Olaudah Equiano

(a.k.a. Gustavus Vassa)

Rhetorical Elements:

1.) Publication Date = 1789 in London; 1791 in the United States

2.) Purpose =

      (a) "to excite in your august assemblies a sense of compassion for the miseries which the Slave-Trade has entailed on my unfortunate countrymen" (415).

      (b) "to represent the experience of the more than one million Africans who were captured and transported as slaves to the New World from 1741 to 1760" (416).

3.) Audience = members of the British parliament (415)

4.) Appeals =

      (a) Logos = the appeal to logical reasoning through methods such as deduction, induction, syllogisms, Aristotelian argument, various forms of evidence, etc.

• pp. 416-426 -- throughout, his vivid descriptions, examples, details, explanations

• pp. 416-426 -- throughout, his information about slaves are transported from the interior of Africa to the New World

      (b) Ethos = the appeal to ethics, both in the broad sense and in the sense of the authority and credibility of the writer

• pp. 415-416 -- his preface

• pp. 416-417 -- his introduction to Chapter 2

• pp. 422-426 -- his worldly ignorance and superstitious nature (as a child of 11 years old)

• p. 426 -- his appeal to "nominal Christians" and his allusions to the Bible

      (c) Pathos = the appeal to emotion

• p. 418 -- his separation from his sister

• p. 419 -- comparing humans to animals

• p. 419 -- his wish for death

• p. 420 -- his brief reunion and second separation from his sister

• p. 420 -- his veiled references to how female slaves are used

• p. 421 -- his building of suspense

• pp. 422-425 -- his descriptions of the horrors of the slave shio

• p. 426 -- his description of the "human cargo" market (buying and selling) -- like animals

• p. 426 -- his description of the separation of families

• p. 426 -- his appeal to "nominal Christians" and his allusions to the Bible

The "Tactics" of the Slave Traders

• p. 417 -- kidnap children in their parents' absence

• p. 418 -- separate siblings

• p. 421 -- surprise awakening to be sold

• p. 423 -- keeping the slaves ignorant

• p. 423 -- force-feeding slaves to keep them nourished and healthy

• p. 424 -- quartering many slaves in close quarters to prevent escape

• p. 424 -- keeping slaves below deck to prevent slaves learning how to sail

• p. 426 -- separate families and friends (to harden feelings?)