Olaudah Equiano

A detailed Summary of 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

Equiano is not an ordinary man in the sense that his extraordinary life experience makes him an extraordinary man. Most men of this time do not have the same conflict over identity that Equiano has. Equiano was socialized as an African and then resocialized as a European. However, he experienced the slave trade as an ordinary man and writes from the perspective of an ordinary European. We therefore see in Equiano's narrative a fundamental aspect of all slave narratives. Equiano's narrative is a persuasive document and therefore must be written with a double consciousness. He writes about his transformation from an ordinary African to an ordinary European. The reader therefore learns a great deal directly about the African experience in the slave trade and indirectly about the European view of the slave trade. Equiano appeals to Christianity as well as the economic incentives for abolishing the slave trade. By doing this, Equiano acknowledges the value of African life while at the same time marginalizing them as an economic asset.

However, what makes Olaudah Equiano's narrative such an effective argument against slavery also affects its value as a primary source. When reading "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano", one must be careful to take into consideration the reasons Equiano had for

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Approximate Word count = 894
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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Olaudah Equiano

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