Olaudah Equiano: Narrative Voice

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Olaudah Equiano Narrative Voice

• Slave Trade and the Middle Passage

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Background African Slavery

• Europeans first arrived in Africa in 1441
• Slavery existed in Africa prior to this period
• African slavery was different from
  European/American slavery

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Background African Slavery

• African slavery lacked a racial dimension
• In Africa, slaves could marry, own property, and
  own other slaves
• African slavery ended after a certain number of
  years of servitude
• Slaves were not passed on from generation to
  generation

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Background American Slavery

• Initially, American slavery was a variation of
  indentured servitude and slaves would be freed
  after a certain number of years in service
• The English only enslaved non-Christian people
• 1662 Virginia passes a law stating that the
  children of slaves would be slaves
• Slaves could not own property, marry, vote, be
  educated
• Slaves had no legal status

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Background The Slave Trade

• 1641 Massachusetts becomes the first colony to
  recognize slavery as a legal institution.
• 1680 The Royal African company transports 5000
  African captives annually.
• By the 18th century, 45,000 Africans are
  transported annually on British ships.
• Slaves packed like cargo between decks often had
  to lie in each other's feces, urine, and blood.

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Background Life on Ship
1781-90 Height of African slave trade 88,800
Africans transported to New World each year. In
all 10-12 million people were taken from Africa
and made slaves.
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Barry Unsworth on the Middle Passages

• Q Can you describe the Middle Passage?

A There is the diagram of a slave ship, showing
precisely how the slaves themselves were stowed,
how they were placed for the voyage when they
were below decks or between decks. Typically
there were two levels, one above the other, on
either side of the ship, with a central
passageway. They had about 18 inches head room,
less than 2 feet head room. They couldn't sit.
And because they were manacled, they couldn't
really change position very easily at all,
without hurting themselves or their companions.
When the weather was rough they were kept below
for a long period. It must have been a nightmare.
In the mornings, after the end of periods of bad
weather, when they could finally get down there,
they would find two manacled together, one dead
and one living. It was quite a common experience.
I think that in terms of hell on earth, that must
have been as near as anyone ever comes, I think,
to it.
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Olaudah Equiano

• Who are we looking for, who are we looking
  for?It's Equiano we're looking for.Has he gone
  to the stream? Let him come back. Has he gone to
  the farm? Let him return.It's Equiano we're
  looking for.   - Kwa chant about the
  disappearance of an African boy, Equiano

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Three Part Structure of the Slave Narrative

• Enslavement
• Escape
• Freedom

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Abolitionist Literature and Audience

• The tradition of Slave Autobiography and
  Abolitionist Literature begins with Olaudah
  Equianos Narrative.
• The specific reason these texts are written is to
  bring about political change.

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Characteristics of Slave Narratives

• The Testimonial/Letter of Authenticity the text
  begins with a letter from a white editor or
  prominent person verifying that the former slave
  has actually written the narrative
• Equianos narrative is different in that he
  begins with an Epistle Dedicatory

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Authors name included somewhere in the title,
the phrase as written by him/herself, and an
identification of the author as a slave or African
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Simple forthright style

•  "I believe it is difficult for those who publish
  their own memoirs to escape the imputation of
  vanity. . . People generally think those memoirs
  only worthy to be read or remembered which abound
  in great striking events, those, in short, which
  in a high degree excite either admiration or
  pity all others they consign to contempt or
  oblivion. It is therefore, I confess, not a
  little hazardous in a private and obscure
  individual, and a stranger too, thus to solicit
  the indulgent attention of the public, especially
  when I own I offer here the history of neither a
  saint, a hero, nor a tyrant. 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. If,
  then, the following narrative does not appear
  sufficiently interesting to engage general
  attention, let my motive be some excuse for its
  publication."

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Vivid Characters, Scenes of Great Violence, and
Harrowing Escapes
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Patterned after Biblical story of Moses and the
Egyptian Captivity

• Slave Narratives have a religious overtone
• The ultimate goal of the slave is to escape to
  the promised land of freedom

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Common Themes of the Slave Narrative

• Quest for freedom
• Search for home
• Redemption and Salvation
• Search for the deliverance from evil
• Crossing of boundaries

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Themes in Equianos Narrative

• Freedom and Salvation
• The Symbolic Power of Naming
• Identity
• Racial Equality

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Influences on Equianos Narrative

• Protestant Conversion Narrative
• Anthropology
• Adventure Novels
• Enlightenment Philosophy

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Activity

• Find an example of enslavement in the Equiano
  text.
• Find an example of escape.
• Find an example of freedom.
• Find an example of sentimentality.
• Fin an example of each of the characteristics of
  slave narratives.
• Compare Mary Rowlandsons captivity narrative to
  Equianos slave narrative.