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Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa
It was in 1758 when Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped from his home in Southeastern Nigeria and sold into slavery. Equiano was just eleven years old at the time and was forced to leave his Ibo religion, his family, and all else familiar. His account of being introduced to the Europeans which forced him into slavery is especially powerful, for Equiano had never laid sight on a white man before.
...I was carried on board. I was immediately handled and tossed up to see if I was sound, by some of the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had got into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. Their complexions too, differing so much from ours, their long hair, and the language they spoke, which was very different from any I had ever heard, united me to confirm in this belief.*(33)
Equiano was seemingly shocked into becoming a new man. No longer could his life be woven by the innocence and naivety of childhood, for involuntarily he was thrown into eighteenth-century English and American society. He developed both mentally and physically, torn between his Ibo origin and the "civilized" society which introduced an entirely different culture.
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African is Equiano's autobiography in which he reflects upon his life as one of "few events...which have not happened to many. It is true the incidents are numerous; and did I consider myself a European, I might say my sufferings were great but when I compare my lot with that of most of my countrymen, I regard myself as a particular favourite of Heaven, and acknowledge the mercies of Providence in every occurence of my life."*(12) However, Equiano's life is one wh...
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... he was declared a free man that his spiritual being was free as well. Freedom indefinitely casted his state of mind, for he was now entitled to go where he pleased and indulge in Christianity as he wished. His religious development, salvation, and sense of identity are important themes of his narrative, as is his emergence out of slavery and into a world where he was able to follow God's teachings and educate others about the inhumanity of slavery.
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Olaudah Equiano, "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African," in The Classic Slave Narratives, ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (New York: Penguin Books, 1987)
**Angelo Costanzo, Surprizing Narrative: Olaudah Equiano and the Beginnings of Black Autobiography. (New York: Greenwood Press,1987.)
Olaudah Equiano was an eighteenth century African slave who later became an author. Born in 1745, Equiano was the son of an Eboe village leader in the present country of Nigeria (Williamson). At only eleven years old, Equiano and his sister were captured and sold into slavery (Carey). His experiences from his home in Africa, as well as those as a slave, would later influence his renowned autobiography The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African.
Olaudoh Equiano was born in 1745, he was also known as Gustavus Vassa (his slave name). He was captured and enslaved as a child in his home town of Essaka (located in Africa). Equiano worked as an author, a merchant, a seafarer and a hairdresser. He was shipped to the West Indies and then moved to England where he successfully purchased his freedom and eventually settled in 1792. He married an English woman and had two children. Equaino wrote an autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, which depicts the horrors of slavery and tells Equiano’s story as a slave and the road to freedom in the New World.
The autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, first published in 1789, is the first example of a slave narrative. Unlike most of the class, I took it upon myself to read the entire story of Equiano’s Travels, abridged and edited by Paul Edwards. In that version, as in the version represented in The Norton Anthology American Literature Shorter Fifth Edition, the journey of Olaudah Equiano is expressed in his own words, from his own point of view. That makes this writing a truly unique piece of literature. It is not only the first slave narrative but also one of the only ones written pre-civil war by a former slave, and someone seized from Africa. These facts give the writing a unique feel, for it is the words of a man that was born a free man, raised to be a ruler of his tribe, kidnapped and made into a slave as a young child, and then journeying through life to become once again free as a mature adult. Equiano experienced almost all parts of a slave’s existence. He was a slave throughout Africa, England, and the New World.
In the late 18th Century an ex-slave from Nigeria wrote an influential work that helped to end the British Slave trade. Olaudah Equiano, or Gusta Vassa, wrote The interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gusta Vassa, the African in 1789 which told of his personal experiences with slavery from a rational, persuasive point of view, focusing on the religious aspects of Christianity, the worth of Africans and the brutally detrimental effects of the slave trade. He was particularly calculated in his appeals since they were effective in the use of ethos, pathos and logos.
Equiano, Olaudah . The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, Written by Himself. 9th ed. W.W. Norton &Company, Inc., 2000. 448. print.
