Oluaduh Equiano
The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African Written by Himself is a two-volume memoir of the author's being bought and sold like cargo during the heyday of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Divided into twelve chapters, The Life of Olauduh Equiano begins with the author's description of his own people and culture in West Africa. From the outset, Equiano uses a tone of humility and warns the reader that he understands that in writing his memoir is succumbing to a type of pride or vanity. He tells the reader exactly why he is writing his memoir: not to create a literary masterpiece but to share a story that he feels is truly unique even among Africans. "I believe there are few events in my life, which have not happened to many…did I consider myself a European I might say my sufferings were great: but when I compare my lot with that of most of my countrymen," he states, he has been blessed (p. 8). Describing the culture of West Africa, the author refers to the Guinean kingdoms that extended as far as Abyssinia. He describes West African culture with detail, writing about food, government, and gender norms.
Chapter Two starts the autobiography proper. Here, Equiano and his sister are kidnapped. Equiano is the youngest of his parents' sons and hence the "favorite," (p. 31). He was already being groomed to be a warrior, and actually watched from his perch in a tree while his kidnappers raided the compound. Equiano was aware even at his young age that something like this might happen, and describes the kidnapping as his "fate," especially as none of the adults were around at the time to help. Their mouths were bound and hands tied as the kidnappers carried them through the woods. After several days of camping the kidnappers separated brother and sister from one another even "while they were clasped in each others' arms," (p. 33). Equiano's early days in captivity...
(Olaudah Equiano: A Critical Biography) In the final analysis while there may be some controversy about various details and dates, the narrative in the book is generally accepted to be authentic and reveals a man's search for meaning and freedom. 3. Conclusion The autobiography of Olaudah Equiano is a testament to the search for human freedom and a firm indictment of the practice of slavery. Whatever the debate it about its
Equiano Slave narratives like those of Frederick Douglass and Oladuh Equiano are essential to understanding the institution and the effect oppression has on the human body, mind, and spirit. Each slave narrative also offers something unique, because no two stories will be the same. Different slaves have different experiences, as well as different reactions to those experiences. Slaves like Frederick Douglass and Oladuh Equiano have formative experiences developed during their childhood,
Olaudah Equiano, Enlightenment Era Olaudah Equiano is credited with surviving, and perhaps even thriving in, perilous circumstances that would have destroyed the best of men. His is a character study in complexity because he has an extremely trenchant mind, as manifested in his verbal prowess and in his business acumen, the latter of which was directly responsible for the purchasing of his own freedom from chattel slavery in the 18th century.
..really believe[d] the people could not have been saved" (Carretta, p. 129). In conclusion, this is a fascinating man who was put into slavery and later became an educated, respected writer in his own time. And yet, even after publishing his book, the Interesting Narrative, critics in London doubted that he could have written it himself. A black man with such narrative skill was obviously a rarity. In the Monthly Review,
Equiano and Slavery Equiano's main purpose in writing this Narrative was to inspire Parliament to abolish the African slave trade, which he stated at the beginning when he presented it in 1789. Part of his strategy was to describe himself as a humble "unlettered African" grateful to the West for obtaining knowledge of Christianity, liberalism, and humanitarian principles who is petitioning on behalf of his "suffering countryman" (p. 2). For the
5). Although the author was far from being fortunate to have been sold and bought and sold again, his ability to survive the sea passage that killed so many of his brethren testifies as much to his luck as to his mental and physical strength. Moreover, Equiano was young enough when he was first sold to the British to have still retained the fear of a child that might
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