Slavery in the Eighteenth Century

The long-eighteenth century was characterized by many themes such as commercialism, capitalism, novels that talk about religion, slavery, Gothics, etc. However, one of the major themes of this time period was slavery. Writers and poets on their writing express the bad side of slavery. For instance, in Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko and Phillis Wheatley’s “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” readers and students can appreciate and takeaway how was the life of the enslaved in that time period, and understand why some enslaved were desperate to buy their freedom, self-emancipation, and glad to escape from that horrible life.

            In The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings by Olaudah Equiano, the theme of slavery is very highlighted. He explains how many times he was sold. He went through many circumstances onboard of many ships and the grief of being separated from his family and his beloved sister. After many times of being sold, he came to the sea. When he arrived, he saw a slave ship waiting for his cargo (55). Equiano expresses “These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror, which I am yet at loss to describe, nor the then feelings of my mind” (55). When he saw many black people chained together with expressions of profound sorrow on their faces, he realized what awaited him, and knew that he would never return to his native country (56). Equiano did not want to be there, and he suddenly wished to return to former slavery than to endure this new punishment. Equiano continues describing the sensation of being put under the decks and expresses, “…I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life; so that with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything” (56).

After such situations that made Equiano got insane because of the abuse that he witnessed, he decided to work hard to buy his freedom because he was not going to experience this bad treatment anymore. Equiano expresses “EVERY day now brought me nearer to my freedom… I might have an opportunity of getting a sum large enough to purchase it” (131). Since Equiano was ill of experiencing the suffering that being enslaved could bring him his whole life, he was willing to do whatever it takes in order to self-liberate once and for all.

Furthermore, Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko is another book in which his main character, Oroonoko, suffered because of being enslaved and he did what he had to do in order to be free. Oroonoko was a strong and powerful man. Even though he was a prince, Oroonoko was captured and sold as a slave. Oroonoko was betrayed by his best friend, the Captain, who captured him and sold Oroonoko to Trefry. It is surprising because no one would not think that Oroonoko could be sold as enslave because he was an outstanding warrior, respectful, and the prince of his land. But the fact that Oroonoko was black, made him a target of slavery.

Once Oroonoko was sold to Trefry and reunited with his first love Imoinda, he wanted to be free to start creating a family with his beloved. Oroonoko realized as well as Equiano that being enslaved was not easy because they passed through bad circumstances, and he did not want this to him and Imoinda. So, Oroonoko started making plans to purchase his and his beloved freedom. However, “They fed him from today with promises and delayed him till the Lord Governor should come, so that he began to suspect them of falsehood, and that they would delay him till the time of his wife’s delivery, and make a salve of that too, for all the breed is theirs to whom the parents belong” (Behn, 48). The enslavers were not satisfying that Oroonoko purchases his freedom because they understood that he was better at their disposition as enslaved. They decided to make him believe that they were working in setting him free while it was not true. They nurtured him with false promises that he was going to be free in order that he was patient and would not plan a rebellion. However, Oroonoko knew their plans and prepare a rebellion against his enslavers because he could not allow that his expected son would be born in slavery because if that happened, it would be more difficult to purchase his freedom. Also, he desired a better life for his family, something that slavery could not bring them since being enslaved meant sacrifice, suffering, and terror.

Additionally, Phillis Wheatley’s poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America” is another piece of writing that possesses many themes such as mercy, religion, racism, but it also deals with the theme of slavery, and it discusses the problems faced by the Africans. In this poem, the author is glad that she was brought from Africa to America because she considers that Africa is a pagan land. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word pagan means “Holding, characteristic of, or relating to those who do not subscribe to any major or recognized religion” (def. 1a). Wheatley states “’Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, / …that there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too:” declaring that it is God’s grace which brought her out from Africa and has saved her from calamity. Even though she is glad and grateful because God helps her, she opens her heart out to talk about the ill-treatment black people face. They have to tolerate hatred, bitterness, and disrespectful behavior just because of their dark skin color. She points out “Their color is a diabolic die. / Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,” Being enslaved is not an easy task and it is the idea that Wheatley wants her readers to know. Because of the fact they are black, enslaved are seemed to be diabolic and compare to Cain as well. Phillis Wheatley wants to share in this poem her happiness because of being brought to America because at least she is not going to suffer from the prejudices that most enslaved suffered in that time period.

Finally, the long-eighteenth century brought many themes, but a huge one was slavery. In these two books and poem that I present above, readers can contemplate a little bit of the bad side of slavery. Additionally, readers and students can takeaway how these three pieces of literature are connected together with the purpose to show how these main characters did whatever it takes in order to liberate themselves and glad to be free from this oppression and ill-treatment that was driven them sad, insane, and ill because of the experience they witnessed.

Works cited

Behn, Aphra. Oroonoko. Penguin Books, 2016.

Equiano, Olaudah, and Vincent Carretta. The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. Penguin Books, 2003.

