Olaudah Equiano Equality

Equality has always been a powerful driving force in creating the true freedom that every American citizen has been promised. This is demonstrated in the 1882 short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in which a young woman is pushed to insanity by her incredibly overbearing husband, who views her as nothing more than a fragile little girl. Likewise, former slave Olaudah Equiano’s 1789 biography “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” depicts the horrifying realities of the slave trade, in which African American captives were viewed as simple objects who exist only to create a profit. In contrast, however, many may argue that compromise is more effective in establishing freedom, as stated by Benjamin …show more content…
While describing his gruesome journey to North America, Equiano recounts a day on which three men jumped into the ocean in order to escape slavery, explaining that “However, two of the wretches were drowned, but they got the other, and afterwards flogged him unmercifully, for thus attempting to prefer death to slavery” (Equiano 2). The sailors on the ship attempt to save the three men only because they are valuable cargo that will make a considerable profit. Because these people are being treated like mere merchandise, there is no such thing as freedom for them in the moment. They have nothing left to lose, making death infinitely preferable to enduring the intolerable conditions on the ship. As evidenced by the suffering Equiano and his peers experienced, freedom completely ceases to exist without …show more content…
In Benjamin Franklin's “Speech In The Convention”, Franklin addresses several state representatives in an effort to persuade them to sign the U.S Constitution. In his speech, Franklin asserts that compromise is the only way for the United States to ensure freedom for its people, stating that “The opinions I have had of its errors I sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them abroad” (Franklin 2). Franklin has only kept his disapproving thoughts to himself because he believes that voicing his opinions will weaken the power of the Constitution. Expressing personal dismay at the principles brought forth in such a document will only make the public believe that it is weak and should have no power over the people. As such, creating compromise and coming to simple agreements is clearly the best way to establish freedom. In reality, however, compromise has the exact opposite effect on freedom. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator is repeatedly complying to a compromise set up by her unmoving husband, stating that “I thought that it was a good time to talk, so I told him that I really was not gaining here, and that I wished he would take me away... ‘Why darling!’ said he... ‘you really are better dear, whether you see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know’” (Gilman