Olidah Equiano's Slave Narrative

Excerpt from "Olidah Equiano's account of the Middle Passage"

"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; 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. I was not long suffered to indulge my grief; I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste any thing. 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. I had never experienced any thing of this kind before, and although not being used to the water, I naturally feared that element the first time I saw it, yet, nevertheless, could I have got over the nettings, I would have jumped over the side, but I could not; 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, and hourly whipped for not eating. This indeed was often the case with myself. In a little time after, amongst the poor chained men, I found some of my own nation, which in a small degree gave ease to my mind. I inquired of these what was to be done with us? they gave me to understand, we were to be carried to these white people's country to work for them. I then was a little revived, and thought, if it were no worse than working, my situation was not so desperate; but still I feared I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among any people such instances of brutal cruelty; and this not only shown towards us blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves. 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 the more; and I expected nothing less than to be treated in the same manner. I could not help expressing my fears and apprehensions to some of my countrymen; I asked them if these people had no country, but lived in this hollow place? (the ship) they told me they did not, but came from a distant one. 'Then,' said I, 'how comes it in all our country we never heard of them?' They told me because they lived so very far off. I then asked where were their women? had they any like themselves? I was told they had. 'And why,' said I, 'do we not see them?' They answered, because they were left behind. I asked how the vessel could go? they told me they could not tell; but that there was cloth put upon the masts by the help of the ropes I saw, 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. I was exceedingly amazed at this account, and really thought they were spirits. I therefore wished much to be from amongst them, for I expected they would sacrifice me; but my wishes were vainÑ-for we were so quartered that it was impossible for any of us to make our escape."

Reflection:

The injustice shown by “Equaino’s Account of the Middle Passage” is unethical and unbearable and impossible to acknowledge the fact that my ancestors from a long time ago could have enslaved people in such a manner because this just means that I have some relation to the enslavement of people that I have befriended and found to be the same as me. This was a very interesting piece because it revealed the truth about how the slaves were treated and how the cruelty of man was exposed. As well as exposing the truth about the cruelty of slavery, it is also shown through this piece how the “American Dream” was basically eradicated from the minds of those who were enslaved because they never had a chance, or that one opportunity, that other people were allowed to come by. I chose this passage because it showed the cruelty of slaves and then only reason they are treated this way is because the color of their skin which is ultimately discrimination. The reason that this interests me is because our community is still fighting this today because we still suffer from major differences in our community. Modern day still exhibits qualities of disputes and arguments about how our society should act to actually take on the appearance of a community of peace and serenity which is what we ultimately want for our future generations.

Diary:

Dear Diary,

I don't think that this piece of literature should be published because first of all the author is saying things that he is lying about and I know because I used to b a transporter of the slaves from their land to the Americas. I mean we didn't beat the slaves for senseless reasons, we only beat them when they were disobedient or refused to do something. We only did this, however, because we needed some method to keep order on the boat. Even with this system of order some slaevs still managed to escape from time to time but they didn't deserve their freedom because they were different. however, as time passed, we began to lose more and more control over them and they began to gain more and more freedom. Sometimes I think that their freedom might have been for the best but the way that the autho of this narrative describes us white folk is just unjustly because we only did what we did out of need for help around our camps.

Slavery

Political Extension:

Essential Question Answer:

This piece of literature represents the American Dream through the unreachable goal of the slaves that happened to be imprisoned in a world of cruelty. If they had been allowed the same opportunity as the English settlers had been given, they might have made something of themselves during this era. However, they were not given this opportunity which shows the realization of success being denied through the absence of a given opportunity.