Olaudah Equiano
Discussion Questions:
1.) Should Equiano's narrative be included in the NAAL?
Should it be included in our class? After all, I excluded all the explorers and
Native Americans in Volume A. What makes Equiano interesting as “American
Literature”?
- It exists within and broadens our historical context of
the 18th century (1700s).
- It was published in 1789. (French revolution?)
- The narrative gives a new perspective on life in the
American colonies.
- The original version of The Declaration of Independence
includes a reference to the slave trade.
- During the writing of the Constitution the prohibition
of the slave trade was discussed; stipulations concerning slavery were omitted
from the Constitution, and Congress was formally prohibited from abolishing
the slave trade for at least twenty years.
- It provides a rare and stirring firsthand account of
life in Africa, the internal African slave trade (Equiano’s own father owned
slaves), and conditions on the slave ships themselves.
2.) Some critics assert that the American world that
Equiano depicts enshrines the merchant.
- King, the Philadelphia merchant, eventually keeps his
promise and allows Equiano to buy his freedom.
- Equiano acquires the money to buy his freedom by
becoming a merchant himself.
- Cargo thus becomes central to Equiano’s freedom -- he
begins as “live cargo,” becomes a trader in various goods, and literally
reverses his fortunes.
- Unlike the authors of later slave narratives -- such as
Frederick Douglass -- Equiano does not achieve his freedom by finding his
voice. Neither does he feel compelled to keep silent. By including his
manumission papers in his narrative, Equiano seems to suggest that, indeed, it
is only a reversal of fortune, not his own power, that has produced his
freedom, for the “absolute power and dominion one man claims over his fellow”
that allowed Robert King to emancipate Equiano equally allowed other white men
to enslave the freeman Joseph Clipson.
Terms:
FATE = something predetermined or predestined
CHANCE = accidental
FORTUNE = an imaginary wheel said to be spun by fate
PROVIDENCE = the wisdom, care, and guidance believed to be
provided by God
Source: Norton Anthology of American Literature
(IM)