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 have prevented him from rebelling with as much fury as his older counterparts.
Equiano was lucky also in his encounters with whites in England and he notes in Chapter 6 that his master treated him "well." While in Falmouth at twelve years old, he recounts the white children with whom he bonded, as well as one mother: "This woman behaved to me with great kindness and attention; and taught me every thing in the same manner as she did her own child, and indeed in every respect treated me as such" (Ch. 3). His personal encounters with whites were not all so kind but Equiano had witnessed worse: "While I was thus employed by my master, I was often a witness to cruelties of every kind, which were exercised on my unhappy fellow slaves" (Ch. 5). Equiano was also fortunate to have met Captain Thomas Farmer, who treated him on par if not even better than he treated the white sailors on board with him. As the right-hand-man to the sailing captain, Equiano "immediately thought I might in time stand some chance by being on board to get a little money," and thus had ingrained within him a spirit of capitalism and business sensibility.
C) Olaudah Equiano demonstrated a remarkable...
Olaudah Equiano / Prince Slave Stories The story of Olaudah Equiano began in Nigeria in 1745, when he was born; by the age of 11 Equiano was a victim of kidnapping and was sold to slave traders. His fate was not to be nearly as harsh as millions of other African natives that were seized and put into bondage, as his own writing reveals. But he was a slave and suffered
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.
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
..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,
(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's Travels: A Summary of the Story Equiano begins his story in Eboe, his homeland, a province of the kingdom of Benin. His tales recount his observations in his homeland and he notes some of the cultural and social events he encounters during his travels. He tells of the justice system in his homeland, which he thought to be fair - law of retaliation. He also notes the double standards present;
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