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Using An African Slave Essay

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Lisa-Marie Van Wyk 56438176 ENG 1501 Assignment 1 553290 Question 1: The voice depicted in this poem is that of an African slave who wants to find closure about slavery through questioning the humanity of his imprisoner as well as through questioning certain religious aspects. The significance of using an African slave as a choice of narrator is to provoke emotion with the readers of the poem. It allows the reader to sympathize and to feel one with the slave. It also allows the reader to see the victim’s point of view, therefore bringing an emotional attachment to the victim as well as to the poem. Question 2: The personification in the third stanza is: “Sighs must fan it, tears must water, Sweat of ours must dress the soil.” (line 19 & …show more content…

“What are England’s rights, I ask, Me from my delights to sever, Me to torture, me to task?” (line 10, 11 & 12) The speaker uses appeals to logic to undermine slavery and the slave trade by stating that one cannot label a person because of their skin colour. “Fleecy locks and black complexion cannot forfeit nature’s claim; Skins may differ, but affection dwells in black and white the same.” (line 13, 14, 15, & 16) The speaker uses appeal to emotion to undermine slavery and the slave trade by mentioning that all people have feelings, “Skins may differ, but affection dwells in black and white the same.”(line 15 & 16), by asking why God created these circumstances “Why did all-creating Nature make the plant for which we toil?”(line 17 &18), and by mentioning how hard the slaves are working to provide profit for these owners. “Sighs must fan it, tears must water, Sweat of ours must dress the soil.”(line 19 & 20) Question …show more content…

The speaker uses words like “treasure” and “gold” to explain profit, “neck chains”, “forced” and torture” to explain slavery and “black” and “white” for racism. The speaker links racism, slavery and profit throughout the poem by describing that the captors had them “Forc’d from home and all its pleasures”(line 1), “paid my price in paltry gold”(line 6) and that “Skins may differ, but affection dwells in black and white the same” (line 15 &

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