Category: Olaudah Equiano

There are many things that people can learn from the lives that a few intellectual people have lived. Biographies are excellent ways of preserving history and learning points as the experiences of a person expresses a lot about the true nature of live events. The current generation faces many challenges, especially in societal issues brought by diversity. The race has become a concerning matter in every corner of the world, and black people have been affected as they experienced discrimination and harassment since the establishment of industrialization in Europe and the discovery of the Americas (Bugg 1431). Slavery led to the exploitation, suffering, and deaths of over 30 million people who were forcefully shipped overseas to offer free labor. Such historical injustices require a unique perspective of a story to be told to the society for such wrongs to be avoided (Bugg 1438). Olaudah Equiano successfully establishes such a perspective of telling the true nature of historical injustices, especially slavery in his autobiography entitled ‘The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. This paper discusses how the theme of slavery has been portrayed throughout Equiano’s text.

Presence of Slavery in Equiano’s Early Life

Equiano expresses the issue of slavery in almost every aspect of his experiences as he starts his narration by expressing the presence of slavery in Guinea and his presence in his father’s and other judges’ condemnation of a person caught kidnapping a child. It is fascinating how, with no prior history to white people, he is still able to acknowledge the presence of slavery (Simmons 76). As upper-class individuals in society, Equiano and his family were already entitled to possess slaves. He, at one time, even looked back on his village’s utilization of slavery as decent and inhumanely as the one in West Indies (Smith 768). According to him, the slaves were treated almost the same as everyone since they were provided with similar types of clothing food housing (Equiano 41). He says that the slave in his Benin home did not do more work than the other members of the community, and it was tough for anyone to notice the difference between them and the rest of the society (Equiano 41). In their nation, some slaves could even have other slaves under them, but not it the new lands where he had been taken. Through such an early depiction of slavery, the reader can understand the theme and its play in the narration. In this way, both a sense of class order and humanity affected his early impression of slavery.

Equiano’s Linkage of Slavery with Life Class

In the slavery days, Africans captured fellow black men and sold them to white men who took them overseas like commodities waiting for buyers. The linkage between social class and the aspect of slavery never ran in Equiano’s mind until he found himself as a captive of his fellow black men waiting to be sold like a domesticated animal (Bugg 1431). In his view of the people who had captured them, Equiano sees uncivilized individuals with backward norms of life and is irritated by how they behave (Equiano 52). He has even to go ahead and make a comparison of how much people were fellow Africans but had a too much backward culture than his community. He notes that the capturers’ women were not well mannered as the ones from their community since they ate, slept, and drunk with the men (Equiano 52). Such behaviors and others made Equiano consider himself of a better community, which at least had manners in its culture.

Knowledge’s Influence on Slavery

When Equiano first saw the white men, he thought them of being some beats that would have eventually eaten him (Dias 5). Nevertheless, the fears eventually subdued when he arrived in the new land as his interest in education gave him a new perspective about life. At first, he did not like the idea of white people, but with the education, he started feeling more of being part of the European community as he was amazed by their type of society and the way they behaved (Simmons 77). He narrates how he developed a stronger drive of trying to look like the white people who had captured him, be able to imitate their way of life, and also imbibe their spirit since he saw them as superior men (Equiano 72). This is a different point of view for any person who has been under the harsh treatment of white masters. The new knowledge is the leading facilitator to his involvement in religious matters, especially reading the Bible and forming a friendship with white people (Smith 767). Somehow this new knowledge changes how he felt and viewed the institution of slavery and how he viewed white people’s involvement in it.

Conflict of Religion and Slavery

Whether direct or indirect, it is essential to accept the fact that religion had a significant impact in the slave institution. From the expeditions of missionaries into Africa to the final halt of the trade, religion shaped different aspects of the progress. Equiano conflicts a lot with himself when it comes to choosing between the white man’s religion and the abolition of the slave institution (Simmons 78). One may note that Equiano’s contradicting views about slavery may perhaps be because of his higher class distinction, which makes him not to be against all sorts of slavery in the new region (Smith 768). Equiano sets it clear that God is against those who inflict pain and misery on slaves but still sees it as God’s actions, not his owners intended actions when he sells to a new owner (Equiano 86). His point of view seems to be in support of the slave owners’ view that slaves do not deserve God’s love and compassion. This somehow makes him to be in contradiction with his main drive of trying to put an end to slavery. But on the whole, this part of the Narrative does put his fight against the slave owners in more jeopardy, as he does plan again to escape (Simmons 76). He eventually goes ahead to illustrate some of the cruelest slave treatment he has witnessed in his life. He even goes ahead to quote that, “Jesus tells us, the oppressor and the oppressed are both in his hands; and if these are not the poor, the broken-hearted, the blind, the captive, the bruised, which our Saviour speaks of, who are they?” (Equiano 108). This helps him to create the essence of moving away from the bondage created by the cruelty of slave owners and their actions on the slaves. From such a perspective, there is much contradiction in his belief of the slave owner’s religion and his stand against their actions on slaves.

Conclusively, Equiano offers a more in-depth look at how the international slave trade was conducted and showcased the presence of slavery in the continent, even before the appearance of white slave owners. Through his life journey, one can be able to know the factors that enhanced the practice and also what made it dormant. The religious point of view on slavery is not left out in his analysis and so creating an overall point of view on all events of the slavery era.

While once the cultures of the world were centralized in their respective origins, with the introduction of new technology and determination of increased influence, Western culture found new beginnings across the globe. In the 16th century, Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci took forth to introduce Christianity to China. In the 18th century, Olaudah Equiano, former slave turned abolitionist, was stripped from his Igbo culture in Africa to be sold to European slave owners. Although Ricci had purposefully set forth to spread his religion and Equiano was taken against his will, the intercultural influence that both figures successfully achieved have in many ways largely shaped our world today. Through the publication of their first hand accounts and stories, Ricci and Equiano have successfully reinvented many cultural norms that are still present today.

In order to detail the motivations and impact of Matteo Ricci as an intercultural figure, it is first necessary to understand his uprisings. Ricci was born in Italy and went to a Jesuit school. In his teenage years, Ricci studied law in Rome and then later left school to become a Jesuit. Ricci’s strong passion for science and religion led him to leave his life in Rome behind to travel to Portugal and prepare for his later overseas expeditions. He then went to India where he had constant health issues and went back to Goa. In 1582, Matteo Ricci left his European lifestyle to find new beginnings in China with hopes to convert the Chinese people to Christianity. On the other hand, Olaudah Equiano’s road to becoming an intercultural figure was not as voluntary at first. Equiano was born in 1745 in what is known today as Nigeria. At only 11 years old, Equiano and his sister were kidnapped from their home and sold by slave traders. Equiano was then forced into a European slave ship and sent across the ocean to Barbados and later to Virginia. In 1757, he was purchased by a naval captain who took him to England where he served the captain at sea. At the same time, Equiano was able to spend his time away from work by living with the captain’s family in London, where he received a European education and had learned how to read and write. Six years later, he was sold once again and taken back to North America where he worked for a merchant and had determined to make enough money to buy his own freedom. In 1766, Equiano had made enough money to become free and returned to England, thus beginning his new life that would establish himself as a prominent figure in history. Despite their unrelated uprisings and motivations, both Ricci and Equiano have impacted different societies and used their voices to contribute to their own agendas.

