Similarities Between Frederick Douglass And Olaudah Equiano

In the Classic Slave Narratives, a novel written by Henry Louis Gates Jr., it tells the stories of four well known slaves that lived in the era of slavery. The best known slaves were, Olaudah Equiano and Frederick Douglass. Both of these men experienced different form of slavery, and had different views on how they were treated. Olaudah and his younger sister were kidnapped at the age of eleven, and they were sold into slavery. Frederick on the other hand was born into slavery back in 1818. In this novel both of these men tell their stories and give us an insight on how their lives were living in slavery. Their narratives go into detail on how they were treated, what they saw, and what their own experiences were trying to escape.

Olaudah Equiano

The day of his planned escape, he accidently killed a chicken that belonged to an elderly woman slave, she took noticed and went out to tell her mistress. While the woman was out telling on him he saw this as an opportunity to make a run for it. He hid in some bushes near the woods. When the mistress and the elderly woman came back Olaudah was gone, the entire town got in an uproar and went out to look for him. After the night had passed he returned to the home of the family, and slept in the kitchen were in the morning he was found by the elderly woman. After a short time his master's daughter and son became very ill and died. Soon after Olaudah was sold to another family. This family lived closer to the sea coast, where he understood the language better and by chance was reunited with his sister. The reunion was short as Olaudah was sold to a family in Tinmah, “the most beautiful country I had yet seen in Africa”(Gates 52). His time there was cut short, as he was sold once again. This time he was sold closer to the sea coast, where he saw his first large body of water ever.

After being enslaved, Equiano was transported across the Atlantic, first to Barnados and then to Virginia. This is when he first witnessed how cruel the white men were. One day they had caught a fish, although hearing the cries of the hungry slaves, the

He was not able to see the sites because he had gotten smallpox, which nearly got his legs amputated. In the winter, while at sea, they were approached by seven french men and were attacked. This being Olaudah’s first fight, he was extremely excited. He went back to England where he lived for the next few years. He spoke proper english but wanted to learn how to read and write. The Miss Guerin sisters who he lived with for a while liked the idea of him learning how to read and write. n the middle of May, Equiano was summoned by Captain Doran and was told he had been sold to a new Master, whose name was Mr. Robert King. King wanted to purchase him because he liked his character and how much of a hard worker he is. Other people offered King up to one hundred guineas for Equiano. King was good to Equiano and said he would put him in school and fit him for a clerk. King feed his slaves good and sometimes got criticized by others for it. King’s philosophy was: the better fed the slave; the harder the slave would work. King had Equiano do a new job on the ship, which is called gauging. Gauging is measuring the depth of the boat or a compartment of a boat. He also put Equiano in charge of the Negro cargo on the ship. While working for King, Equiano saw clerks and other white men rape women, which made him angry, especially because he couldn’t do anything about