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Essays on the interesting narrative of the life of olaudah equiano
Essays on the interesting narrative of the life of olaudah equiano
Essays on the interesting narrative of the life of olaudah equiano
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Many slaves have been treated brutally by white men and Christians; as a result, slave narratives were written to advocate for antislavery and better treatment. One example of a slave narrative is The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African Written by himself, published in 1789. Olaudah Equiano is an African American who was a captured at a young age from his own race, and was later sold into the slave trade. He is determined to become free, and to advocate for anti-slavery. Despite being a minority in society, he hopes that his use of pathos and vivid descriptions will help persuade white men and Christians to realize that African American slaves are human too; therefore, slavery should not be cruel. …show more content…
Equiano’s childhood was fulfilled with love and care from a big family of nine; more importantly he hopes to persuade his audience how the slave trade was a drastic life transition by using pathos (Equiano, pg.690).
In the life of Olaudah Equiano, being captured at a young age has affected him emotionally, for he states “[at] the age of eleven...an end was put to my happiness” (pg. 690). Like any other child, he feels scared and overwhelmed, for he has lost his family. He will not have a taste of freedom again, unless he fights for it. In this case, it may be intimidating to do so for he is young and unexperienced. Moreover, slaves do not have a voice, so their pain meant nothing to superior men (which makes slaves less human). One day, Equiano was lucky enough to have found his sister, and to have been allowed to work together for the same slave owner (pg. 693). Being by her side was a relief from pain, he was no longer depressed nor did he felt lonely. After Equiano found his sister, he gained hope that someday all this physical and mental pain about the slave trade will be over. Perhaps, there was a slim chance of reuniting with their whole family if they had planned to escape together. Nonetheless, they are now “torn …show more content…
[apart] forever,” and Equiano’s hope of reuniting with his family is shattered to pieces (pg. 693).This creates depression and makes Equiano feel hopeless, “[why] are parents to lose their children, brothers their sisters, or husbands their wives?” (pg. 699). It is simply not fair. These poor African American slaves are getting exposed to numerous slave owners, and carry a huge weight on their minds wondering if they will ever get a chance to meet their families again. It is even more difficult to create a good relationship with white slave owners, and if they do establish a great connection it will not last for long. Overall, his use of pathos demonstrate how the slave trade takes away a slave’s happiness as they get separated from their families. Equiano writes with vivid descriptions to persuade white men and Christians understand the hardships of slavery.
During the slave trade, many slaves attempt to kill themselves, for they “[prefer] death to such a life of misery” (pg. 698). Once again, it is not fair that slaves are being forced to follow absurd orders when they are ill and tired. Slaves are human too, so they need rest. The white men on board do not seem to understand how it may be overwhelming for someone who has never been on a ship before. They expect for every slave to follow an order, otherwise slaves will be severely punished by white men. As mentioned before, many have never experienced the luxury to travel on a ship, so the majority of the slaves became ill from it. Equiano explains that many refused to eat, and as a consequence white men “hourly whipped [slaves for disobeying an order]” (pg. 696). With this example, Equiano vividly illustrates how strict white men can be because an hour is too much torture for just “not eating” (pg. 696). Perhaps, he suggest if white men had not oppressed slaves on board, slaves would not be trying to escape or kill themselves. Moreover, when slaves were actually hungry, white men would eat in front of them and “tossed the remaining fish back into the sea” (pg. 697). Most likely, this was done on purpose to create more pain on slaves. Even though there were many slaves to take care of, Equiano felt that white men were only present to create physical pain for any
stupid reason. In summary, Equiano writes a slave narrative to provide a voice for minorities (African American slaves). However, he is not asking the public to end the slave trade; he wants to gain sympathy and comprehension from them. He attempts to persuade superior men by using pathos, illustrating how traumatic it is to be kidnapped and sold into the slave trade. It was a difficult journey to overcome since he was young and inexperienced. Moreover, he explained the atrocities he and other slaves went through to show how inhumane punishments were. In doing so, he hoped that superior men would only punish slaves when necessary. Overall, African American slaves are humans too, and they should not be treated brutally in the slave trade.
Both, “The Interesting Narrative Life of Olaudah Equiano” and “Amistad” are important stories about slavery in pre-civil war america because they both address the issues of slavery. These gentlemen in the story made a difference in the slave trade. In “The life of Olaudah Equiano”, Olaudah was sold on a slave ship that came to the Barbados. Olaudah worked for his freedom, and in the end became efficient in American language. He worked his way to the free life and in the end it worked out for him, although it leaves scars on his soul. In “Amistad”, Cinque is a slave that leads a revolt on a slave ship after escaping. When they get to america, Baldwin, a lawyer that is representing the slave and the former president Adams helps free the slaves.
Equiano was the youngest of his brothers who enjoyed playing outside throwing javelins enjoying the normal life of a small child. At the beginning of the day, the elders would leave their children at home while they went out into the fields to work. While they were gone, some of the children would get together to play but always took precautions of potential kidnappers. Even with all these precautions, people were still seized from their homes and taken away. Equiano was home one day with his little sister tending to the everyday household needs when out of nowhere they were captured by a couple men who had gotten over the walls. They had no time to resist or scream for help before they found themselves bound, gagged, and being taken away. Equiano had no idea where these people were taking him and they didn’t stop once until nightfall where they stayed until dawn. He tells us about how they traveled for many days and nights not having any clue where they were going or when they would get there. Slaves traveled by land and by sea, but Equiano’s journey was by sea. He tells us how he was carried aboard and immediately chained to other African Americans that were already on the ship. Once the ship halted on land, Equiano along with many other slaves were sent to the merchant’s yard where they would be herded together and bought by the
There are few things as brutal as the history of the institution of slavery. In his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, the aforementioned Olaudah Equiano describes the experience of his entrance into slavery.