In their processes to shift cultural norms, Ricci and Equiano both documented their accounts that have clearly laid out solid understandings of each of their efforts. In Matteo Ricci and the Catholic Mission to China: A Short History with Documents, author Ronnie Po-chia Hsia includes several letters written by Ricci during his time spent in China. The seventh document in this book is the letter that Ricci wrote describing his observations of Chinese culture and religion. Although Ricci had a strict agenda to reinvent religion in China, he still expressed admiration and care for its society when he wrote, “It is admirable that they [the Chinese people] can calculate very clearly and precisely the eclipses, in a manner different from ours, and how this people, who have never had any commerce with Europe, have achieved in arithmetic and in all the liberal and mechanical arts by themselves as much as we have.” Ricci believed that China had all the aspects of a great nation, and that all they were missing was Christianity. He stressed this in the same letter, writing, “If to their natural ingenuity God is to add the divine understanding of our holy Catholic faith, it would seem to me that Plato could imagine no better republic than what exists in reality in China.” As this letter was written directly by Ricci in 1584, there are some biases that must be mentioned. First, Ricci knew that he and the Jesuits could not completely change the way of life in China and that their success depended on making sure that Christianity could co-exist with China’s already established rituals. Therefore, Ricci admiring all other aspects of China and learning about their culture could have been a strategy to further convince the Chinese people of the simplicity of conversion. Additionally, Ricci was introduced to Jesuit life at an early age and therefore sees his religion as the only one fit to occupy a nation. Thus, his narrative does not take into account why many Chinese people did not find it necessary or meaningful to convert. Nevertheless, Ricci’s first hand accounts provided a sense of credibility in his endeavours. While his plans to convert the Emperor and Chinese elites to convert the whole nation were not achieved, some Christianity remains in China despite Communist crackdown. Furthermore, Ricci left other influence in China apart from what was intended such as how the Chinese people loved and adapted the maps that Ricci had and enjoyed seeing how large the discovered world was. Similar to Ricci’s personal documentation of his experiences in China, Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography, The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, details his experiences as a slave and his determinations to becoming free. Equiano’s success story to freedom played an impactful role in the abolition of slavery, which defined him as an intercultural figure. As Lowell Milken Center accurately phrased it, “As one of the earliest writers of an autobiographical slave narrative, the mere fact that people recognized his authorship was revolutionary.” Equiano, like Ricci in China, used his writings to convey his emotions at the time of his enslavement as means of documentation. When discussing his travels following the kidnapping of him and his sister, he wrote, “I now wished for the last friend, Death, to relieve me, but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatable and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands and laid me across, I think, the windlass and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely.” With vivid imagery, Equiano’s writings were able to convey the horrors of slavery to further an emergence for abolition. Equiano’s story allowed people to see what life was like under racial slavery, as noted when he describes his entrance onto a slave ship, writing, “When I looked round the shop too and saw…a multitude of blac people of every description chained together…I no longer doubted my fate and…I fell motionless on the deck and fainted.” Despite the undeniable influence of Equiano’s stories and abolitionist contributions, there is bias presented in his work. Since Equiano was only 11 years old when he was introduced to slavery, and since his accounts were not written right away, they may lack important aspects. Nevertheless, both Equiano’s and Ricci’s accounts have influenced culture to varied extents.

Although both Ricci and Equiano have made lasting contributions as intercultural figures, their impact has reached different extents. Ricci’s main goal of converting China to Christianity failed while Equiano’s contributions to the abolitionist movement was successful. Ricci made great strides to assimilate with Chinese culture to integrate his Jesuit beliefs, yet, his foreign message could only spread so far and convince so many people. On the other hand, Equiano’s publication of his autobiography was influential in the passage of the Slave Trade Act (1807), prohibiting Africian slave trade in the British Empire.

During the Victorian Era, the complexities of society became its defining trait that would forever leave a mark in the pages of history. Categories and subjects such as gender roles, ethnicity, race, class, and age were all heavily influenced. In particular, ethnicity and race. During the era, Europe was on the conquest of who could control who more and unfortunately, it resulted in more harm than good. European control of the Slave Trade became a key principle and would revolutionize the progression of the world. People from Africa and Latin America were captured and enslaved by their White counterparts. This created a permanent gap in our society. The power of European descent was defined as superior to other races. The difference in the color of skin and your ethnic descent mattered more to your livelihood than your heart of character and integrity. It was oppression at its most ignorant state and consequently, many sought to be a voice for the unheard. Many forms of expression were present in modern literature. Authors and Poets alike defied Slavery. William Cowper was once an English poet and hymnodist. He wrote a variety of anti-slavery poems in aid of the Abolitionist campaign. He wrote a poem called ‘The Negro’s Complaint’ which swiftly grew to be very famous due to its use of ballad form and the author’s assertive perspective gave its title of one of the most powerful abolition poems. In addition to Cowper’s exemplar role, was Olaudah Equiano. Equiano was an author and abolitionist. Oppressed as a youngster, he was sold on three occasions however bought his freedom in 1766. As a freedman in London, Equiano distributed his life account, “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano”, which portrayed the repulsions of the subjection of ethnicity and race in society. Both of their works alleviated societal stress. The turmoil that Slavery had brought not only shifted ideas and beliefs but did it to an almost unfathomable point of return. It was the roles of Abolitionists like Cowper and Equiano to forbid the passage of slavery. In their craft, they signified the issue at the time, injustice. William Cowper and Olaudah Equiano, through their literary works, address how race and ethnicity influence the creation of power and oppression in society, specifically through the use of ballad elements, ethos, and logos.

In “A Negros Complaint”, readers are greeted by a ballad narrative style of poetry, a simple way of saying that the poem tells a story. This key element became its most defining poetic quality. During the beginning of slavery, the desolate oppression that was placed upon non-European individuals was counted as purposeful. Europeans truly believed that dominance was god-given, and it became the one and the only story to be told. However, this poem told its own story that contradicted the idea of European righteousness. On one verse, the Cowper addresses the religious aspect of European oppression, stating, “Is there, as ye sometimes tell us, Is there One who reigns on high? Has he bid you buy and sell us Speaking from his throne in the sky?” (Cowper, lines 25-29). Cowper questions his intended audience, slave owners, asking them through the perspective of a slave, what veridical form of justification do they have besides the empty words of men. By giving a story, audiences are set to face to face with what seems to be another person rather than another page. This not only causes the audience to question their beliefs to see the reality but provides a sense of realism by giving the slave a voice, something never expected. Cowper then tells a tale of horrid and inhumane malice. “Me to torture, me to task? Fleecy locks, and black complexion Cannot forfeit nature’s claim; Skins may differ, but affection Dwells in white and black the same.” (Cowper, lines 12-16) The narrator states that the color of his complexion is of nature’s doing, and it does not define the way he is treated. Yet, he is subjected to the malice of white men because of the pigment of his flesh and texture of his hair. This narration causes the readers to contemplate and self-reflect on their actions faced to face with this poem and how it relates to God. In hopes, Cowper wants salve owners to realize the hellish behavior they partake in and to discontinue it. Altogether, it demonstrates how ethnicity and race have rendered oppressed thoughts voiceless.