“On Being Brought from Africa to America” from “Selected Poems by Phyllis Wheatley (1773).”https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/untitled-edbd5bb9-ec50-4524-b55d-d5d87ffd0e1e/section/f6d1defd-e474-4d04-9a64-c7f108e6028d

 

Charlotte Smith’s “On Being Cautioned Against Walking on a Headland Overlooking the Sea, Because It Was Frequented by a Lunatic”

            “I see him more with envy than with fear;”

I chose this line because at first, I was confused about what the author meant when she said that she envies this person. After a close reading I could understand the ambiguity that this line had. According to Lois Tyson a text has ambiguity “whenever a word, image… have two or more different meanings” (42). It is clear to assume that she envies this person because of two reasons. First is that she wants the freedom that he enjoyed and second because he was a man and he was allowed to do whatever he wanted just because he was a man and not a woman.

Charlotte Smith’s “The Sea View”

“The upland shepherd, as reclined he lies / On the soft turf that clothes the mountain brow, / Marks the bright sea-line mingling with the skies… /Ah! thus man spoils glorious works with blood!”

            I chose these lines because the author uses such comparisons to represent her frustration with society at that time. To symbolize her feelings, the author begins the poem using imagery to describe nature, which then develops into negative and angry imagery as she reflects into the poem. According to Tyson an image is a mental picture you create using words to describe the appearance of a place or person (42). In the beginning, Smith describes nature as an exquisite and brilliant creation by God, and with the last line she uses the image to represent the damage that humans had done not only nature’s beauty, but of society as well.

William Wordworth’s “The World is Too Much With Us”

“Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; / Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.”

            I chose this line because I was intrigued by what Wordsworth meant or what he wanted to communicate throughout them. Then I realized that he was doing mention of an allusion. The Oxford English Dictionary defines allusion as “An implied, indirect, or passing reference to a person or thing.” This poem contains allusions to Greek mythology Proteus that is according to Oxford English Dictionary a sea god and Triton that is described as the son of Poseidon.

Olaudah Equiano The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings

“Many times I have seen these unfortunate wretches beaten for asking for their pay; and often severely flogged by their owners if they did not bring them their daily or weekly money exactly to the time…” (101).

            I chose this quote because although the context is understandable to many readers, in order to understand what exactly he is talking about, readers must do a little bit of research. For instance, Equiano is talking about the bad treatment that he experienced when he was captured and sold as enslave. He noticed how badly they were treated and miserable was their lives. Such a situation made Equiano got insane because of the abuse that he witnessed. In the database Slavery & Anti-slavery, there are multiples images that represent the suffering of those enslaved in those times.

Phyllis Wheatley’s “On Being Brought from Africa to America”

 “Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,”

        Phillis Wheatley has used a few literary devices in this poem to express her ideas. I chose this special line because it caught my attention to the connection that the author made with Cain. It can be considered as an allusion because allusion is an indirect or passing reference to a person and the author provides a biblical reference here. According to the Oxford References and Oxford English Dictionary, Cain is Adam’s and Eve’s first son and “first fratricide and murderer.” This quote intrigued me because I wonder if the author by the use of this allusion is trying to compare these people with Cain. Or is Wheatley saying that they are bad as Cain was?

Secondary Sources- Works cited

Tyson, Lois. Using Critical Theory: How to Read and Write about Literature. Routledge, 2011.

“Triton, n.1.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, March 2020, www.oed.com/view/Entry/206467. Accessed 10 April 2020

“Whipping post and pillory, Delaware” Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive. 1865 http://find.gale.com.lehman.ezproxy.cuny.edu/sas/imageGallery.do?page=ImageGallery&  recordID=sas_00059&inPS=true&prodId=SASAS&userGroupName=lehman_main&pageN
umber=1&method=doImageDisplay&contentSet=SASM    

https://www-oxfordreference-com.lehman.ezproxy.cuny.edu/search?avail_01=free&avail_02=unlocked&btog=chap&isQuickSearch=true&pageSize=20&q=Cain&sort=relevance

In this first picture, we can see the ship in which enslaved were transported in the eighteen century. In the eighteen century, this picture was used to represent the concern for the treatment of many enslaved which led Parliament to pass an 1788 act restricting the number of enslaved a ship could carry at one time. This stowage plan of the Brooks, showing the arrangement of enslaved in the hold of the ship. It was published by the London Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade as proof of the inhumane conditions that still existed even under the new regulations. This image became a powerful propaganda tool in both the British and American abolition movements.

In this second picture, we can see the inside of the ship. We can see how tight those enslaved were because there were not sufficient spaces between them. It was overcrowded inside. By the expression of some of them, it is well to assume that there is sadness among them since some of them are being separated from their family. Some of them could be children but the greed of those enslavers in those times did not let them see furthermore. It is also a sign of sadness because some of them will never see their families again and they have to work for others in order to survive and hoping to get their freedom someday.

