Isn’t it great to have stories that share a similar outline but are completely different with their point of views and experiences? The stories of “of Plymouth Plantation and “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano”, is a perfect example of that situation. “Of Plymouth Plantation” is about the voyage of the pilgrims, “…the life of Oulaudah equiano” is about the voyage of the Africans during the slave trade, yet both share many similarities and differences about their voyages and perspectives are described below. “Of Plymouth Plantation” was written by William Bradford during the journey of the pilgrims to America. The pilgrims left willingly to escape religious persecution from the Church of Britain. Once they reached land, they were so overjoyed with the fact that their voyage was success that they kissed the land once they arrived. Yet, the pilgrims were also frightened by the Natives, who were already on the land, due to their stature and intimidation. A defense system was built to protect themselves from the Natives but once they were proved to not be dangerous, the Natives and pilgrims worked together through the tough and long winter to survive. Out of this friendship was created “Thanksgiving” when the pilgrims and natives came together for a feast …show more content…
to rejoice and thank God for their successful harvest. Similarly, “…the Life of Olaudah Equiano” by Olaudah Equiano was also about the voyage to America.
But the voyagers choice to leave their home country was not by the work of the Africans but by the Europeans. The Africans were forced onto the ships, whom were torn away from their families, where they would be sold as slaves. This story is from the perspective of a captured African who journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean. Some captives were forced to eat in order to be kept alive because not eating was a type of rebellion that occurred during the voyage. Others tried to to escape by jumping overboard. Death, starvation and sickness were large struggles for the Africans once they were
taken. As a continuation, the two stories are similar and different due to the apparentness witnessed to you from the summaries. These stories are similar because they both deal with the hardships and struggles the voyagers faced while traveling the Atlantic and post sea travel. The stories were also similar due to the rebellion made forces. In the first story, the rebellion was represented by the pilgrims themselves leaving the church, whereas in the second story, the rebellion was represented by the Africans who were taken by force. Yet, the stories were also different due to the change in time periods, their reactions to the porting of the ship on the land once they arrived, and due to the ending of the stories. The first story ended with the pilgrims and natives coming together where as the second story ended with the Africans being sold to slave owners. In a concluding sense, the stories of “Of Plymouth Plantation” and “…the Life of Olaudah Equiano” share not only similarities but also differences. But it’s those similarities and differences that make each story unique and more connective to the reader. Stories such as these provide the reader and the world with insight information on a personal level. It is through the hardships we read about that allow us to correct those mistakes and move forward as a unity.
Nathaniel Philbrick opens his book by drawing a direct line from the early Pilgrim’s arrival on Plymouth rock to the building of America. He goes on to say, “Instead of the story we already know, it becomes the story we need to know.” Many of us growing up, myself included romanticize about the pilgrims in the light of the first Thanksgiving and we think about the Indians sitting down with the Pilgrims to take part of the Thanksgiving meal. Next, we believe the myth that everyone lived happily ever after.
"Mayflower and the Mayflower Compact." Plymouth Plantation. ©2003-2014 Plimoth Plantation. Web. 9 Feb 2014. .
Nathaniel Philbrick tells the story of the Pilgrims, beginning with them breaking away from the Church of England, emigrating to Holland, and eventually to America on the Mayflower. He talks about the relationship they had with the "Strangers" or nonbelievers that accompanied them on their adventure. He tells stories about disease, death, deception, and depression. I had never thought about it, but you know some of those people had to be suffering from depression. He tells of joys but mostly of hardships and as he describes some of the first meetings with the Native Americans. His description of the first Thanksgiving is not the same as the pictures I have seen all of my life.
During the 1600’s people began to look for different types of work in the new world. As cash crops, such as tobacco, indigo, and rice, were growing in the South, there became a need for labor. This got the attention of convicts, debtors, and other people looking for new opportunities and money. Indentured servitude was vastly growing during the 17th and 18th centuries. Approximatively 10 million men, women, and children were moved to the new world. Women during this time found themselves being sold to men for these cash crops. A commonly used term during this time for these women was tobacco brides. Almost 7.7 million of the slaves captured and moved to the new world were African Americans. Slaves and indentured servants had it rough for
Olaudah Equiano was a freed slave living in London who made it his life person to abolish the British slave trade. His knowledge and training of the English language allowed him to grow into one of the key figures in the movement to abolish the slave trade in England. Although many scholars acknowledge his incredible talent, there has been evidence in the recent years that may question his reliability as a first-hand account. There is evidence to support that Equiano may have been born in South Carolina. This evidence does not make him a valid source of information about the slave trade and leads his audience to question his statements.
Religion, more specifically, Christianity can be seen throughout The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Religion plays a major role in Equiano’s remarkable journey; that of which can be seen through his personal experiences. Religion plays a significant role in his Narrative and his life overall as he undergoes a spiritual rebirth. This narrative shapes Equiano’s physical move from slavery to freedom and also his journey from sin to salvation.
Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, and Olaudah Equiano all have extremely interesting slave narratives. During their lives, they faced plenty of racist discrimination and troubling moments. They were all forced into slavery at an awfully young age and they all had to fight for their freedom. In 1797, Truth was born into slavery in New York with the name of Isabella Van Wagener. She was a slave for most of her life and eventually got emancipated. Truth was an immense women’s suffrage activist. She went on to preach about her religious life, become apart of the abolitionist movement, and give public speeches. Truth wrote a well-known personal experience called An Account of an Experience with Discrimination, and she gave a few famous speech called Ain’t I a Woman? and Speech at New York City Convention. In 1818, Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born into slavery in Tuckahoe, Maryland. When he was older, he made an escape plan by disguising himself as a sailor and going on a train to New York. When he became a free man, he changed his name to Frederick Douglass and married Anna Murray. He went on to give many speeches and he became apart of the Anti-Slavery Society. Douglass wrote his story From My Bondage and My Freedom and became a publisher for a newspaper. In 1745, Olaudah Equiano was born in Essaka, Nigeria. Equiano and his sister were both kidnapped and put on the middle passage from Africa to Barbados and then finally to Virginia. He eventually saved enough money to buy his freedom and got married to Susanna Cullen. Equiano wrote his story down and named it From the Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. He spent the rest of his life promoting the abolition movement. Throughout the personal slave narra...
Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford and A Description of New England by John Smith are essentially irrelevant to one another in the way that each piece has a very different point of view. The author John Smith was a pilgrim who arrived in the Americas and wrote a description of the new land. William Bradford was also a pilgrim who arrived at Plymouth and wrote more about the realities of his personal journey. The purpose of this essay is to contrast the purposes of the writers, their intended audiences, and how each writer gives out a specific feeling.
Olaudah Equiano in his Interesting Narrative is taken from his African home and thrown into a Western world completely foreign to him. Equiano is a slave for a total of ten years and endeavors to take on certain traits and customs of Western thinking. He takes great pains to improve himself, learn religion, and adopt Western mercantilism. However, Equiano holds on to a great deal of his African heritage. Throughout the narrative, the author keeps his African innocence and purity of intent; two qualities he finds sorely lacking in the Europeans. This compromise leaves him in a volatile middle ground between his adapted West and his native Africa. Olaudah Equiano takes on Western ideals while keeping several of his African values; this makes him a man associated with two cultures but a member of neither.
Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford gives us an insight into the endurance of the early settlers and the kind of pain they went through in order build the foundation of our great nation. They embarked on the new world and developed a colony from the ground up. However, there troubles started long before they even stepped foot on the land. With a strong hold on their religious beliefs, they continued their voyage to the new world even though there were questions about the safety of the vessel. They managed to work hard on the ship and make it to the new world, tired and hungry, only to learn that there was no rest to be found, but even more work.
On the second leg of this trade slaves were transported to the West Indies, this leg was called the middle passage. This part was horrible for the slaves. About 50% of all the slaves on one ship would not make it to the West Indies because of disease or brutal mistreatment. Hundreds of men, woman and children were cramped together for most of the journey, occasionally able move an almost decent amount.
Born in Austerfield England in 1590, William Bradford, orphaned at an early age, raised by several relatives, and with no formal education, became one of the most influential men of the original American Colonists, and is credited as the “Father of American history,” with his diaries of the Pilgrims’ journey and struggles to America. “Of Plymouth Plantation” the journals of William Bradford are still one of the major resources used for historians for this time in history. (Schoenberg, 2001)
The Olaundah Equiano narrative is a view of servitude from a former captive himself. He begins his story in Africa from the land of Esska, his native homeland. He describes his tribe and all the many traditions they practiced as a way of living. Equiano was not originally born into servitude but a free male, son of a chief. Equiano’s life in Africa was common among the many members of his tribe. He was strongly attached to his mother and clenched to her as much as possible. His father obtained many slaves himself, but treated them like an equal part of the family. Equiano lived a common life in African society, until one day his destiny took an unexpected turn for the worst and life would never be the same.
The History of ThanksgivingTopic: The History of ThanksgivingQuestion: What is the origin of Thanksgiving?Thesis: The History of Thanksgiving goes far back to 1621 when the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared a harvest feast, which was the first Thanksgiving meal.September of 1620, a ship known as the Mayflower left Plymouth, England transporting over 100 passengers. These passengers were religious separatists and were seeking refuge in a new territory. Originally, they were headed to the Hudson River in New York, but due to erratic weather such as severe thunderstorms, they ended up in Plymouth Harbor, Massachusetts.1 They were greeted by the local Wampanoag Indian tribe, who befriended the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock and brought them corn and turkey for the first Thanksgiving.2 They also offered them a bountiful harvest of Indian breads, seeds, etc. Throughout the course of time, the Pilgrims had their first successful harvest which then led to a three day
"The Life of Olaudah Equiano” is a captivating story in which Equiano, the author, reflects on his life from becoming a slave to a freeman during the 19th century. Through his experiences and writing, Equiano paints a vivid picture of the atrocities and cruelties of European slavery. Ultimately through his narrative, Equiano intends to persuade his audience, the British government, to abolish the Atlantic slave trade as well as alert them of the harsh treatment of slaves. He successfully accomplishes his goal by subtly making arguments through the use of character, action, and setting.