Ethos, derived from Greek literature is a form of rhetorical appeal that deals with the idea of credibility. This is achieved as the slave narrative is a first-hand experience. In “The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano”, Equiano vividly describes his journey as a slave, which is a gruesome and inhumane process. On one occasion, he accounts for a time where he witnessed the use of a torture device called the “Iron muzzle” (Equiano, page 54), a torturing device that was used in front of him on a pregnant black woman, rendering her unable to eat or drink. It made him dread more than he could have imagined, filled with great fear of a wrong action towards his owners. This story goes on for decades of his life to induce the perfect form of ethos. He goes on to list every aspect of his unjust upbringing and this makes the audience believe and trust Equiano more as an author and more specifically, a person. He is able to strike the audience’s sense of truth and convinces them of what has been done to him to be nothing less than inhumane.

Finally, Equiano uses the rhetorical appeal of Pathos, another Greek word that simply translates into emotion. In his narrative, Equiano uses this rhetorical appeal to evoke specific feelings out of the readers. He describes the ship he was boarded on, where he and his natives were kept and its horrors. When he was first kidnapped and forced to take passage to Europe, he accounted, “The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered a whole scene of horror almost inconceivable,” ( Equiano, page 48). This causes the intended audience, Europeans, to feel pity and guilt for the ways slaves were treated. That he too is a human, not an object or cattle. In addition, he also uses certain diction to draw out more feelings in readers. Adjectives such as “horror”, “evil”, and “wretched” (Equiano, pages 36, 14, 47) become emotionally brimming words. Such a technique is given in its effectiveness in Equiano’s purpose for writing his story. To immerse the minds of others on the malice he faced as an ethnic difference in a sea of white. And thus, it demonstrates how the denomination of one’s native results in their oppression within the Victorian Era.

This was a time of power and control from the European superpower. Slave Trade occurred and it occurred in a time of rapid idealistic development. Where defining stigmas still lasts today. Because of it, the world’s worst mistakes and judgment calls were made. However, it does not sway from the fact that because of slavery, the world would not be where it is today. The labor and economic opportunity, as horrid as it was, was ripe with fruits of fortune. It increased the production of goods and bloomed the flowers of trade. Today, non-European descent are all culturally unique and form a world far better than it was before. Yet, questions on what could have or what should have happened are on the table. What would this world look like if the power of ethnicity and race did not affect the actions of oppression within society?

The slave exchange was a significant part of the world’s economy during the eighteenth century. A large number of Africans were being sold for money, and many Americans tried to justify this by using the Bible. One of the verses used to justify slavery was Ephesians 6:5-7. This says, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people.” In this verse, these liars used the Bible to falsely-accuse the Bible of supporting slavery. Another verse used to support slavery was Philemon 1: 12. In this verse Paul is returning a runaway slave, Philemon, to his master. Lastly, in Genesis 21: 9-10, Abraham, the “father of faith,” and all the patriarchs held slaves without God’s disapproval. They used these circumstances and many verses in the Bible to justify slavery. This was not the right aspect of slavery. The Bible calls us to love everybody equally and be kind to them.

Olaudah Equiano ended up as one of the kids grabbed and sold in the underground market as a slave. Equiano was about eleven when he was kidnapped and sold into slave trade. In Olaudah Equiano’s life, he had many troubles and many doubts but he never stopped loving Jesus Christ. While he was on the ship he had very little hope of escaping. He had hoped for death and had very little faith. He found himself observing many instances of cruelty on the ship. He recalls one instance saying, “One white man in particular I saw, when we were permitted to be on deck, flogged so unmercifully with a large rope near the foremast, that he died in consequence of it; and they tossed him over the side as they would have done a brute. This made me fear these people more; and I expected nothing less than to be treated in the same manner.” This is showing us that Equiano feared the white man and did not want to get flogged. Because he had this fear he treated the white men with respect and kindness even when they did not do the same back. Although he had this fear and respect the white men still treated him poorly. He says, “I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables; and on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across I think the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely.” He was flogged by the men and treated very poorly. At many points he thought of suicide, but knew not to do it. He said, “and besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the decks, lest we should leap into the water: and I have seen some of these poor African prisoners most severely cut for attempting to do so…” He wanted to die but he did not want to get flogged for attempting to do so.

Out of these two authors Phillis Wheatley had the most Biblical view of race in my opinion. Phillis Wheatley was an African-American poet and slave. She wrote poems on many subjects such as religion and moral aspects. In the poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America” Wheatley seems to be happy to have been brought to America. She says she was brought from Africa (the ’pagan land’) to America, which introduced her to Christianity. Christianity has brought her peace and salvation, which she didn’t even know she needed. She followed the Bible and was a devout Christian. She wrote about revelation, the characteristics of God, biblical authority, redemption, the image of God, the wickedness of man, and the need for a righteous Savior like Jesus. Using these things she also wrote against American Christians who preached that the Bible justified slavery, showing them the false concept of defending slavery using Christ’s teachings.

Phillis Wheatley had a better Biblical view of race than Olaudah Equiano because she . Olaudah Equinao struggled at talking about the deeper meaning of things. He would touch on Biblical points but wouldn’t base his thoughts and deeper things. “On Being Brought from Africa to America” portrayed Phillis Wheatley’s thoughts of race very well. It showed how she depicted race and helped us picture how she truly felt. To this day Wheatley’s thoughts have a great effect on society. Phillis Wheatley used her poetry to fight against the inequality encouraged by slavery. Her poetry was seen as a threat to the style of society. However, anti-slavery believers were beginning to use Wheatley to prove that no race was superior to another. Through this we see that Phillis Wheatley had a great effect on American society and helps us have a Christian viewpoint on race.

The memoir The Life of Olaudah Equiano is a interesting and rare source for the Atlantic slave trade. When looking into the issues of the Slave trade it is rare to find any sources that are made by the people who were slaves themselves because they rarely had the chance to learn to write. Equiano is an uncommon example of a slave who bought his freedom and was able to learn how to write and in turn write a book about his experience as a slave. This unusual case led to Equiano’s memoir being used as a weapon against slavery. It was used to expose the awful conditions of the ships that transported slaves through the middle passage and appalling slave masters. It also was used to fight slavery with a very religious tone due to Equiano’s conversion to the Methodist faith. It challenges the idea that slavery does not align with virtue and makes himself, a slave, more relatable using religion, which in turn causes people to see slaves more as people. As this all is used as a weapon the whole book is a call to action that challenges slavery itself.

One of the most important ways that this source was able to battle Slavery was the inside view it gave to the experiences of slaves transported in the middle passage. These ships that transported slaves from Africa to the Americas were not regulated and therefore loaded to the max with as many slaves as the traders could fit. There were so many slaves on the ships that Equiano described them as “The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added tot he number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us” (18). This was part of the slave trade that many people did not see. The suffering and pain these people went through were brought to life in front of the readers eyes. Exposing these inhumane situations that slaves were being forced to live through brought to light just how bad the slave trade was and no doubt change many peoples opinions on slavery at the time, pushing the anti-slavery movement forward.

