The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano - overview

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Fantasy And Facts In Slave Narratives

According to Fath Ruffins the first slave narratives were recorded in the 1500 by “authors who wanted to record their own stories for posterity” (1).  These stories helped to abolish slavery by presenting the readers with the cruel realities of the slave trade and today act as important pieces of African-American history.   The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano written by himself was an important piece of writing because it fulfilled his purpose to expose the horrors and sinfulness of the slavery system, and the inhumane treatment and conditions of slaves crossing the Middle Passage.  By finding a way to buy his own freedom he also stood as testimony to society that the enslavement of a Black man was not a natural condition.  Although many celebrated slave narratives were written by ex-slaves, others also published on their encounters with slavery.  One such writer was Aphra Behn, who wrote Oroonoko, to share the story of a prince who became a slave.  Her dramatic tale of an African prince who spoke English and French becoming a slave exposed to her readers the idea that the people of Africa had social structures and royalty.  It also displayed the horrid effects of denying people their freedom and the lengths that a man will go to in order to escape slavery. Both stories were written with intentions to expose the social injustices of slavery and share with the reader the brutal circumstances of the slave trade by using main characters that for many reasons may not be considered typical slaves.  This paper will compare the characters and images in these stories and discuss the tools each writer uses to engage the support of the reader.

The central character of the story is very important in catching and keeping the interest of the reader. Behn’s main character Oroonoko is not a regular laboring slave, but a prince whom she describes as a “gallant slave” (2171).  Behn places emphasis on Oroonoko’s physical appearance to highlight his nobility:

“He was pretty tall, but of a shape the most exact that can be fancied.  The most famous statuary could not form the figure of a man more admirably turned head to foot.” (2175).

This description of him creates the sense that he is a special and powerful person despite his position as a slave to justify and legitimize him as a worthy narrative subject.   Placing him above a common slave may also be an important part in engaging the sympathies of the reader because they are able to imagine Oroonoko admirable instead of lowly.

By stressing his possession of Caucasian features it is possible that Behn, subtley blurs the idea of race, and supremacy because historically the race was a classification of physical features,

        

“His nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat; his mouth the finest

        shape that could be seen, far from those great turned lips which are so natural to

        the rest of the Negroes” (Behn p.2175).

By drawing contrasts between Negroe features and Oroonoko’s features Behn may be directing her reader to accept him as a character who had more in common with the ideal Englishman than with his fellow Africans.  In drawing attention to his favorable Roman nose she takes attention away from his dark skin, and leads the reader to focus on the aspects of his character that are acceptable to her society.  This construction of an atypical slave can be seen as an attempt to create an image that allows the eighteenth century reader to transcend their prejudices and view the suffering of Oroonoko, not as the plight of a slave or an African, but a human being.

        Because of the marginalization and prejudices of the literary community it was necessary Olaudah Equiano to legitimize or justify the worthiness of his story to be written and read.  One aspect which may have helped him was his position as a sailor which kept him apart from the laboring slaves and acquainted him with English culture, as he “relished their society and manners” (Equiano, p 142).  He attempts to find common ground with the reader by emphasizing his enthusiasm to share their values, writing that he saw his masters as “superior to us and therefore… had a strong desire to resemble them” (Equiano, p. 143).  Equiano presents himself as a person who through his willingness to learn to be more like his masters shares more things in common with the free society than the slave.  This subjective positioning may aid the audience in accepting Equiano’s accounts of suffering because they may believe that his English education has given him a rational mind and perspective similar to their own and help them to see him as an equal person.

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        In 1972 many critics attacked Equiano accusing him of being a fraud because they did not believe that a person of African birth would have been able to master English to the level he presented.  “They tried to asperse his character, by representing him as and imposter; and to invalidate his testimony” (Sabino, Hall 1).    Like Oroonoko’s Roman nose, Equiano’s command of English was a possible threat to the construction of race hierarchy which was central to the slave owner’s rationalization for abusing their slaves and reducing them to beasts of burden.  The accusations against ...

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