A slave's diary.

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A slave’s Diary

Day 1

The worst possible has happened I have had my home stricken from me by a white skinned demon and am now delimited to a water bound hell. Each lapping wave from the tempestuous sea that carries us to our unknown destination takes a small part of my resolve in its wake. I am fettered to a long pole and my movements are restricted by a chain which runs through the various binds of my neighbours. Once the white men took one of our number out of this place, although I think that it is not out of any form of kindness as he came back pained the smell of burning flesh following close behind. I sit here next to members of the mugimbi tribe and as such there is not much for conversation; the chafing of my binds burns me just as many a question burns my mind. What is this place? Why are we here? Is this hell? Am I dead? I hope that the answers will come to me before long because I sense that I will not be leaving this place soon.

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Day 12

I am still locked in this place. It has become difficult to distinguish night from day, to distinguish the smell of decay emitting from the first of our number to pass away, mostly children, and the smell of our own excrement. But it is not the smell that bothers me it is the cacophony of children’s screams and women’s cries, this is inhuman! These white men must come from hell. It has become unbearable. If I do not leave this place soon then I shall truly lose what little sanity I have been able to rescue from ...

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This is highly successful account of a slave's experience at the hands of the traders. It evokes his sense of desperation, loss and final acceptance in the face of his incarceration in the hold of a ship. The diary structure is a very effective tool to convey to us the horror of being cooped up with dying fellow slaves, especially the women and children, for such a long voyage. The language is skillfully controlled, with competent use of long complex sentences and shorter simple sentences to vary the pace and impact. Some refinement to the punctuation is necessary in parts. An excellent essay! 5 stars