Another aspect of this memoir that is similar to the exposure of the terrible conditions of the slave trade was the information that Equiano provided that revealed the inhumane treatment of slaves by their owners. While he had owners who allowed him to buy his freedom he declared that, “repeated cruelties are the wretched first urged to despair, and then murdered” (42). This again gave readers an inside look on how slaves were treated and the inhumane conditions they were made to endure. Mentioning these insights about slavery also was used to demonize slave owners and attack them in the war against slavery. Equiano referred to the slave owner as tyrants and human butchers to describe them based on their terrible acts towards slaves. He also manages to recruit people to the anti-slavery movement by appealing to their ethos when he says, “They pay no regard to the situation of pregnant women, nor the least attention to the lodging of the field negroes” (42). As it is easy for people to feel more emotionally infested in the wellbeing of a pregnant women, the readers of this book would have been drawn into the anti-slavery movement.

A tactic that is also used to make this into a weapon against slavery is the act of attacking the definition of virtue and who that includes. Equiano, at one point compares a French family to a black family and asks the reader if they think there is a difference between the values of their lives (44). He also goes on to talk about human nature and how the natural believes of man and virtue conflict with slavery. To contrast between people virtue and how the slaves are treated “But is not the slave trade entirely a war with the heat of man?” (44). He challenges the idea that white men are superior to Africans because he doesn’t believe that they are unequal. This helps people see less of a dived between their races, which leads to many people leaning into the anti-slavery movement.

Another way to make people sei Africans and slaves as more than just a source of labor was through religion. Equiano because Methodist later in his life and he was very religious in writing this memoir. Many people at this time become to some kind of Christian church. This was a hard thing to work through for people who still supported slavery. However, when Equiano says, “I then requested the divine Creator that he would d gran the a small space of time to repent of my follies and vile iniquities” (78) and many other times he mentions God it make readers feel more equal to him because they belong to similar religions. This is also done by Equiano using and citing the scriptures in his memoir as well. It used to be that that slavery was justified by taking slaves from different religions but many slaves were being converted to christianity as well so people started judging off of the idea of race. However, doing this still helped people see Equiano as more of an equal which led to more people joining the anti-slavery movement.

Another way that Equiano was able to portray himself as more of an equal amongst white readers was that of his story to the Arctic. It may have seemed sort of random that he would have included his trip as a free man into the Arctic but I think that it was a way that he could show readers that Africans were just as capable as europeans to have a life of their own and explore life. I think it was also showing readers how Africans are capable of contributing positively to society as free men. This is shown when Equiano talks about the end of his travels in the Arctic were he claims that they explored more of the Arctic than anyone before them and they also found that there was no easy way to get to India (76). This gave an example of how slaves were just as capable of having lives as europeans and that they deserved to as well. This humanized slaves and pushed people to realize that slaves where people as well and that the system of slavery was flawed and inhumane.

In analyzing all of these points it can be seen that the whole book itself can be seen as a promotion for resistance against slavery. It is a recruitment tool for the anti-slavery movement. It exposes the inhumane and unjust conditions that the slaves were put through. This memoir was largely used by people to make people realize the reality of what slavery was and just how bad it had become. I think that this belief is seen when Equiano says, “These are concerns which do not perhaps belong to any particular office: but, to speak more seriously to every man of sentiment” (103). This shows that Equiano knows that slavery is a problem that everyone should be concerned with. That is why he wrote this book, too make sure that people knew the details of how bad the slave trade was so each and every person could realize that they needed to do their part to end it.

In conclusion, this memoir was used to expose awful conditions the slaves had to endure on the ships and the inhumane treatment from slave masters. It also fought slavery with a very religious tone because of Equiano becoming converted to the Methodist faith. It challenges the idea that slavery does not align with virtue and makes himself, a slave, more relatable using religion, which in turn causes people to see slaves more as people. I think it was Equiano’s hope that this memoir would be a call to action for people to resist the slave trade.

Now there are people who believe that Equiano was not actually born in Africa but born in South Carolina. This changes a lot of aspects about his experience. First I would like to address that even if he didn’t experience being transported on a slave ship form Africa many of his experiences are still likely to have happened so I don’t think that they should be analyses with much difference. However, I do believe that if he had lied about that then there is the possibility that he could have lied about more. In this case I think that people should still take into account this narrative when looking at the Atlantic slave trade but just to approach it more hesitantly.

I think that it can also be taken into account that if he was born in South Carolina he probably heard many stories about slaves experiencing the trip from Africa to the Americas. In this way he could have written about it from his perspective when it was really from the perspective of a family member or friend. In this case it doesn’t make what happened any less true just seen from a different pair of eyes.

If he did lie about where he was born than maybe it was to make his memoir more of a propaganda piece to fight against slavery. Which I don’t feel the need to condone as something terrible because slavery was a bad institution that needed to change. I don’t think that this alone should change how we read his memoir because we know from other sources that a lot of what he described is decently accurate even if he wasn’t really there.

However, I do think that it should change the way we evaluate it. Maybe just reading this and analyzing it with the thought that he possible could have lied means that a reader would be hesitant to believe every word, which is what one should do in the first place. It is never a good idea to get all your information from one source, comparing sources and finding similarities also reveals the best conclusions.

Discrimination is a global issue that has not only taken a toll on society all across the world through various occasions in history but remains prevalent even today. According to the American Psychological Association, discrimination is defined as the prejudicial treatment of individuals based upon characteristics such as race, gender, age, ethnicity, and culture. The human brain naturally categorizes encounters of the world as its way of sensualizing surroundings. Discrimination, however, stems from a combination of learned experience, observation, and misunderstanding. As it has become a public health issue, discrimination goes way beyond the surface. According to the 2015 Stress in America Survey, people who have experienced discrimination rate their stress levels increasingly higher than those who have not. Chronic stress has been linked to various health problems including anxiety, depression, obesity, high blood pressure, and stress.

In addition to contributing to health problems, discrimination has been a major barrier in achieving the American Dream, the ideal that all Americans have freedom of equality and each individual has equal opportunity to achieve desired success so long as they work for it. The national ethos became popular and widely accepted during the 1950s and 1960s, mainly because of the economic/technology boom. With World War II underway, American factories began replacing tanks and guns with cars and television sets. The newfound world of mass consumption gave Americans hope and optimism for prosperity and many began moving to the suburbs. Although the thought of such leisure for everyone seems great as to resemble popular sitcoms, the American Dream was not all that it seemed to be during the time as not everyone could enjoy it. Minorities who could not take part in the new American opulence were greatly angered. American myths associated with the 1950s and 1960s, ‘everyone has a fair chance at success if they just try hard’ in particular, do not do justice in portraying the reality of all the American lives in the past because the new American affluence was only attainable for some. While it is unfortunate that discrimination can lead to unfair and detrimental situations, it is very inspiring when individuals are able to use it as their stepping-stone to better lives for themselves. Several writers have used their craft to transform from rags to riches, escaping discrimination while informing others in the hopes that change will eventually be made in history.

