The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano': Critical Analysis Essay

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Olaudah Equiano: His Story As He Remembered

Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, written by Himself (London: 1790), 51-54 https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/british-north-america/olaudah-equiano-describes-the-middle-passage-1789/

The African American Historian Olaudah Equiano attempted to showcase the horrors and terror of the triangular trade. “The Triangular Trade was also known as the Transatlantic Slave Trade; it was a way of trading goods during the 16th-19th century between the regions of Europe, Africa, and the Americas.” The middle passage transported millions of Colored slave people to the New World on a ship as part of the Atlantic slave trade. However; former slave Olaudah Equiano provides a highly vivid scene of the horrific circumstances and hardship in which they as slaves lived at that time.

Olaudah Equiano indicates the cruelty of the treatment they received as slaves by telling how they were chained up and tossed on board with cargo. He explains that they were put under the deck where they had no room to move due to it being crowded with all slaves on the ship and the materials it held. They were all touching each other during the time there was no personal space. He mentions how there was an extremely disgusting smell that filled the air which made it hard to breathe due to the dry air. It was highly a heated atmosphere under the deck for the slaves. Olaudah tells how sickness was brought on and many African slaves fell to death. It was so filthy; they used the same tub to bathe and lay in as all the slaves as well as eating each other. The slaves didn’t just become sick behind the filth it was also diseases brought upon them. They lived and lay in their filth. There was undressing in front of each other (Slaves were all strangers). There was no privacy at all for the slaves even based on gender.

The slaves were left with barely anything to eat or drink had many more died from hunger and thirst. They had to have a small portion and shared that with multiple people as the ship crew selfishly ate their fish. He continued to tell a story in which he lived through firsthand experience in 1789. He stresses the issue of how aggravating and scared they were of the whites. In the article he numerous times states how hard of a hardship it was for them as slaves. “In this manner, we continued to undergo more hardships than I can now relate; hardships which are inseparable from this accursed trade. -Many a time we were near suffocation, from the want of fresh air, which we were often without for whole days together.” Former slave Olaudah tells about the cries that filled the air and the grief and terror noise. They were beaten and out of their misery, they started wishing for death. He mentions standing by two slaves that soon threw themselves overboard committing suicide and one was captured and beaten. The crew put netting that hung on the boat to prevent slaves’ attempts of suicide but that didn’t stop them from attempting. After that, he witnesses an island in which they then arrive with joyful whites.

The description of the Middle Passage’s history in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade holds that it was a triangular trade route that took days to accomplish. Rum, sugar, coffee, slaves, tobacco, etc. were sold in exchange and labor. The African slaves were forcibly removed from their homes and families the whole trip was subsequent transportation across the Atlantic seas. The transportation was under the most abominable and hellish conditions imaginable. The slaves were stuffed under a ship’s deck where it became so packed some began to fall or couldn’t breathe due to the atmosphere. There were excessive deaths of many slaves that were inevitable because of the poor conditions during the time of the Middle Passage. The remaining were left on board under deck with the slaves. “The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable.” The transport across the Atlantic waters in a slave ship was under the cruelest and harshest conditions ever imagine. The whole document was about slaves witnessing a new world and a tragic journey of the middle passage. Life as a slave was hard and miserable. The Transatlantic slave trade was one of the most fascinating subjects that had extremely grown American industry.

In conclusion, the Trans-Atlantic trade was a disaster for the colored people. Due to the Middle Passage now there are the world’s most influential countries. It was a terrible way of how our ancestors were treated but they fought and stayed strong through the bad conditions and pain they received. Some died some survived and because of them, we live in this great world today. Olaudah Equiano made everyone aware of the cruelty and because of its rights is active. However, Paullina Simons once said, “All great things worth having require great sacrifice worth giving.”

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The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano’: Critical Analysis Essay

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