I selected these two pictures because both of them remind me of Olaudah Equiano. In The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings by Olaudah Equiano, the theme of slavery is very highlighted. In chapter two of the same book, he explains how many times he was selling. He passes many circumstances onboard of many ships and the grief of being separate from his family and his beloved sister. After many times of being sold, he came to the sea. When he arrived, he saw a slave ship waiting for his cargo (55). Equiano expresses “These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror, which I am yet at loss to describe, nor the then feelings of my mind” (55). When he saw many black people chained together with expressions of profound sorrow on their faces, he realized what awaited him, and knew that he would never return to his native country (56). Equiano did not want to be there, and he suddenly wished to return to former slavery than to endure this new punishment. Equiano continues describing the sensation of being put under the decks and expresses, “…I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life; so that with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything” (56). Equiano started feeling a little better when he found people of his own nation because he was convinced that the white men were evil spirits. Down in the hold, he was assaulted by hot air unfit to breathe because of its repugnant smells. Onboard, Equiano witnesses how many people grew sick and died, “thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers.” He listened to the screams and cries of anguish and terror on many enslaved what made the hold like a scene from Hell. However, since Equiano was a young boy, he was not put into chains and had more freedom to move about.

These two pictures are remarkable to demonstrate the way that enslaved were treated in the transatlantic slave trade. In chapter two from the book The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings by Olaudah Equiano the reader can appreciate and feel at the same time, the suffering that those poor people suffer because of the avarice of others. As I said before, those enslaved were treated without consideration, sometimes they did not eat, they were punished because of their ignorance but their enslavers did not teach them how to behave. It is sadder because they dreamed to be free and they did know when that would happen. Every time each of them was sold, there was a challenging experience as Equiano once said, “I remember in the vessel in which I was brought over… there were several brothers… were sold in different lots; and it was very moving on this occasion to see and hear their cries at parting” (61). There were cries because they knew what they are going to suffer and they. Also, they were full of pain because they did not know if some day, they could see their loved ones.

Works cited

Equiano, Olaudah, and Vincent Carretta. The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. Penguin Books, 2003.

Getty Images “ Eighteenth-Century Collection Online” 1789

Slave Ship: Albanoz, 1846. Slavery & Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive.

Being a student of New York city and reading and responding to eighteenth century works, it could result a little bit challenging. I live in Little Italy in the Bronx. In the Little Italy there are multiple restaurants and bars. There are a lot of noise each day and more over the weekends. Near my house, it is found the emergency room of Saint Barnabas hospital and one firefighting station. Sometimes I have tried to change the time when I read. As I work full time, the best time for me to read and concentrate is at nights. However, since the Little Italy is a noisy place at night, it is difficult for me to fully understand my assignments. Then, I decided to change my habits of reading. For example, couple weeks ago I started reading in the morning to be more concentrated and understand the reading that my professors assign me. But it is difficult to read in the morning when there are cars at double parking. There is too much noise between the cars, and it is annoying. Additionally, I rent a room in a house and sometimes my roommates are very noisy. In this house there are more people living and it is hard to concentrate because I cannot demand them to be noiseless.

Last week, I was reading the book Oroonoko by Aphra Behn. I have to say that I started reading the book with the best interest because when I realize that the reading is about a story instead of facts, I pay the most attention needed. I started reading it Sunday morning since I was free from work. It was very interesting reading the first couple of pages, but at the same time I was disoriented because of the noise around me. In the moment that I was most concentrated, there was an ambulance or firefighting truck passing by. So, I have to go back and start reading the page again in order to understand what the author was saying. One vivid example of that is when Oroonoko was captured and sold as a slave. Being honest, I was very confused of what was happening. I was deconcentrated by the outside noise of my neighborhood and the inside noise of my roommates. So, I have to re-read the page one more time in order for me to get the idea and understand the real situation within the text. When I read it twice, I realized that Oroonoko was betrayed by his best friend, the Captain, who captured him and sold Oroonoko to Trefry. At the moment when I understood this, I was astonished because I would not think that Oroonoko could be sold as slave because he was an outstanding warrior, respectful and prince of his land.

After that, I kept reading because I was intrigued to know how Oroonoko’s life was going to be since he was not a prince anymore but slave. So, I continued reading and, in the trajectory, I was distracted once again, therefore I had to re-read multiple times. Another example of that was when Oroonoko encounter Imoinda, married and pregnant her. Because of that Oroonoko wanted to be free before the child’s birth, and many people including Trefry started making promise and distracting Oroonoko to prevent him of starting a rebellion against the slaveowners. When I was into those pages, I had to take a breath in order for me to process this information because I was not understanding what was happening at once. I had to re-read it once again until the end to make sure that I really understood the context.

As I said before, living in a noisy neighborhood, it is very difficult to concentrate while reading especially eighteenth-century materials. Sometimes the language is different because it is old English and because of that we need more concentration. But when the place ones live do not help and it is not quiet, it is still more difficult to get engaged with the reading.