Leslie Marmon Silko is among many influential writers who shed light on personal experiences of discrimination through writing. The Native American poet and novelist grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she learned all aspects of the Laguna tribe. According to www.utm.edu, Silko reveals that being of mixed blood while living in Laguna society resulted in pain and discomfort. She suffered from discrimination because she was never fully accepted by whites or Native Americans. Drawing upon her personal experience of discrimination, she wrote Ceremony, one of her most famous works. Ceremony describes the horrors that the Native Americans faced during and following World War II. They were forced out of their homes, taken out of their social context/cultural norms, and forced to join the service. Silko focuses on Tayo, a Japanese prisoner of war, and how he used ceremonies to heal himself after the war because traditional doctors were not acclimated to treat the soldiers’ mental instability. Silko states ‘Jungle rain had no beginning or end; it grew like foliage from the sky, branching and arching to the earth, sometimes in solid thickets entangling the islands, and, other times, in tendrils of blue mist curling out of costal clouds. The jungle breathed an eternal green that fevered men until they dripped sweat the way rubbery jungle leaves dripped the monsoon rain….Nothing was all good or all bad either; it all depended”. Tayo reflects on the traumatic moments during his time in World War II. One of the most fundamental lessons that he learns is that everything in life has positives and negatives attached. Just as the rain is desperately prayed for on the desert reservation, it has its downfalls as well. Likewise, the whites, who were detrimental to Native American customs, were also integral elements in the ceremony that cured men who fought in the war. Silko’s life and literary works relate to the class central theme of scientific reasoning, open-mindedness, and inquiry because she delved into aspects of self-identity and culture. Through her literary work, readers can conclude that Silko was a strong believer that the purpose of the art of writing is to draw upon identity and surrounding culture.

Olaudah Equiano also used his personal accounts of discrimination to influence his writing. Www.pbs.org states that he was born to the Nigerian Ibo people in the kingdom of Benin. His family had dreams for him to achieve a prominent career in life such as a chief, elder, or judge. Their dreams were shattered when he was kidnapped at the age of eleven and separated from his family. Surprisingly, slavery was a piece of Ibo culture and Equiano’s early experiences as a slave were not all unpleasant. Some of the families that Olaudah was owned by even treated him as if he was a part of their family. Upon his captivation, however, the generous treatment abruptly ended and Olaudah faced the real pressures of slavery and discrimination. He shared his experience of being separated from his family and held captive as a slave for many years in his narrative The Life of Olaudah Equiano. In the narrative, he states “I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across, I think, the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely” (380). By describing the horrifying experience of witnessing slaves decide to commit suicide rather than continue to live in slavery, and even contemplating the idea himself, Equiano emphasizes that enslavement can actually be worse than death. He concludes with a powerful rhetorical argument against the slave trade and commercial arguments for abolishing slavery. Olaudah’s life and literary works fit into the class central themes of diverse voices and changing the ways of thinking about America as a nation. Although his diversity ultimately forced him into harsh slavery, he used it as a powerful weapon, sharing through his writing and broadening society’s perception of slavery.

William Edward Burghardt DuBois, popularly known as W.E.B. DuBois, was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. According to www.biography.com, DuBois grew up in a predominately white town where he identified himself as mulatto. He attended school with whites and was supported academically by his teachers, who were also white. It was when he began attending Fisk University in Nashville Tennessee, however, that he first encountered Jim Crow Laws and the horrors of racial discrimination. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk focuses on slavery and racism as well. DuBois uses ‘the color line’ to symbolize the societal divide between races. Although invisible, the line greatly controls society both mentally and physically. He characterizes the force of racial prejudice and alienation as a veil that separates black people from whites and from the broader society in which they live. DuBois states “The nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land. Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people—a disappointment all the more bitter because the unattained ideal was unbounded save by the simple ignorance of a lowly people” (564). The Souls of Black Folk focuses on the cringing reality that the economic structure was degrading as it denied a majority of black Americans their rights. Various pieces of legislation were put in place through the Constitution, but there was no effort in enforcing them. Although the 13th amendment abolished slavery, racism survived for years to follow. Despite the 14th amendment establishing citizenship for each individual born in the United States, African Americans were not treated as citizens. Although the 15th amendment granted all male citizens the right to vote, African Americans had to undergo a series of tests and stipulations to be allowed to vote, which made it impossible for them. The life and literary works of DuBois fit into the class central theme of diverse voices and changing ways of thinking about America as a nation because he used his voice as a minority to challenge the faults of American legislation.

Ralph Ellison was among the more fortunate of minority writers. According to www.pbs.org, Ellison was a competent African American man born in Oklahoma in 1913. During the time, Oklahoma was known to be a frontier state with no legacy of slavery. Ellison was able to explore fluidity between races, attend a keen, nondiscriminatory school, and pursue his dreams with mentors, both black and white, behind him for support. Although he did not have to experience the discriminatory nature of society, he shed light on those who had to. In Invisible Man, Ellison highlights the relationship between racism and identity. Powerful symbolism is shown as the fighters are ordered to scramble for coins on an electrified rug. The rug symbolizes the economy and struggles of African American individuals. It reveals their endurance of pain and hardships to survive in white dominated society with limited opportunities available to them. The blacks are forced to experience agony and discomfort while desperately trying to get the coins, which represent power, wealth, and prosperity, all at the expense of amusement for the whites. The electrified rug and gold coins showcase the ways that the dominant whites manipulated blacks by putting them in harm’s way to obtain success that was basically impossible for them to reach. The narrator struggles to develop self-identity as complexities arise due to the fact that he is an African American living in a racist American society. Throughout the novel, he travels through a plethora of communities from the Liberty Paints Plant to the Brotherhood. Each community, however, has a different perception of how African Americans are to behave in society, which forces the narrator to abandon his true identity and behave inauthentically to conform to the different societies. Eventually, the narrator comes to the realization that the racial prejudices ultimately place limitations on his behavior. He comes to conclusion that he is invisible, in the sense that he is surrounded by blind people who cannot see his genuine nature because racism inhibits their vision. The narrator learns that he can only come to understand himself by isolating himself from harsh society. His grandfather uses his last moments of life to make a powerful command to his son. His last words are ‘Son, after I’m gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days….I want you to overcome ’em with yeses, undermine ’em with grins, agree ’em to death and destruction, let ’em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open.’ (1211). In giving his lecture, the protagonist’s grandfather, who has practiced compliance towards whites his entire life, dies telling his family to live life exhibiting the opposite behavior. He wants his family to obtain justice in ways that he could not fathom achieving during his lifetime. He argues that they can eliminate the racial dichotomy by using the powerful weapon of perceived obedience. Ellison’s life and literary works fit into the class central theme of diverse voices and changing ways of thinking about the self and consciousness because he used his voice as a minority African Americans to shed light on the lives of other African Americans, in hopes of bringing about change.