The reader is first introduced to the idea of Douglass’s formation of identity outside the constraints of slavery before he or she even begins reading the narrative. By viewing the title page and reading the words “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, written by himself” the reader sees the advancement Douglass made from a dependent slave to an independent author (Stone 134). As a slave, he was forbidden a voice with which he might speak out against slavery. Furthermore, the traditional roles of slavery would have had him uneducated—unable to read and incapable of writing. However, by examining the full meaning of the title page, the reader is introduced to Douglass’s refusal to adhere to the slave role of uneducated and voiceless. Thus, even before reading the work, the reader knows that Douglass will show “how a slave was made a man” through “speaking out—the symbolic act of self-definition” (Stone 135).
"The Life of Olaudah Equiano” is a captivating story in which Equiano, the author, reflects on his life from becoming a slave to a freeman during the 19th century. Through his experiences and writing, Equiano paints a vivid picture of the atrocities and cruelties of European slavery. Ultimately through his narrative, Equiano intends to persuade his audience, the British government, to abolish the Atlantic slave trade as well as alert them of the harsh treatment of slaves. He successfully accomplishes his goal by subtly making arguments through the use of character, action, and setting.
In Equiano 's personal slave narrative, The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Equiano uses distinguishing first person pronouns, thought provoking rhetorical questions, and eye-opening, harsh diction to flip the idea that the African people act backwards and barbaric. Equiano does so by demonstrating his personal exceptionalism through his literacy to show that truly the white people remain backwards and barbaric because of their hypocrisy. The contradiction of the perceptions of white and African people that Equiano demonstrates in his slave narrative shows that the savagery of African people is a misconception. The misconception of the perceptions of the African people makes the reader fully grasp the need to abolish
Religion, more specifically, Christianity can be seen throughout The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Religion plays a major role in Equiano’s remarkable journey; that of which can be seen through his personal experiences. Religion plays a significant role in his Narrative and his life overall as he undergoes a spiritual rebirth. This narrative shapes Equiano’s physical move from slavery to freedom and also his journey from sin to salvation.
Olaudah Equiano in his Interesting Narrative is taken from his African home and thrown into a Western world completely foreign to him. Equiano is a slave for a total of ten years and endeavors to take on certain traits and customs of Western thinking. He takes great pains to improve himself, learn religion, and adopt Western mercantilism. However, Equiano holds on to a great deal of his African heritage. Throughout the narrative, the author keeps his African innocence and purity of intent; two qualities he finds sorely lacking in the Europeans. This compromise leaves him in a volatile middle ground between his adapted West and his native Africa. Olaudah Equiano takes on Western ideals while keeping several of his African values; this makes him a man associated with two cultures but a member of neither.
Equiano, Olaudah. "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself". The Norton Anthology: American Literature. New York: Norton & Co., 1995. 356-358.
...picture, that on the verge of its collapse the Roman Republic, was a society composed of internal flaws. The Republic namely submitted to its own internal divisions, on multiple levels, from the divisions inherent to any society based on a slave economy, to divisions within the proto-democracy of the Senate itself. Inequalities between the haves and the have nots, as well as inequalities and struggles for power and control on the very highest level of Roman society created a general instability of the Republic, thus making its collapse not a miraculous or shocking event, but almost something to the effect of the removal of an illusion. With the collapse of the Republic, the internal tensions and conflict that constituted Roman life on multiple levels merely finalized themselves, taking a new political form that followed the same path as previous the political form.
The second amendment states “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The Founding Fathers included this in the Bill of Rights because they feared the Federal Government might oppress the population if the people did not have the means to defend themselves as a nation or individuals.
I am currently employed as a Software Engineering Senior Analyst at Accenture. The Information system advances so rapidly that at times it is too difficult to keep up with it without proper knowledge and experience. While most of the people do get a relatively easy entry in the field after under graduation, it is very difficult to aim for a constant growth only on that basis. The field demands upgraded knowledge and experience for career growth and (achieve goals). And that is why I aspire, to pursue Masters in Management Information Systems at your esteemed University.
As a brief introductory note on my educational history, I have completed my Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the Maharashtra State board of Technical Education with a first class (65.62 %). Thereafter, I pursued and completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Mumbai, obtaining a first class as well (60.12%).