One theme that deeply resonated with me this semester, one that was constant in the texts examined, was the idea of collaborated freedom versus independent freedom. Some sub themes that became present and arose from these two contrasting ideas was the assimilation of the individual, to a new identity and culture. The 1660’s to the era of restoration were times that reflected the importance placed on honor, class, race, and colonialism. All these concepts played an important role to the idea of freedom. The enslaved, once freed, had to assimilate as as way of survival and as a way to keep that freedom. They had to find a role and identity in European society that would place them in a somewhat equal position to the dominant race, with the dominant class and honor. This was done so as not to be enslaved once again.

Take for example in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Equiano’s conception of freedom is from an enlightenment perspective. As such, it embraced liberty and individualism. Out of this idea of individualism, Equiano’s conception of freedom entitled him to self-possession, equality, work and honor. His transition of character was contrasting. Some of his speculation were contradictory. Before even embracing Christianity, which became a great part of his newfound identity as a free “slave”, Equiano was rapidly assimilating into the European culture. He says, “I not only felt myself quite easy with these new countrymen, but relished their society and manners. I no longer looked upon them as spirits, but as men superior to us; and therefore I had the stronger desire to resemble them, to imbibe their spirit, and imitate their manners. I therefore embraced every occasion of improvement (IV)”. Here, Equiano acknowledges Europeans are superior, admitting that he and everything that makes him who he is- his race and class- is inferior to them. Out of the admiration and power he sees them execute, Equiano aims to become like them.

Contrastingly, later on in chapter five, Equiano reprimands the same men he admired. He says, “Surely this traffic cannot be good, which spreads like a pestilence, and taints what it touches! Which violates that first natural right of mankind, equality; and independency; and gives one man a dominion over his fellows which God could never intend!” Here, we can see Equiano becoming aware of his individualism, where he becomes conscious of his individual rights. Such as is the right to be free, which he deems a God given right. Similarly, he questions his worth and becomes aware that his worth should not be beneath the worth of other men, race or not. Thus, he in a way demands equality.

In the following chapter, Equiano embraces Christianity, a significant concept of European culture. Equiano’s conversion is an essential portion of his newfound identity. Equiano states, “if ever it were my lot to be freed, nothing could prevent me, although I should at present see no means or hope to obtain my freedom; on the other hand, if it were my fate not to be freed, I never should be so; and all my endeavors for that purpose would be fruitless.” Where he once admired Europeans, and where he critics their actions as Christians, at this point Equiano leave’s his fate to God’s will. His state of freedom, he leaves it up to a higher superior power. One literary element that was key to analyzing text was, Point of view. Our experience of the story, as readers, was filtered by the author’s perception. As it was discussed in class Equiano’s story can be seen as an abolitionist text as well as spiritual autobiography. It can be seen in the quotations above, religion contributed a lot to what freedom was and how to attain it. In the end Equiano bought his freedom. By buying his freedom, he practices work and honor, both ideas contributed to his idea of individual freedom.

The importance of point of view became clearer in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko. A work of fiction interlaced with a true-life event, such as slavery, compromises its accuracy. Told from the point of view of an English woman, Oroonoko’s story is romanticized, perhaps to make slavery more acceptable or an easier topic to address in the 17^th century. Behn’s describes Oroonoko as such, “His nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat. His mouth the finest shaped that could be seen; far from those great turned lips which are so natural to the rest of the negroes. The whole proportion and air of his face was so nobly and exactly formed that, bating his color, there could be nothing in nature more beautiful, agreeable, and handsome (Ch.I)”. Here, we can see how Behn describes Oroonoko as beautiful in western standards beauty. Everything except the only attribute that makes him non-western, his color of skin, is beautiful. In Behn’s eyes his color of skin is not beautiful. It is not assimilation per se, but Oroonoko incorporates these western features.

Unlike in Equiano’s story, where he focuses on individual freedom, Oroonoko takes a chance at collaborate freedom. A leader among the enslaved, he rouses them to run away for freedom. In the end Oroonoko fails to achieve this collaborate freedom, but unlike Equiano, who aimed to save himself and embraced European society, Oroonoko tries. Class and honor are more transparent in Oroonoko’s story for he is known as the “royal slave”, a grand contradiction is in the tittle itself. Even among his people who are seen as inferior in comparison to Europeans, Oroonoko is above others. Even among slaves Oroonoko is different and somewhat in an upper position.

