Reading his prose, it is still unclear whether he was a servant or a slave. In his story, he tried to explain the life of a man of African origin and how he gets along with the public sphere and exploits the opportunities offered to him. Hammon primarily addressed the issue of his suffering during his captivity. In the introduction he explains that he and others were brought to the shore and were suddenly attacked by sixty Native Americans, "...but on advancing still nearer we found, to our great surprise, that he there were Indians numbering sixty; being now so near them that we could not escape (p. 1005) He said that as soon as they realized who these people were, it was already too late. to escape. He also claims that all their weapons and necessary items were confiscated from them. Reading his account, Hammon describes how these Indians created an environment of terror among these people, and how he attempted to escape. to these savages and found himself trapped with them again. Soon he escaped from these bad guys by boarding a Spanish schooner, and then he was imprisoned again in a dungeon for four years in Spain because he refused. to serve their ships After escaping this imprisonment, Hammon worked in Cuba, which allowed him to return to London. As said before, Hammon's life is limited to the information contained in the story. He had spent thirteen years of his life in captivity. Hammon's story is one of the best examples of the genre. He chose to write a story so that his audience would fully understand the ordeals he went through while he was of African origin and a captive. According to his writings, he was appreciated wherever he went as a prisoner, causing the Indians to seek his relief: “…[the captain] came to the prison and asked the warden if he could see me; at his request I was taken out of the dungeon... interceded with the governor for my relief... and the next day the governor sent an order to release me.