Born to Polish parents in Sweden 1948, Art Spiegelman had a very arduous life. Www.britannica.com states that Spiegelman immigrated to the United States in 1951 along with his parents, where they settled in Queens, New York. He gained interest in cartooning and attended Manhattan’s High School of Art and Design as a teenager. He attended college at the State University of New York. Spiegelman’s life was heavily impacted by the Holocaust, the devastating mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime. During the Holocaust, Spiegelman’s parents sent Rysio, his brother who died before he was born, to live with an aunt because they thought that he would be the safest in her care, away from the terror of the Holocaust. In 1943, however, the aunt poisoned herself, Rysio, and two other young children who were in her care, so that the Nazis would not have the ability and satisfaction of taking them to extermination camps. Spiegelman left college without a degree after his mother committed suicide in 1968. He developed a strong relationship with his father, who shared his experience as a Holocaust survivor. His father’s personal accounts inspired Spiegelman to write one of his most famous comics, Maus. Issues of race and class are very relevant in the plot of Maus by Spiegelman. As racism is seen on a grand scale in the Holocaust, mice symbolize the Jews, while cats represent the Germans. The symbolism used is taken straight from Nazi propaganda, which depicts Jews as vermin that needs to be exterminated. The cat/mouse relationship is also representative of the relationship between the Nazis and Jews, as the Nazis played with the Jews before taking their lives. Beneath the simplicity of the metaphor, however, is Spiegelman’s aim to illustrate the unyielding stratum by class and race that characterized Poland during World War II. As Vladek is talking to Anja in the comic, he exclaims “To die, it’s easy. But you have to struggle for life!”. Vladek acknowledges it would be far easier to die than survive. However, living through their horrific reality meant putting up an undying fight. Spiegelman’s life and literary works fit into the class central theme of changing ways of thinking about America as a nation because the Holocaust was a major period of history.

Discrimination is an issue that has plagued history for several years and affected many lives. It is seen in many groups today, including immigrants, African Americans, and women. Immigrants, who mainly come to America to escape their relentless lifestyle in their home country, have to undergo an extensive process to gain citizenship in America within a relatively short period of time. Police brutality has resulted in devastating occurrences regarding injury and death of several unarmed African Americans. A gender pay gap exists in employment between men and women as women are paid substantially less than men, despite working the same types of jobs. Discrimination has spread like wildfire over the years and caused a plethora of complications, with health deterioration being a major predicament of today and the American dream being a major predicament of many years ago. As it has been seen to have many negative aspects, it is inspirational to see individuals use it for positivity as writers Leslie Marmon Silko, Olaudah Equiano, W.E.B. DuBois, Ralph Ellison, and Art Spiegelman have done through literature. Individuals like these are those who provide hope that one day America will overcome discrimination and all United States citizens will be have the ability to fulfill their Constitutional rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Works Cited

1. “Africans in America/Part 1/Olaudah Equiano.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p276.html.
2. American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/discrimination.
3. Leslie Marmon Silko, http://www.utm.edu/staff/lalexand/ceremony.htm.
4. Levine, Robert S., et al. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.
5. “Ralph Ellison.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 26 Jan. 2010, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/ralph-ellison-an-american-journey/587/.
6. Ray, Michael. “Art Spiegelman.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 19 Aug. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Art-Spiegelman.
7. “W.E.B. DuBois.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 10 Sept. 2019, https://www.biography.com/activist/web-du-bois.

Throughout his Interesting Narrative, Olaudah Equiano successfully appeals to his white European and American audience and is able to somewhat see the pitfalls of slavery. Although I believe his primary motive in writing this piece was to tell the story of his life, the respect he earned from the hard work and dedication that was apparent in this piece allowed for his audience to be more tolerant of his message. To convince his white audience that slavery is wrong, Olaudah Equiano extends an olive branch to his white European and American audience through demonstration of hard work, a positively viewed religious attitude, and a sense of God’s mercy that was bestowed upon him.

Before analyzing Equiano’s methods to appeal to his audience, his identity and background must be examined thoroughly. Equiano, being a slave ripped from him homeland in Africa, has a very rare and interesting personal identity. His identity changes multiple times throughout the course of his life, and some might even say it shifted dramatically by the time he settled in London. One interesting analysis done by George Boulukos looked at the two extreme portrayals of African identity at this time. One of which describes the slave trade as Europeans rescuing Africans from the kings that held them captive previously. According to William Snelgrave, “these kings… happily kill captives as human sacrifices and even for cannibal feasts” (Boulukos 249). The other depicted Africans as innocent primitives corrupted by Europeans. Clearly neither of these depictions are accurate but being that these were the two prominent views that Equiano’s audience held about his identity, he must walk a fine line. He must balance two things, first, he doesn’t want to change parts of his identity to better fit the expectations of his audience, but secondly, he also needs to connect with his audience and help them understand the true African identity of this time period. This identity mold that Olaudah Equiano has crafted lays a solid foundation from which he uses other effective techniques to reach his intended audience.

One of the primary ways that Equiano captivated his audience was through his work ethic and drive to achieve what he wanted in life. Often those that reach their goals no matter the hardship they endure demand one’s respect, no matter the preconceived stereotypes that one may have. From the effort he showed abort his ship while working for his master, to the pains he went through while selling his only possessions, it was clear that Olaudah Equiano was a hard-working man. Right when Equiano was sold to his new master, Mr. King, King informed him that “the reason he had bought me was on account of my good character; and as he had not the least doubt of my good behavior, I should be very well off with him…” (Levine 750). This was one of the first examples of Equiano seeing his hard work pay off. His master recognized his good character and work ethic, and therefore rewarded him for it. At this time in history, hard work was something understood by all, no matter your social status. Aboard his ship, Equiano was able to distinguish himself from his fellow slaves by increasing his utility. He eventually was preforming gauging while aboard the ship, which was no small feat. One thing to note is that Equiano did not know how to gauge when he was sold to Mr. King, but when Equiano informed him that he had no prior knowledge of gauging, “he said one of his clerks should teach me to gauge” (Levine 752). Here is yet another example of where Equiano’s work ethic opened new doors for him to continue to move up in the world and acquire new skills. These accomplishments were rare for slaves, and I believe that the mention of examples like these earned Equiano respect from his intended audience, which made his entire message easier to swallow.

Secondly, Olaudah Equiano’s religious attitude was an asset for his quest to appeal to the white audience. His transition to Christianity combined with his identity as a European was crucial in allowing for fellow Europeans and Americans to see him in a positive, respected light. In all of chapter 10, his mood and diction changes completely. For example, after returning from a voyage, Equiano says “I rejoice greatly; and heartily thanked the Lord for directing me to London, where I was determined to work on my own salvation, and, in so doing, procure a title to heaven, being the result of a mind blinded by ignorance and sin” (Equiano 262). This is one of the first times Equiano speaks of the “Lord” and Christ in this way. After coming to England, Equiano tried his best to assimilate with British Culture. He enjoyed England and took steps to get baptized (with the help of Miss Guerins) and attempted to get an education. Although he was lucky that his masters allowed him to have these things done, it was his conscious decision to take steps towards his goal. After meeting Daniel Queen, he furthered his religious journey, and although he did have to leave these things somewhat behind to sail with his master, he returned to his academic and spiritual education as a free man. As a free man, he became increasingly concerned with salvation and guaranteeing his spot in heaven. Particularly after consulting with other respected figures, he became more and more troubled with the idea that he may not ever be able to fully repent and reach heaven. This last point in incredibly important because many people during that time period were dealing with the same problems surrounding religion. This serves as a great connection point and allows for Equiano’s white audience to relate to him, which is heading in the direction of seeing him as an equal, and not an ex-slave.

