narrative of the life of olaudah equiano

There is a record of this baptism, but this is what it says: 'Gustavus Vassa - a Black born in Carolina 12 years old.' Then, one of the ships Equiano worked on has a record of a crew member named 'Gust. Okay, so in the book Equiano mentions that when he lived in the American colonies he was baptized as Gustavus Vassa.

(that doesn't make it much more interesting to read in the 21st century, of course, but you can't win them all)Īnd now, we discuss the ESCANDALO surrounding this book: All the boring parts are, in fact, a calculated effort to get more people to read his book and listen to what he has to say. The religion aspect is the same thing: no one wants to listen to a heathen, so Equiano makes it clear that he's a devout Christian, and then uses scripture and Christian doctrine to support his arguments against slavery. So Equiano throws in all the seafaring crap to keep his audience interested, and also prove what a loyal British subject he is. He was writing for a white, male, upper-class audience in the 18th century, and those readers probably wouldn't have been too interested in reading 200 pages on why slavery is wrong and they're total assholes for supporting it. Yes, it drags on for long stretches at a time while Equiano regales us with boring naval stories and tells us everything about his spiritual conversion, but what people are missing, I think, is that he's including these stories for a reason. So many negative reviews of this book on Goodreads! I'm a little surprised, actually. Whether or not the account is fully non-fiction (and I'll get to that), the fact remains that this is a very affecting story.

It's a passionate anti-slavery message, with Equiano unflinchingly recounting the horrors of the slave trade to make his readers cringe (I defy you to read his account of the Middle Passage, or how he mentions seeing 9 year old African girls raped by white men, without wanting to throw up) and making reasoned arguments against it. The interesting thing about this book is that Equiano doesn't just survive the Middle Passage, but actually crosses the Atlantic multiple times, traveling from South America to England to the American Colonies to the Caribbean to the Middle East, all while trying to win his freedom.

Generally regarded as one of the best slave narratives ever written, the book is Equiano describing his life, beginning with how he was kidnapped in Africa at age 11 and sold into slavery.

Narrative of the life of olaudah equiano