The novel The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano exists as an extremely important work in the abolitionist movement in England. As an 18th century narrative written by a former black slave, the novel provides a glimpse into the lives of the African slaves involved in the slave trade as well as the slave traders themselves. Even with the controversy over the authenticity of Equiano’s claims on his origin in Africa and his subsequent voyage through the Middle Passage, this novel serves as a powerfully instructive piece of literature. Throughout the novel, Equiano strives to impress upon the reader a certain set of moral standards or ideals that he desires to instruct the reader about. One such moral ideal that is prevalent throughout the entirety of the novel is Equiano’s construction of the idea of the value and worth of the African slaves, as opposed to the view of the African slaves as simply commodities or objects to be purchased and traded.
The fight for racial equality is one of the most prominent issues Americans have faced throughout history and even today; as the idea that enslaving individuals is unethical emerged, many great and innovative authors began writing about the issues that enslaved people had to face. Olaudah Equiano was no exception. In his work The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, he attempts to persuade his readers that the American way of slavery is brutal, inhumane, and unscrupulous. Equiano manages to do this by minimizing the apparent differences between himself and his primarily white audience, mentioning the cruelties that he and many other slaves had to face, and the advantages of treating your slaves correctly.
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.
Slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries consisted of brutal and completely unjust treatment of African-Americans. Africans were pulled from their families and forced to work for cruel masters under horrendous conditions, oceans away from their homes. While it cannot be denied that slavery everywhere was horrible, the conditions varied greatly and some slaves lived a much more tolerable life than others. Examples of these life styles are vividly depicted in the personal narratives of Olaudah Equiano and Mary Prince. The diversity of slave treatment and conditions was dependent on many different factors that affected a slave’s future. Mary Prince and Olaudah Equiano both faced similar challenges, but their conditions and life styles
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.
The slave narratives written by Olaudah Equiano and Frederick Douglass, were important pieces of literature, helping to bring to the life the harsh realities of slavery. Equiano and Douglass, documented their experiences as slaves, to in hopes to connect with white audiences, showing them the immorality and hypocrisy of slavery. While both writers aimed to highlight the inhumanity of slavery, hoping it would lead to abolishment, Douglass and Equiano had different approaches. Both writers were influenced by different eras: Equiano’s writing is influenced by the Enlightenment Period, while Douglass was influenced by Romanticism. Comparing the styles, Douglass’ narratives are stinging, while Equiano’s narrative seems to be more appeasing. However, this has more to do with the influences of their time, than the character of either man. Contrasting styles of both men, echoes the contrasting philosophies of Romanticism and Enlightenment; different but one paves the way for the next.
In comparison to other slaves that are discussed over time, Olaudah Equiano truly does lead an ‘interesting’ life. While his time as a slave was very poor, there are certainly other slaves that he mentions that received far more damaging treatment than he did. In turn, this inspires him to fight for the abolishment of slavery. By pointing out both negative and positive events that occurred, the treatment he received from all of his masters, the impact that religion had on his life and how abolishing slavery could benefit the future of everyone as a whole, Equiano develops a compelling argument that does help aid the battle against slavery. For Olaudah Equiano’s life journey, he expressed an array of cruelties that came with living the life of an African slave; which demonstrates all of the suffering that he endured, then proving how much it can change one’s point of view in life.
Slave narratives were one of the first forms of African- American literature. The narratives were written with the intent to inform those who weren’t aware of the hardships of slavery about how badly slaves were being treated. The people who wrote these narratives experienced slavery first hand, and wanted to elicit the help of abolitionists to bring an end to it. Most slave narratives were not widely publicized and often got overlooked as the years went by; however, some were highly regarded and paved the way for many writers of African descent today.
The title, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, shows a more explicit marriage between his two identities: Olaudah the free “English” man and Gustavus, the slave. Even though he seems dedicated to his English identity and although he tries to marry Englishness and slavery, Equiano also separates them. “Did [he] consider himself to be European, [he] might say that [his] sufferings were great” (Equiano, 1789, p. 2). Here he shows that although he engages and fully endorses the marriage of slavery and Englishness, or Europeaness, the two identities will never come to understand life in the same way although they rely on each other, Englishness more so on slavery than the other way around. They are so starkly different, the experiences the slaves went though were extremely grave, their living conditions and the way they were treated by whites was inhumane; even the basest of European society lived in better conditions than most if not all slaves. To Equiano, the things that he went through were not that bad when compared to another slave’s experience. One could say that the man was extremely lucky when comparing his experience to another slave’s. But when compared to a European “his sufferings were great.” Despite this, an attempt at the marriage of slavery and Englishness or Europeanness is not impossible. And it is this possible union that Equiano attempts to show in his
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.
As both the narrator and author of “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by Himself” Frederick Douglass writes about his transition from a slave to a well educated and empowered colored young man. As a skilled and spirited man, he served as both an orator and writer for the abolitionist movement, which was a movement to the abolishment of slavery. At the time of his narrative’s publication, Douglass’s sole goal of his writings was to essentially prove to those in disbelief that an articulate and intelligent man, such as himself, could have,in fact, been enslaved at one point in time. While, Douglass’ narrative was and arguably still is very influential, there are some controversial aspects of of this piece, of which Deborah McDowell mentions in her criticism.
"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.