Olaudah Equiano Primary Source Essay

Olaudah Equiano, born in 1745, was a prominent member of the british movement for ending the slave trade and wrote an autobiography entitled, “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano”. Equiano 's main purpose within writing this excerpt from chapter two of his autobiography was to convince his audience to support the anti-Slave Trade movement, this is evident in his tone switching by the paragraph, his switch of style from a narrative to rhetorical questioning, and his liberal use of phrases that would create sympathy.

The narrative of Olaudah Equiano is truly a magnificent one. Not only does the reader get to see the world through Equiano's own personal experiences, we get to read a major autobiography that combined the form of a slave narrative with that of a spiritual conversion autobiography. Religion may be viewed as at the heart of the matter in Equiano's long, remarkable journey. Through Equiano's own experiences, the reader uncovers just how massive a role religion played in the part of his Narrative and in that of his own life. More specifically, we learn of how his religious conversion meant a type of freedom as momentous as his own independence from

"I believe there are few events in my life which have not happened to many; it is true the incidents of it are numerous, and, did I consider myself an European, I might say my sufferings were 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." Olaudah Equiano lived the life as a slave like many black people of the 18th century. He was born free but soon was forced into slavery which took him all around the world. From his accounts he has written down, he shows his life as a slave. Equiano had been bought and sold throughout the Americas and Europe; he showed the

The narrative of Olaudah Equiano is truly a magnificent one. Not only does the reader get to see the world through Equiano's own personal experiences, we get to read a major autobiography that combined the form of a slave narrative with that of a spiritual conversion autobiography. Religion may be viewed as at the heart of the matter in Equiano's long, remarkable journey. Through Equiano's own experiences, the reader uncovers just how massive a role religion played in the part of his Narrative and in that of his own life. More specifically, we learn of how his religious conversion meant a type of freedom as momentous as his own independence from slavery. As one reads

Olaudah Equiano had a very unique experience with the slave trade system. He began conveying his experience with how he was captured in his village by two men and a women, who kidnapped him and his sister. Their captors traveled with them for a few days before separating the siblings, and selling Equiano to his first master. He was treated fairly well, even when he ran away for a day and came back, he says his master “having slightly reprimanded me, ordered me to be taken care of, and not ill-treated.” (Equiano 27) Shortly after this engagement, Equiano’s master loses his wife and child and sends Equiano away to be sold again. He even gets to see his sister one last time before, again, they are separated.

The aforementioned claim might sound tricky in the context of the ways in which slaves challenge the existing order of things, which is why the connections between family links and the typical patterns of resistance of the slaves will be discussed further in this essay. What is important is that, according to the memoirs of Olauda Equiano, their criticism of the institution of slavery based mostly on breaking the communities, such as families, and much less on individual suffering of slaves.

Equiano was astonished to be a free man again. Not following orders again and actually living under his terms was magnificent. He shortly began thinking about all the other slaves that were still waking up every morning in the hot sun. He connected with people who felt as if slavery was devilish and should be abolished. This made the decision for Olaudah Equiano to join the abolition movement.

Equiano’s depictions of the harshness of slavery are very vivid and realistic, and the following ghastly scene from his time on the slave trade ship corroborates these ideas: “This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable, and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole scene a horror almost inconceivable” (Equiano 161). Equiano wrote that he was pleased with his life before his was introduced to slavery. The merciless and inhumane ways the Europeans treated slaves consternated him ("Olaudah Equiano Publishes His Memoirs: 1789"). Equiano puts emphasis on the cruelty of slavery and everything it entitles: “Equiano’s description of his African childhood, his abduction, and his voyage in the Middle Passage is a rare and celebrated firsthand narrative of the life in an African village prior to European colonization, as well as an eyewitness account of the horrors of the slave trade” (Equiano, Olaudah). Equiano contributes to the emotional effectiveness of the narrative through becoming a slave and how he was treated. Equiano never explained the coincidence that

After examining and critically thinking about the way in Equino’s write his book, it is safe to say that Equiano wrote it to promote anti-slavery. Even though he might have said directly in his book, but been able to write this book alone shows the most powerful indictment of slavery. Back then, Enslaved people then did not have the right whatsoever to speak of the institution of slavery. In short, this paper will show the powerful indictment of slavery and passages that provokes emotional responses from the reader.

It is arguable to say that when reading about experiences like Olaudah Equiano that the conditions of slavery, of master and

In the chapter “The Slave Ship and Its Cargo,” Equiano explains his first day in the slave ship after being captured by the African slavers at age ten. Separated from his sister he is now scared and alone in the slave ship, innocent and ignorant to his surroundings he is scared that the white scary men are going to eat him, after seeing the boiling furnace. I believe that he automatically figures he’s going to be eaten by the white man because on how the way things are set up. Having to be his first time in a

Olaudah Equiano 's The Life of Olaudah Equiano, is an autobiography that tells the story of a young boy who was kidnapped from his home and put into the life of slavery at the tender age of 11. In 1789 while living in London Mr. Equiano published his autobiography. The book was a huge success and described what it was like for Equiano to be taken from the only home that he had known and shipped halfway around the world to be used a slave. Olaudah is a man of great conflict when it comes to slavery and what he feels is right or wrong. His views have been formed from his own personal journey into slavery. In the end he ultimately decides that it would be best to put an end to slavery.

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.

Equiano, having becoming of old age, knew the outcome of his writings before he wrote the The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Although nobody can deny his exceptional life becoming a free man who bought his own freedom and developed his own success, his importance and wealth were surely due to his false narrative which achieved instant success selling several thousand copies in many different countries. Equiano, became a bestselling author and the wealthiest black man in the English-speaking world. As the reader can

The novel The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano played an important role in the abolitionist movement in England during the late 18th century, ultimately contributing to the abolishment of British support for the Atlantic slave trade. Published, at a critical time, when the movement was gaining steam, the novel provided an authentic voice of an African slave at a time when people of colour were often represented in British and American literature as caricatures or, worse yet, through the eyes and voices of their white enslavers, both of which exacerbated the common misconceptions about Africans that encouraged the British populace to continue supporting the slave trade. Equiano’s narrative showed the significant contributions