Olaudah Equiano
On page six of the introduction to "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano", Robert J. Allison characterizes Equiano and his narrative in the following way:His book is a meditation on power and liberty by one who knew what each word meant... But the real power of the narrative lies in Equiano's perspective. During his travels and adventures in this strange world, he is an average man, as he says "neither a saint, a hero, nor a tyrant," but an ordinary person forced to lead an extraordinary life.I agree with Robert J. Allison when he says that the real power of Olaudah Equiano's narrative lies in his perspective (Allison 6). Equiano's perspective not only makes his narrative a powerful primary document, but a powerful argument for abolition in his time. A major reason why Equiano's narrative was such a powerful argument against slavery in his time was because he wrote from a European perspective, and offered himself as proof that Africans are not inferior and are capable of thriving in European culture. Since no argument was necessary to persuade Africans in the Diaspora toward abolition, Equiano writes for a mostly white European audience. Equiano was not a writer but an abolitionist and did not want to
If there had been an African audience for him to write to he might have written about his ambivalence for white Europeans (he had as much reason to resent them as to love them) and how he has dealt with his outright anger toward the institution of slavery. By doing this, Equiano acknowledges the value of African life while at the same time marginalizing them as an economic asset. This is especially true for Equiano's narrative. His narrative therefore is of a persuasive nature and reflects the audience to whom he is trying to persuade. In his vivid descriptions of brutality, Equiano condemns slavery from a Christian understanding of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Equiano is not an ordinary man in the sense that his extraordinary life experience makes him an extraordinary man. In the forward to the book, Natalie Zemon Davis says that, "How a story is told may yield as much information as what it says"(Davis V). We therefore see in Equiano's narrative a fundamental aspect of all slave narratives. Had Equiano written from a purely African perspective it is possible that his words may have been lost. However, he experienced the slave trade as an ordinary man and writes from the perspective of an ordinary European. merely document history, but to change his present society. Telling his story from a Euro-centric perspective allows his intended audience to identify with him more readily so that he can relate the distant slave trade to emotions and beliefs in Europe with an emphasis on Christianity. Equiano writes to a specific audience condemning a very sensitive aspect of European and culture. He writes about his transformation from an ordinary African to an ordinary European.
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Acceptance Essays