Furthermore, Equiano has an intense sense of what he sees as God’s mercy that was bestowed upon him. Although he clearly faced horrors and hardships at every turn throughout his life, he is incredibly grateful for the opportunities that he did have, and eternally thankful for how his life turned out. At the very beginning of his narrative, Olaudah Equiano apologizes in advance to his readers for not having the most exciting story, but still hopes that it helps to change the ways slaves are treated in the future. So, we see from the very beginning that Equiano recognizes that although there is no doubt, he had an incredibly hard life, there were many slaves that had much worse treatment and lives overall. On page 733, Equiano says, “I might say my sufferings where great: but when I compare my lot with that of most of my countrymen, I regard myself as a particular favorite of Heaven, and acknowledge the mercies of Providence in every occurrence of my life…” Equiano seems to consider himself lucky, which is somewhat true in the sense that he had access to many opportunities that were never even a thought for many slaves. I imagine the fact that he recognized this went a long way for his European and American audiences, and even the slaves and descendants of slaves that would eventually have the chance to read this narrative. This sense of extreme accountability is admirable, and I would imagine that his white audience is more tolerant of his message when the author doesn’t see himself as a victim. Also, the fact that the accountability stems from religious reasons earns him double points in his audience’s book.

Equiano’s interactions with the society he lives in are interesting to say the least. Although the sea-based society that he was a part of for most of his adult life was more democratic than its land-based counterpart, Equiano was harshly reminded of his true status as a slave each time he returned to Land. He was lucky enough to have been bought by a more lenient owner, and aboard his ship one’s status was defined by their utility as a sailor, not solely as a slave. This philosophy proved vital to Equiano, who was able to distinguish himself as a sailor, enough to at one point buy his way to freedom. Unfortunately, long before that day ever came, Equiano clashed with the land-based society every time he would return from the ship’s journeys. Having to practically beg to trade what little he had for money, he was continuously made aware of how low on the society chain of command he was at that time. For example, during one of the times he and another slave were attempting to barter their goods, to white men came and stole their items. They begged for their materials but to no avail, as Equiano says “They not only refused to return them, but swore at us, and threatened if we did not immediately depart they would flog us well” (Levine 757). Immediately here they were reminded of their status, and the fact that they were seen as sub-human. Eventually they were able to recover about ½ of their supplies, and Equiano ended up sharing his goods with his companion, as the only half that was returned was that of Equiano. Olaudah Equiano was in a very particular and special place when it came to his place in society. It was almost as if he was leading two separate lives during his time as a slave, there was his life with a reasonable and somewhat pleasant master out at sea, and there was also the harsh reality of life on land as an oppressed African American.

One specific example of how difficult it was for Olaudah Equiano to live his life post slavery was analyzed by Cathy Davidson. There is no doubt that Equiano’s life as a slave was incredibly arduous, but his life post-slavery is equally as interesting to analyze. While Equiano was sailing as a free man, but still under British rule, he technically was still a fugitive. Just because Equiano bought his freedom does not mean that slavery did not exist in the British Empire. Because of this, Davidson describes how “watchfulness is a precondition of Equiano’s existence” (19). Equiano’s life was a true struggle, both when living and then writing his autobiography, particularly because of the controversial goal of his narrative, and where he chose to live. Even though he was not a slave, he had to constantly look over his shoulder and watch his own back, because oppression was constant for his people, whether you purchased your freedom or not. Davidson also investigated the psychological effects of the institution of slavery not only on Africans, but also Americans and Europeans. Davidson argues that for whites, they operated off of the protection of their property, not a sense of humanity. Throughout the narrative, Equiano received next to no help from the Europeans around him, and although he did have a “humane” owner, the fact that he was owned shows how backwards this institution truly was. The psychological effects of slavery ran so deep that Davidson argues that it “dehumanizes the slaver as much as the slave” (21). Olaudah Equiano went through eternal struggles while living his life and writing his narrative, and thankfully it finally became clear to the world how terrible a system slavery truly was.

One interesting take on Equiano’s life came from Geraldine Murphy, who analyzed how over the course of his life, Olaudah Equiano transformed himself from the “travelee ripped from his family and culture… and becomes a traveler himself when he grows up, observing Europe” (Murphy, 552). Murphy argues that Equiano saw both sides of life in his time on this Earth, going from a slave to a free man who lived relatively well near the end of his life. This paradox of lifestyle may have contributed to Equiano’s ability to connect with multiple audiences and argue for something that was very controversial. Because he has seen both sides of the coin of life, and lived both extremes, he is better equipped to tackle slavery and its horrors. And what better way to argue that point than to provide a narrative of his life, including the horrific lifestyle as a slave, and transitioning to a free man who has found God, and is looking to change his path in the afterlife and leave a legacy for his family? Olaudah Equiano’s Narrative served as the perfect “transcultural” or hybrid work, beginning to merge to very different viewpoints, and bringing them closer to a decision that would change the course of human history forever.

To conclude, with the goal of convincing his white audience that slavery is wrong, Olaudah Equiano extends an olive branch to his white European and American audience. He does this throughout his narrative with demonstration of hard work, a positively viewed religious attitude, and a sense of God’s mercy that was bestowed upon him. His life was extremely unusual, some might even say lucky, living through slavery and also experiencing life as a free man. He took full advantage of all of his opportunities and was able to use his African identity to better connect his intended audience with his past and his history. He attempts are very successful, and Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative was extremely influential and important regarding the treatment of slaves in the future. In a time period where slavery ran the world, Equiano chose to start the conversation surrounding the dehumanizing institution that is slavery, and successfully used his life to demonstrate why a change needed to happen around the world.

Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography, The interesting life of Olaudah Equiano, is a complex, historical piece of literature that enables the reader to see Equiano’s own personal experiences. Apart from being a historical piece of literature, Equiano’s narrative serves as a spiritual autobiography illustrating his conversions to Christianity. Religion may arguably be viewed as one of the major themes of Equiano’s fascinating journey. Upon arriving to England, Equiano became fascinated with Christianity, describing himself as “determined to be a first-rate Christian” (Equiano 74).

Moreover, many of the White Englishmen who constantly oppressed Equiano also identified themselves as Christians. However, through his own experiences, the reader reveals just how much of a massive role religion played in his narrative and in his own life. More specifically, the reader discovers how his religious conversion to Christianity signified a type of freedom that allowed Equiano to create a sense of individuality and self identity. This form of freedom could arguably be more important to him than his own freedom from slavery. Equiano presents his audience with an extremely thoughtful view on the role of faith and take a and how it very well may be utilized as a device to overcome even the most despearing situations.

Equiano is one of the most remarkable authors of his time because he was able to take the religion of his oppressors, make it his own, and use it against them to establish his own identity apart from the one that was taken from him.

Those who disagree claim that “[Equiano] knowing what his British and American audiences need in order to accept him as a credible narrator, uses religion as a mask for social critique” (Elrod 409). In other words, they make the argument that Equiano is simply using religion to manipulate his readers to accept him as a credible narrator. However, in a time period where most African Americans could not read or write, there were people who constantly sought out to discredit his narrative. Considering this, one can understand that it was vital for Equiano to use something that his American and British readers can connect with for his work to even be considered a serious body of work.

