Olaudah Equiano Narrative
Brittany Fullard
Professor Karen Gainey
English 311
2 November 2013
Grief, Anguish, and Pain Experienced by Olaudah Equiano
The Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is a very descriptive narrative about Olaudah Equiano’s experiences of being of a slave. The narrative is very touching and heartfelt. I admire Olaudah Equiano for his strength, courage, and for being oppressed to so much pain. The kidnapping of Equiano and his sister, Equiano’s attempt to escape to freedom and the scene on the slave ship were the scenes that I found to be the most compelling.
I found the kidnapping of Equiano and his sister to be one of the most compelling pieces of Equiano’s narrative, because I am a mother of a two year old and I think that has to …show more content…
Once Equiano got onto the slave ship, I think he was certain of his fate. He had never seen Europeans before and he was absolutely horrified by their image and the unfamiliar language they spoke. When Equiano saw the other blacks chained up and saw the amount of “dejection and sorrow” (206) they were expressing, it horrified him to the point that he passed out. I can’t imagine how frightened he was. If I saw people of my kind chained, abused, and in grief, it would frighten me too. When in scary situations, children look to adults for safety and security. What are you to do when the adults are just as frightened as you are and you’re a child? If I were a child in this situation I would feel hopeless, horrified, and scared for my life. There was a massive amount of brutal cruelty that took place on the slave ship from excessive flogging to the suffocation of innocent slaves. Equiano wished for death to comfort him many times throughout the narrative but the compassion in the way he stated it this time really broke my heart. “Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much happy than myself. I envied them the freedom they enjoyed, and as often wished I could change my condition for theirs” (Equiano
Professor Karen Gainey
English 311
2 November 2013
Grief, Anguish, and Pain Experienced by Olaudah Equiano
The Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is a very descriptive narrative about Olaudah Equiano’s experiences of being of a slave. The narrative is very touching and heartfelt. I admire Olaudah Equiano for his strength, courage, and for being oppressed to so much pain. The kidnapping of Equiano and his sister, Equiano’s attempt to escape to freedom and the scene on the slave ship were the scenes that I found to be the most compelling.
I found the kidnapping of Equiano and his sister to be one of the most compelling pieces of Equiano’s narrative, because I am a mother of a two year old and I think that has to …show more content…
Once Equiano got onto the slave ship, I think he was certain of his fate. He had never seen Europeans before and he was absolutely horrified by their image and the unfamiliar language they spoke. When Equiano saw the other blacks chained up and saw the amount of “dejection and sorrow” (206) they were expressing, it horrified him to the point that he passed out. I can’t imagine how frightened he was. If I saw people of my kind chained, abused, and in grief, it would frighten me too. When in scary situations, children look to adults for safety and security. What are you to do when the adults are just as frightened as you are and you’re a child? If I were a child in this situation I would feel hopeless, horrified, and scared for my life. There was a massive amount of brutal cruelty that took place on the slave ship from excessive flogging to the suffocation of innocent slaves. Equiano wished for death to comfort him many times throughout the narrative but the compassion in the way he stated it this time really broke my heart. “Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much happy than myself. I envied them the freedom they enjoyed, and as often wished I could change my condition for theirs” (Equiano