I Am Olaudah Equiano Or Gustavus Vassa

“Wake up, wake up!” says my owner, Eliza Emerson. She has been my owner ever since her husband, my old owner, died. I have been a slave my whole life and when our old owner died I thought that maybe our new owner Eliza, would set us free if I paid her. She actually liked me here and liked the earnings she got for paying me out. What I thought I could do after she said no was go to court. When our old owner died we had already lived in a free state so I thought that since I lived in a free state I was free.

The main focus of the document, The Horrors of a Slave Ship, is over a topic of a young boy given the name Gustavus Vassa who shared his story of his own slavery experience. He writes about a journey of heartbreak and terror and all of the restrictions he endured. He first describes the day he was kidnapped, then all of the families he was sold to. At one time he was fortunate to see his sister for a last time before being sold again to another family. Vassa observes the differences and similarities between his culture and the families’ of his owner’s cultures. Towards the end of the document, Vassa describes Africa, and how he was shipped off to a new world. He had to endure the horrors that came with being chained up with the other slaves. The boy described the smell to be unbearable and that many people would choose death their current situations. By the end of the document he portrayed the way that people were being sold in an auction and the despair of agony when they were parted from their loved ones.

If it were not for the stories past down from generation to generation or the documentations in historical books, the history of the twelve million African slaves that traveled the “Middle Passage” in miserable conditions would not exist. Olaudah Equiano contributes to this horrid history with The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Through this narrative, the appalling personal experience of each slave is depicted. He accomplishes his rhetorical purpose of informing the world of the slave experience in this narrative. His use of unique style and rhetorical devices in this conveying narrative portray his imperative rhetorical purpose.

Olaudah Equiano’s “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavas Vassa, the African” was first published in 1789 in London, England (687). Equiano’s narrative is informative; however, it is critical of the treatment of slaves and persuasive in its appeals to end the brutal treatment of African Americans. His intended audience was his friends and the public. Regarding the purpose of his narrative, Equiano wrote in Chapter I, “If it affords any satisfaction to my numerous friends … or in the smallest degree promotes the interests of humanity, the ends for which it was undertaken will be fully attained” (688). His narrative also offered a first-hand (first-person narrative) account of slavery and shared the story of his journey towards freedom. Equiano’s narrative is in chronological order after a brief introduction in Chapter I, which explained his purpose for writing his story along with providing background information on his childhood and the culture of his birthplace in Essaka, Africa. Furthermore, although much of Equiano’s story centered on his extensive sea travel, his harmonious mixture of formal and informal word choices along with the lack of the technical terminology commonly associated with sailors helps the general audience

The Life of Olaudah Equiano focuses on the various scenes to which Equiano or otherwise known as Gustavus Vassa was a witness too. Equiano’s story allows for an in depth perspective of slave trade and the way it functioned. Equiano takes the reader upon his journey as an African Slave beginning with his experiences in his native village, his numerous amounts of masters, cruelties and oppressions across the globe, and all the way to his success as a freeman. Equiano strongly focuses on the fact that almost every event in his life made an impression on his mind and influenced his conduct. Hence, making sense of the importance of his status and growth despite of his roots. Equiano always remained aware of his race and culture however he was in search of a freedom that no matter whom he was told to be his identity of obtaining this as well as soon gaining control of his own life always remained the same.

As stated in The Classic Slave Narratives: The Life of Gustavus Vassa, a sense of bewilderment and fright was his first response upon arriving at the coast. "the first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived…a slave ship, these filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted in to terror" (Vassa 57). Comparative to the area Equiano grew up in during his time as a child in Africa, the Europeans were far more technologically advanced, upon seeing ships for the first time he and other slaves agreed that it was magic that drove them due to a lack of understanding. The new world that was emerging around him became hard for him to explain. He and his fellow slaves rationalized the situation by stating that the westerners were spirits and that they possessed magic "there was cloth put upon the…and then the vessel went on; and the white men had some spell or magic they put in the water, when they liked, in order to stop the vessel" (Vassa 59). The traumatizing experience that was boarding a slave ship was almost surreal for Equiano and with his young age so to rationalize the situation he and his fellow slaves concluded that the men handling them could not be human because they were so different. "when I was carried on board. I was immediately handled and… I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me"

Equiano, on a slave ship towards the West Indies, was on the verge of everlasting bondage. “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 was often without for whole days together.” (57) The conditions for slaves on these transport ships was horrendous, as those in charge cared little for the well being of these Africans. Equiano was unaware of what was to come, and fear lingered in his memory of this unforgiving experience. He explains the process of the transaction, “We were not many days in the merchant’s custody, before we were sold after their usual manner, which was: On a signal given (as the beat of a drum), the buyers rush at once into the yard where the slaves are confined, and make choice of that parcel they like best.” (58)

