Olaudah Equiano begins his journal entry by describing the ocean and the slave ship, which were the first things he saw when he was taken onto the slave ship. He was fascinated by them, but he soon realized that it was going to be a horrific journey. Equiano’s first thought was that they were going to kill him, for they had a different skin tone, bore long hair, and spoke a different language. The crew beat Olaudah when he refused to eat. The conditions under the deck where Equiano lived were dreadful: people were packed together so tightly that they were fighting for breathing room.
This was the corruption of the white men of that time who were afraid of the truth surfacing and everyone finding out the truth about slavery. Equiano was able to share a little detail about how slaves were treated by saying that “[he] was first transported to Barbados and then Virginia, where he was purchased by a local planter,” (512). This action shows the reader that the slaves were treated as a form of property that was sold for labor. Equiano was never given the chance to gain the same freedom as a white man, he had to work for money. He goes on to say "I was now exceedingly miserable, and thought myself worse off than any of the rest of my companions ...
This chapter addresses the central argument that African history and the lives of Africans are often dismissed. For example, the author underlines that approximately 50,000 African captives were taken to the Dutch Caribbean while 1,600,000 were sent to the French Caribbean. In addition, Painter provides excerpts from the memoirs of ex-slaves, Equiano and Ayuba in which they recount their personal experience as slaves. This is important because the author carefully presents the topic of slaves as not just numbers, but as individual people. In contrast, in my high school’s world history class, I can profoundly recall reading an excerpt from a European man in the early colonialism period which described his experience when he first encountered the African people.
Olaudah Equiano had not yet published his narrative when Voltaire imagined, in his novel 's Chapter 19, Candide and Cacambo meeting an articulate "negro" critic of the slave labor used on European sugar plantations. Re-read this passage in Candide: How do its insights into the realities of slavery compare and contrast with what you learn about the slave trade and slave labor from Equiano 's experiences? How do Equiano 's experiences in slavery compare and contrast with his descriptions of the slaves ' lives in his father 's household, when he was a young child? How does Equiano 's lack of critical stance against the slave holding practiced by his native Igbo culture either strengthen or undermine his argument against Europeans ' use of African
The definition of slavery can be known as a condition of a slave in respect to arduous labor work and/or extremely limited freedom. Therefore, three different forms of slavery are depicted in Olaudah Equiano’s “Chapter 2: Horrors of a Slave Ship.” These consist of the slavery that Equiano endured while still in Africa, suffered through on the slave ships, and saw the beginnings of in Barbados. The only thing we learn about slavery hardships, in Barbados, is the buyers of the slaves purchase them in such a fashion that leads to family and loved ones being forever separated, with no hope of reuniting. Equiano rhetorically asks the reader wonderfully, Are the dearest friends and relations, now rendered more dear by their separation from their
17.1 Captivity and Enslavement, Olaudah Equiano, the interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano written by himself 1. What are Equiano’s impressions of the white men on the ship and their treatment of the slaves? How does this treatment reflect the slave traders’ primary concerns? Equiano’s first impression of these white men is a feeling of uncertainty and sorrow for the future. As his story goes on Equiano is afraid of these white men, but also he is wishing to end it all because of the conditions and treatment of the slaves.
The trade of African slaves in the 17th century was perceived as so commonplace that a good deal of the world's population gave it little or no thought. British involvement with slavery became unavoidable at the end of the 17th century, when abolitionist literature gained public attention. The first hand account of life as a slave in Olaudah Equiano's auto-biography was like no other piece of abolitionist literature at the time. The three methods of persuasion in his writing are ethical appealing ethos, logic engaging logos, and his most effective of emotional appealing pathos. Equiano's use of pathos in his auto-biography was effective in persuading the British that slavery is wrong, because of the emotional effects, such as misery, sympathy,
Olaudah was a very well-articulated man in his autobiography and he had many thoughts expressed as an enslaved man towards the colonies and Philadelphia. Olaudah Equiano has been enslaved for many years after being taken from his homeland of Essaka. He wasn’t always in Philadelphia or in the colonies because of his master’s travels to many diverse places like the West Indies, Pennsylvania, London, England, Georgia, Louis borough Caribbean, and South Carolina. Olaudah was a very vigilant man in seeing the condition and treatment of his fellow brethren slaves in different places around the world. The more he saw the unkind treatment of slaves, the more and more he detests it.
In Equiano's personal slave narrative, "The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African", Equiano flips the idea that the African people are backwards and barbaric, thus ripe for slavery, by demonstrating his personal exceptionalism through his literacy to show that it is truly the white people who are backwards and barbaric through their own hypocrisy. This reversal that Equiano demonstrates in his slave narrative shows that the savagery of African people exists as a misconception and makes the reader fully grasp the need to abolish slavery and any inequality present. On page seventy-eight, Equiano uses first person pronouns like 'I', 'my', and 'me' to separate himself from the other African people and whites around him. This separation that Equiano creates demonstrates his exceptionalism as an African slave.
Olaudah Equiano was a young boy sucked into the tornado of the African slave trade during the Mid 1700's who lived to tell his story to millions. His narrative tells the story of his personal account as a slave that was written for the European society during the peak of the movement to help abolish slavery between the British colonies address to the superior white men at the time. Olaudah Equiano was captured by African slave traders and stolen from his home in West Africa. He was taken to many different places such as Barbados, colonial Virginia, and ended in the hands of a British Naval officer. After spending 20 years as a slave, he bought his freedom and wrote his stories.
Equiano used his experiences from slavery to crusade and advise others to abolish the trading between African people. He understood that to make a change he would have to relate to his audience on a more enhanced level. He wanted to bring an end to the separation between the races. Equiano saw the cruelty the Caucasian men would show towards the Africans at Barbados. He talked about how families would be split up eternity, bringing an addition to the already built up fear and anguish among the slaves.
The most shocking thing is that even though going through what he went through, he himself once had slaves of his own. This is was the story of Equiano impacted me the most. One of the descriptive details that Equiano gives is when he arrives at the ship and sees people's faces and that they are chained together, “and saw a large furnace of copper boiling and a multitude of black people of every description chained together.” Equiano is already terrified that he was kidnapped and separated from his sister. Now seeing that the people that are on the ship look like him are being treated badly, might have made him even more terrified.
Olaudah Equiano was a victim of slavery and said to have feared the White man when being transported to Barbados. Him and others feared that they were going to be eaten by the White people who have captured them. He describes the trip that he took to get to Barbados and how he was sold off into slavery. Equiano was put up for auction with other slaves that traveled with him. He describes the other slaves asking the White people questions.
Olaudah Equiano was one of the most famous black men in the history of slavery who was lucky enough to purchase his freedom by himself. Equiano was highly popular for his autobiography named The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African. This is an interesting autobiographywhich was published in 1789 and it emphasized various aspects of slavery throughout the entire book. In The Interesting Narrative, Olaudah Equiano uses poetic diction and tone ( sadistic) to illustrate his perspective as a slave by portraying the cruality and brutality of slavery. Equiano was very disappointed with his master’s betrayal.
The autobiography primarily taken place in Great Britain known as, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African, Written by Himself authored by Olaudah Equiano. This narrative characterized as a slavery narrative, as he discloses his journey as an African American reconstructing from a life of slavery to freedom. Throughout history, most African Americans endure barbarous punishment from white masters. Equiano was deprived from his life and thrown into slavery, during this time it was a prevailing condition for many. He hastily discovered he must conduct everything the masters commanded of him to survive or for outcome of freedom.
