Olaudah Equiano Slavery

Words: 658

Pages: 3

Open Document

Slavery acted as a significant role in our country’s development. It produced consumer goods and benefits for slave owners. Sadly, prosperity for slaves did not exist and was not thought of. Slaves were belittled, mistreated, dehumanized, and thought of as just property. Olaudah Equiano gives the reader a perfect visualization of the lives that slaves lived in his book The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. As a slave, it is through his personal stories that he helps his readers make similar connections between his life and theirs. Additionally, he provides vivid descriptions of the horrendous cruelties that slaves endured throughout their lives. Equiano informs his readers all to raise an anti-slavery perspective in people in hopes influencing others to engage in the diminishing of slavery.
Part of the narrators tactics to influence his reader is by showing them the similarities between his life and theirs even though he was a slave. Although Equiano was upheld to the worst measures by people, like everyone else, he was able to speak English sufficiently well as to understand …show more content…
Many people were blind to what actually occurred, or chose to believe that slavery was for the best of the country. Equiano shows the readers through his personal description how slaves were treated as if they were not humans, or deserved the right to live as one. He attempts to reach his readers by making connections between them that could help shift their perspective on slavery. Furthermore, he reveals how slavery dehumanized people through the heartless acts imposed on them that many were not aware of to appeal to their emotions. Equiano is strategic in using his personal stories to communicate that slaves are humans as well. They deserve the same rights, opportunities, respect, and overall

Slavery In Olaudah Equiano

With slavery in Equiano, people dying in plymouth plantation, and people being accused of being a witch and all of them getting through these situations, it is clear that Americans are people who get through tough times no matter the situation. Freedom is now reachable but back in Equiano’s time it was not. In Equiano’s story it says “I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country, or even the least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I now considered as friendly;…

Words 815 - Pages 4

XINYI XIEHST1034109202014Tracey JaffeA Human Instead Of Essay

of the present they value. Though reading Olaudah Equiano’s biography, people can understand Europeans need to value the Africans as humans instead of chattel. In the book, Olaudah Equiano developed himself from his hometown Eboe, his voyage at sea, his conversion to Christianity, and his Abolitionist movement. He offered people a good opportunity to understand how a no identify African salve transform to black European. The sadness of Olaudah Equiano began while he and his sister were kidnapped…

Words 1234 - Pages 5

Olaudah Equiano: Former Slave

Olaudah Equiano was former slave who was also a seaman and a merchant. Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped at age eleven and was sent to the New World. Olaudah Equiano was forced to live in horrible conditions. He was surrounded by people he could not understand because he did not speak the language. Olaudah Equiano wrote an autobiography depicting the horrors of slavery. Olaudah Equiano was able to buy his freedom. He was taught to read and write because of the respect he gained from travelling extensively…

Words 264 - Pages 2

Compare And Contrast William Bradford And Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano and William Bradford had fairly different purposes for writing. Equiano wrote narratives and described many horrific things he went through as a slave in detail. His purpose could have been to oppose pro-slave propaganda because it made people see how awful it was. William Bradford on the other hand, mostly wrote in journals. His purpose was most likely to inform future generations of his experiences of his part in the migration to Holland and the voyage to Plymouth. Olaudah…

Words 359 - Pages 2

Olaudah Equiano Analysis

the Life of Olaudah Equiano Written by Himself is a historical document that's necessary when looking at the institution of slavery. Because not many slaves during his time were literate, written pieces documenting the reality of slavery through the eyes of slaves are rare. Equiano’s documentation of his experiences brings a whole new perspective to the institution, making it at a prominent part of African American history. In his memoir, he touches on various topics relating to slavery and how it…

Words 852 - Pages 4

Of Plymouth Plantation Analysis

an effort to settle and offers the reader an insight to life as an outlier. Likewise, Olaudah Equiano’s, “The Life of Olaudah Equiano” illustrates the personal and emotional experiences lived through the slave trade as a slave himself. Although both narratives offer the reader an insight to historical accounts, they differ in their unique aspect into separate lives of struggle. In these two narratives, both Equiano and Bradford’s style of writing helps convey the emotional aspect of their separate…

Words 616 - Pages 3

Olaudah Equiano Research Paper

Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745 in the region that is now known as Nigeria. Olaudah was the youngest male in his family making him the favourite of his mother. He always did what she said and respected her as he would anyone else. One day while Equiano was watching the family compound with his sister. Someone jumped over the fence and snatched both him and his sister. At the age of 11 this was very traumatic and affected him as an adult. The two were taken far from their family and home, sold…

Words 356 - Pages 2

Olaudah Equiano Imperialism

At first glace one would assume that Olaudah Equiano, author of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, an 18th century autobiography of a former slave, and Aphra Behn, a devout royalist and author of Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave, a 17th century novel, would have opposing views regarding slavery and imperialism. This is not so, in fact, both texts condemn slavery, and by default imperialism. Imperialism, as defined by the scholar James Tully is a theory that “…ranks all non-European…

Words 1022 - Pages 5

Essay on Olaudah Equiano

Crystal Rivera September 25, 2014 History 1301 Prof. Von Dohlen Olaudah Equiano, “The Horrors of a Slave Ships” July 10, 1766, Equiano saved enough money to buy himself liberty. Before that date Equiano suffered and almost dies of starvation being a slave. He was one of many slaves whom began writing his journey as an autobiography and reveals the horror of the slave ship. Olaudah Equiano, also known as Gustavus Vassa was born in 1745 in Benin, West Africa. When he was 10 years old…

Words 351 - Pages 2

Olaudah Equiano's Eventful Life Essay

goods; this is how Olaudah Equiano made his way to Barbados in the mid-1700s. On his journey to the Americas, Equiano encountered some of the same hardships as the Pilgrims had years prior. However, Equiano also experienced a few different obstacles along the way. Olaudah Equiano had a very eventful life, though it wasn’t what he would’ve ever pictured it being. He grew up in a family of seven children in a part of West Africa that is now Nigeria. Those children included Equiano and his sister…

Words 2050 - Pages 9