In addition, others who oppose also question Equiano’s devotion to Christianity as a whole. They question rather he really sought out to tell the story of his spiritual journey, and if he truly believed that God would set him free. On the contrary, I disagree. Equiano does not use religion as manipulation for credibility, instead he uses it to enable his readers to familiarize themselves with him. Equiano’s Christianity is raw, deep, and very personal. Thus, emphasizing it throughout his narrative allows the reader to connect with him on a more personal level. Equiano’s move towards Christianity played a very strong part in forming his own identity against those same oppressors who stripped his identity away from him.

In the early stages of Equiano’s religious life, he identifies himself as being apart of the Igbo religion. According to Equiano, the Igbo religion were descended from ancient Jews and their religion was a modern survival of ancient biblical religion (Johnson 1003). However, he does not have conception of eternity. His religion spoke more to the thoughts of goodness and innate solidarity than to any thought of individual salvation. Certainly, there was no scriptural form of his tribal faith. As a result, he frequently thought of death as desirable over the contracted and resented the life he was living. Without direct contact to English dialect, reading and writing skills, and education, his future appeared to be disheartening. In some points of his narrative, he speaks of “an anxious wish for death” (Equaiano 37) and asks God to “direct the stroke of death” (Equiano 127) upon him.

However, after arriving in Britain, Equiano soon learned about Christianity and started to gain an appreciation for life. Equiano began praying to God and looked to God for guidance. Equiano states, “…I thought I could plainly trace the hand of God, without whose permission a sparrow cannot fall. I began to raise my fear from man to him alone, and to call daily on his holy name with fear and reverence…” (Equiano 113). Equiano uncovers the profundity of his spirituality, and the degree to which he traits the conditions of life to this divinity. Although his original views of religion consisted of views from the Igbo religion, which customs and manners are similar to Jewish people, it is clear that Christianity has a more powerful role in his life. It also shows that Equiano has evolved from the Igbo belief system of sun worship and magicians to that of grace through Christianity. Equiano takes the religion of his oppressors as his own, and uses it heavily throughout his writing to express his new identity and freedom from his oppressors. This is what makes Equiano one of the most remarkable artist of his time.

Furthermore, Equiano not only takes the religion of his oppressor as his own to form a new identity, he also uses religion as a weapon against his oppressors. In various parts of his narrative, Equiano makes an effort to shed light on the cruel slave masters who identified themselves as Christians. By doing this, Equiano displays how much dishonor white Christian slave masters brought upon the religion and how they misrepresented it. In his narrative, he exposes these “religious” slave masters as being devilish human beings. When describing an account where another slave tried to escape, Equiano recalls, “This Christian master immediately pinned the wretch to the ground, at each wrist and ankle, and then took some ticks of sealing wax, lighted them, and then dropped it all over his back” (Equiano 46). Equiano emphasizes that the slave master was Christian to show the reader that slave masters who identified as Christian, were not holy because they performed terrible acts like this, which is considered to be a sin. Exposing these “Christian” slave masters in his writings later paved the way for other Black writers to do the same. For example, half a century later in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass expresses his frustrations towards corrupt Christians. Douglass states, “I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason but the most deceitful one for calling the religion of this land Christianity…” (Douglass 118). More black influential writers help shed light on just how crooked these “Christian” slave masters were and this was all because Equiano tuned their own religion against and exposed them for who they really are in his writings.

Olaudah Equiano is one of the best authors of his time because he was able to take his oppressors religion as his own and use it against them in his efforts to abolish slavery. By emphasizing the development of his sense of self over time through Christianity, and arguing that white “Christian” slave masters were uncharitable and misrepresent what it meant to be Christian, Equiano establishes credibility and furthers his argument on why slavery is wrong and should be abolished. Equiano is a symbol of how a strong belief in salvation can help get through unbearable situations like slavery.

The non-fiction piece “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” was written by Olaudah Equiano. The memoir is about Olaudah Equiano who got kidnaped by a slave trader when he was 11 years old. When he was on the way to another country, he met a different slave trader and got terrible treatment. In this journal, it shows slavery’s horrible experience and feelings. The author’s purpose is to inform the abolition of the slave to their society by informing the slavery of inhumanity treatment. The author was using rhetorical strategies such as pathos, ethos, logos, word choice, and direct address to convey the idea of the text.

At first, the author used pathos to appeal to readers’ emotions. For example, the author stated, “And I even wished for my former slavery in preference to my present situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind, still heightened by my ignorance of what I was to undergo”. The text showed Equainp’s point of view when he got kidnapped by a slave trader. Also, he didn’t know anything about his situation and he feared everything. His feelings make readers feel pity for his experience and it appeals to audiences’ compassion. Also, the author stated, “I naturally feared that element the first time I saw it, yet nevertheless, could I have got over the netting, I would have jumped over the side”. The text can appeal to emotion. It is because he only can overcome and not fear that in that situation. It also shows how helpless of him when he was only 11 years old and comforted that by himself. After the description of how the slaves were sold, Equiano asked some emotional questions. “Why are parents to lose their children, brother their sister or husbands their wives?”. These questions make the reader understand the author’s situation. Other slaves left their parents, brother, and sister. They supposed to be together with their family so it showed the tragedy of slaves’ life to appeal the emotion. By using pathos, the author can make readers feel bad and pity to their life so that the author can persuade the reader to oppose slavery.

Moreover, the author used ethos to appeal the ethics. For instance, the author depicted his feeling “I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits and that they were going to kill me”.The text described Equiano’s feeling about got kidnapped. It shows how terrified he was and shows his spirit. That gives the readers a sense of the author to make them understand the author’s situation. Furthermore, when Equiano was on the ship, he kept asking questions “How comes it in all our country we never heard of them?”, “Where were their women?” and some questions about the place that he was going. Equiano was 11 years old and it was the time to explore or learn things. However, he got kidnapped and he didn’t have any choice to be a slave. The text shows Equiano’s humanity. It appeals to shared beliefs, children curious – stated what the reader is supposed to feel about. In addition, Equiano asked, “why are parents to lose their children, brothers their sister, or husbands their wives”. The text appeals to share beliefs as well. It is because it shows family should stay together. But they became a slave, they can’t live with their sibling and parents. Being a slave, they didn’t have any choice to go to any country or be with their family. Overall, the author used ethos to show the beliefs and Equiano’s situation to convey the sense of the salve.

Besides, the author used word choice and direct address to show the author’s purpose. When Equiano got kidnapped, he described the image of what he being and he used the word “cargo”. The word is used to describe an inanimate or livestock. His description makes readers know about their treatment as animals. Then, they don’t have the choice to choose where will they go. It shows they don’t have a human right. When they got to the place, “we were conducted immediately to the merchant’s yard, where we were all pent up together like so many sheep in a fold, without to sex or age”. The text showed the inhumanity belief. The slaves just like sheep and everyone in a room. Their treatment was terrible and cruel and the slave traders treat them like animals. At the end of the text, Equiano speaks to the audience and take about how unfair and tragedy of slaves’ life. That appeals to emotion and makes the reader have deep thinking. The text expressed Equiano’s feelings and how he feel unfair about the treatment. His description of separating family and friends to appeal the audience compassion. Also, the description can call action which was opposed to slave and have a deep thinking.