The sailor that was read about, Joseph Banfield, has a rather interesting and terrifying experience. At first, however, everything is going fine. Then, he was left behind at one of the trading spots by the larger vessel that he traveled on with the rest of his crew. Once he was reaquainted with his boat and crew, the journey could be continued, and it was. Bad weather soon caused turmoil during his next journey to Africa, and it disturbed the routine of the boat, for they could not get to the enslaved men in the lower decks to feed them. So, several slaves died, whereas the rest of the slaves were sold for a low price. The weather caused them to lose sight of their paths, but they soon saw land ahead and disembarked there. Once there, they were approached by natives of the land and were thought to be a threat. Once it was communicated that they were no harm to the indigenous people, they were welcomed into the civilization that was established there. They were offered food and clothing, both of which they were lacking for the past several days due to the horrible weather. News had gotten around that this sailor, Joseph Banfield, was stuck here. Then, a fellow slave trader, and the wife of the Governor of Fort James, came here to free him and put a slave in his place. The man who was taking care of Banfield refused a slave in his place, but his refusal was quickly taken back when the trader threatened to destroy his town if a slave was not

My mother was from Guinea; she was enslaved and later than taken to Cuba. My mother was then sold to the Budford family in the southern region of the United States. I was born in 1830 in South Carolina and I was first made a slave by the age of 13 in 1843. I was sold to my first master by the name of Edwin Epps in Louisiana. Solomon and I became friends after he arrived on the Epps Plantation. I was named the queen of the fields because of my ability to pick large amounts of cotton. During the years Epps’s wife Mary became very jealous when Epps’s started to rape me. It started when I was 16. Mary demanded that Epps’s sold me because of these events, but he refused to sell me so Mary started to abuse me too.

The author of this article experienced the ups and downs of being a slave and intends to inform people through this article. Olaudah told all about his different experiences of being a slave from being taken from his home while his parents

In 1745, Olaudah Equiano was born in Eboe, which is now Nigeria. When he was about eleven years old, he was kidnapped and sold to slave traders heading to the West Indies. Though he spent a short time in the state of Virginia, much of his time in slavery was spent serving the captains of slave ships and British navy vessels. One of his masters, Henry Pascal, the captain of a British trading vessel, gave him the name Gustavas Vassa, which he hardly used throughout his life. Paul Lovejoy, Canada Research Chair in African Diaspora History stated:

The captivity narrative and the slave narrative are two types of literary works, which were very common during the 17th and the 18th century. The captivity narrative usually involves an innocent white woman who is taken captive by an Indian tribe, who the woman describes as savages in most of the cases. On the other hand, the slave narrative focuses on the quality of life that slaves were facing before the time of the abolishment of slavery. Although the captivity narrative and the slave narrative show some similarities, they are completely different. We can observe the differences by analyzing two literary works, A Narrative of The Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson by Mary Rowlandson and From The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African, Written by Himself by Olaudah Equiano. A Narrative of The Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson is a narrative written by Mary Rowlandson herself, which sheds light on her own experiences revolving captivity. The Interesting Narrative of The Life of Olaudah Equiano gives the reader insight into the life of a slave, the treatments they endure, and usually their freedom, whether it be through escaping or other means. Both narratives usually include real-life accounts, however, the differences lie in the structure of the narrative, the purpose that the narrative is trying to lay out and the treatment of the parties who are living these experiences.

I am simply one of the many others that have fallen captive to an abhorrent trade. The man that rules with a heavy hand controls everything, deciding our worth and selling us to the white men rumored to have been coming to the coast, taking our people to new lands. I was soon to be sold, still believing my situation was all fabricated. While awaiting my fate, I overheard a few others discussing quietly what information they knew about this trade. “Those men are bringing ours to

The narrative by Olaudah Equiano gives an interesting perspective of slavery both within and outside of Africa in the eighteenth century. From these writings we can gain insight into the religion and customs of an African culture. We can also see how developed the system of trade was within Africa, and worldwide by this time. Finally, we hear an insider's view on being enslaved, how slaves were treated in Africa, and what the treatment of African slaves was like at the hands of the Europeans.

It was in 1758 when Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped from his home in Southeastern Nigeria and sold into slavery. Equiano was just eleven years old at the time and was forced to leave his Ibo religion, his family, and all else familiar. His account of being introduced to the Europeans which forced him into slavery is especially powerful, for Equiano had never laid sight on a white man before.