The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

        The excerpt from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano describes Equiano’s struggles with the agonizing effects of institutionalized slavery: the loss of his family, the feelings of absolute helplessness, and the angst towards the overpowered white man. Although critics have argued the legitimacy of Equiano’s recollection of his life due to certain details that could be seen as unoriginal or fabricated, it has become generally accepted to be true. This narrative of one man’s life and experiences with the injustices of slavery became a model for many slave narratives to come in the following years and exposed the evils of slavery as well.
        Equiano begins his narrative by describing his life prior to being kidnapped and forced into slavery. He describes the challenges that he has experienced and states that “I still look back with pleasure on the first scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been for the most part mingled with sorrow” (743). He also describes his family life; as the youngest of many sons, he became his mother’s favorite. His mother hoped to instill knowledge in him that would help him survive the many hardships that he would face, such as the ability to fight and throw javelins. One of the most pivotal scenes within this excerpt is the description of the kidnapping of him and his sister. He states that the children in the area would take turns climbing a tree to watch out for criminals that may cause danger to them. Equiano and his sister were kidnapped by a man and a woman, and then separated. This emotional passage discusses the loss of his family; Equiano first is taken from his parents and from his home, and then his only comfort is the presence of his sister; she is soon taken away as well.
        The author’s grief of losing everything that he knew and loved was soothed somewhat by his kind master and his family. However, Equiano soon changes his situation completely by planning his escape to make his way back home. His planning takes a turn for the worse when he accidentally kills his master’s chicken, and at this point, he must make a run for it. As he hid in the woods, Equiano compared himself to a deer and included a couplet from one of John Denham’s poems. This couplet discusses the extreme fear and paranoia that Equiano experienced while hiding in the woods. Every time he heard a rustling, he assumed that the noise must be a snake and he feared for his life. Upon returning to his master’s house, he was surprised at the fact that his master was not angry with him, and even felt sympathy towards him. Equiano was soon sold once again.
        The next scene is both emotional and eventful, as Equiano’s reunification with his sister offers a glimpse of hope for the reader that all is not lost. However, he states that “even this small comfort was soon to have an end, for scarcely had the fatal morning appeared when she was again torn from me forever!” (745). The reader feels the extreme sadness and frustration with life due to the constant misfortunes of the narrator. Equiano quickly shifts to the next scene in his narrative, as he describes traveling through Tinmah, which he describes as a sort of utopia. Some of the values that this land contains include rivers, cocoa-nuts, shady trees, sugar cane, and houses. Equiano explains that he ate with his mistress and her sonthe next day, and he states that “I could scarce help expressing my surprise that the young gentleman should suffer me, who was bound, to eat with him, who was free” (746). Equiano feels shocked that his mistress’s son has such a great deal of respect for his elders, even though Equiano is a slave and could be treated as inferior. He describes how they followed the same customs and etiquette as he followed, and that he was able to forget that he was a slave for a while. The ability of his mistress and her son to make Equiano feel at home and as if he were not a slave is remarkable, considering the distress that he has encountered up to this point.
        Equiano stays here for two months and begins to feel as though he has been taken in and made a part of the family, “when all at once the delusion vanished” (746). He was kidnapped again, and this time taken to country of people whose culture was extremely different from his own. The inhabitants here filed their teeth to a sharp point, scarred themselves, and offered to give Equiano the same ornaments of their culture. He is then taken aboard a slave ship, and feels terrified of the white men. He believes that they will eat him, but he is comforted by the Africans that brought him aboard. I find it interesting that, no matter where Equiano travels (and no matter how unfortunate his circumstances are), he finds similarities and connections in himself and those around him. Later on, he is sold once again. Equiano reflects on Christian values as they relate to the idea of slavery: “learned you this from your God, who says unto you, ‘Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you’?” (750). He speaks about the Africans’ confrontation with the cruel, white masters who claimed to love and have faith in God, yet they express no love for their fellow man. It is ironic that the white masters sought to convert Africans to Christianity, yet their actions towards them offered nothing to be desired.
        Some of the reactions to Equiano’s narrative claimed that the author was lying about his birthplace, and stated that he was born in the West Indies rather than in Africa. Other sources state that, while Equiano’s story is quite believable, it is likely that he had and English writer to help him write his narrative. While the authenticity of his story was argued and sometimes discredited, Olaudah Equiano’s narrative has become accepted as true.