I would like to briefly point out another individual that does not accurately embody the phenomena that slavery was. All these individuals: Equiano, Oroonoko and Phyllis Wheatley, are example that do not fully reflect the tragic phenomena that slavery truly was. Wheatly as a slave seemed to have led a fortunate live. Her enslavers provided her with education, something that took her a long way. She was intellectual, something that was not expected of slaves. As she became successful for her published works, she remained enslaved. Yes, she did not have the misfortune of other enslaved that do embody the horrors of slavery, but she was enslaved nonetheless. Unlike the other two texts, whose targeted audience appear to be Europeans and written in a way to mind their sensitiveness, Wheatley seems to be speaking for the enslaved, her race to the Europeans. In her poem, “On Being Brought from Africa to America”, Wheatly says, “Their colour is a diabolic die. Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, maybe refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.” Here, Wheatley adamantly states that despite the color of their skin or race that condemns them as inferior in society’s eyes, Africans can be educated intellectual people, and that they are just as worthy in society as any white individual.

Overall, from the texts viewed this semester it was through individual freedom that Equiano might have achieved a collective sense of freedom in the long run, by serving as an example to others or simply by his literary work. Similarly, it became evident that point of view changed how we, as the audience, take in the information of the text. These two elements helped me navigate and be opened minded when reading other texts from that time.

Work Cited

“Oroonoko, Aphra Behn (1688): Oroonoko.” “Oroonoko” in “Oroonoko, Aphra Behn (1688)” on Manifold Scholarship at CUNY, 2007, cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/untitled-bfb21480-7741-4208-9dc5-ec3808e6266f/section/a4656453-5742-46c4-bb53-7c410853bb4f.

“The Interesting Narrative of The Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789): The Interesting Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah Equiano (1789).” “The Interesting Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah Equiano (1789)” in “The Interesting Narrative of The Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789)” on Manifold Scholarship at CUNY, 17 Mar. 2005, cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/untitled-07afb070-89c8-4401-b3fc-d37cbae0d9da/section/a515122d-7c11-4f49-bef3-26c2cd83ae66

In the book, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Equiano uses allusion in order to subtly critique the behavior of European men. One of the main allusion is to the Bible and moral behavior. Equiano says, “O, ye nominal Christians! might not an African ask you, learned you this from your God, who says unto you, do unto all men as you would men should do unto you? Is it not enough that we are torn from our country and friends to toil for your luxury and lust of gain? Must every tender feeling be likewise sacrificed to your avarice? Are the dearest friends and relations, now rendered more dear by their separation from their kindred, still to be parted from each other, and thus prevented from cheering the gloom of slavery with the small comfort of being together and mingling their sufferings and sorrows? (Ch.2)”. Here, using the bible as reference for moral behavior, Equiano points out Europeans lack of moral behavior. Being individuals who call themselves Christians, how can they perform and act in ways the bible condemns them, in ways that are non-Christian. The Bible implies a sense of equality, where all men of any nation are of “one blood”, yet Europeans dominate and enslave, deeming themselves “men superior to [the enslaved]”. Throughout the narrative, Equiano’s allusion to the bible is used to criticize the European’s immoral behavior. In other words, European’s are Christians in name only because they practice enslavement.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano can be considered a “slave” narrative and an abolitionist text. Being both causes quite a contradiction and the accuracy of the content might become questionable. What is mentioned for the sake of the abolition and what is said as a “slave” experience. Equiano’s use of imagery can help making that differentiation. One experience that all enslaved go through is that of being transported or encountering a slave ship. Equiano’s first encounter is explicitly described. He says, “The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome…but now that the whole ship’s cargo were confined together, it became absolutely pestilential. The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims…This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable (Ch.2)”. The use of certain words like “stench”, “closeness”, “shrieks”, “heat”, give an image of sensory overload. To be one person seeing and feeling all these things simultaneously captures the appalling experience these enslaved individuals go through. Equiano goes as far as using the word “pestilential” referring to the experience as if it were a contagious virus or sickness.

In Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko, point of view is key to how one may depict and understand the text.  Behn, being a wealthy English woman writing about a world that she considers primitive, a world of “Adam and Eve” time. Take for example Behn’s description of Oroonoko: she says, “His face was not of that brown rusty black which most of that nation are, but of perfect ebony, or polished jet. His eyes were the most awful that could be seen, and very piercing; the white of ’em being like snow, as were his teeth. His nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat. His mouth the finest shaped that could be seen; far from those great turned lips which are so natural to the rest of the negroes. The whole proportion and air of his face was so nobly and exactly formed that, bating his color, there could be nothing in nature more beautiful, agreeable, and handsome (Ch.1)”. Here, one can say that it is a very subjective description of him. Here, he is described in a western standard of beauty. Behn is in admiration of his physical appearance, except that which shows his African origins, and that is the color of his skin. Two things she deems not “handsome”, are his skin color, eyes and teeth. That is because in contrast to his skin his eyes and teeth are boldly pronounced, and thus she deems them “most awful”. Perhaps by describing Oroonoko in such manner not only is she setting him apart from all other Africans, but describing him with European attributes makes him more appealing to her European audience. In a way Behn’s is romanticizing Oroonoko.

Similarly, in Oroonoko there is one example of symbolism that can somehow foreshadow Oroonoko’s future as a slave. Behn says, “He was therefore no sooner got to his apartment but he sent the royal veil to Imoinda; that is the ceremony of invitation: he sends the lady he has a mind to honor with his bed, a veil, with which she is covered, and secured for the king’s use; and ’tis death to disobey; besides, held a most impious disobedience (Ch.1).” Not to undermine slavery in comparison, but even before Imoinda and Oroonoko became slaves they were both victims of power and authority, of control and submission. The royal veil symbolizes what shackles might symbolize to the enslaved, it takes freedom away and deems the individual as something to be owned. Just as enslaved belong to the English, Imoinda now belonged to the king. Even with Oroonoko being a prince and different than the rest does not save him from his obligations to his culture and tradition, just like it won’t save him from becoming a slave. Similar to slavery, the only way out of the royal veil, is death.

In The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Equiano mentions a proverb in his culture that forms a repetitive idea in at the beginning of Equiano’s voyage. This repetitive idea when examined closely becomes an ironic trope. Equiano says, “We had a saying among us to any one of a cross temper, ‘That if they were to be eaten, they should be eaten with bitter herbs (Ch.1).” This is the first hint of cannibalism we get in the story. Cannibalism was an idea pushed onto Africans by the English, yet, at the beginning of the story it became a repetitive concern to Equiano. Equiano would say, “I asked them if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces, and loose hair (Ch.2)” or “We thought by this we should be eaten by these ugly men (Ch.2)”, “They told us we were not to be eaten (Ch.2)”, and “I very much feared they would kill and eat me (Ch.3)”. The word “eaten” is mention often in chapters two and three. Equiano is ironically concerned that the English would eat them, thus accusing the English of cannibalism. Not only that, but Equiano refers t them as “ugly”, something the they themselves appear to the English.

Work Cited

Behn, Aphra. “Oroonoko, Aphra Behn (1688): Oroonoko.” “Oroonoko” in “Oroonoko, Aphra Behn (1688)” on Manifold Scholarship at CUNY, Jan. 2007, cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/untitled-bfb21480-7741-4208-9dc5-ec3808e6266f/section/a4656453-5742-46c4-bb53-7c410853bb4f.

Olaudah, Equiano. “The Interesting Narrative of The Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789): The Interesting Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah Equiano (1789).” “The Interesting Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah Equiano (1789)” in “The Interesting Narrative of The Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789)” on Manifold Scholarship at CUNY, 17 Mar. 2005, cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/untitled-07afb070-89c8-4401-b3fc-d37cbae0d9da/section/a515122d-7c11-4f49-bef3-26c2cd83ae66

As an immigrant to the United States, from a young age, being part of the minority became significant in the world I grew up in. The language barrier was that which hit me the most, followed closely by physical appearance. Being from Ecuador, I was small, tan skin, with dark eyes and hair. Nothing like the dominant group that was your typical light hair, light eyes, light skin individuals. The Americans. I did not have a status with power, I was with no rights. I was never personally subjected to discrimination or ill treatment because of what I was, but regardless the feeling of inferiority was all around. If I place myself in the picture, which I have failed to do, and look at Equiano’s experience, it becomes easier to embrace and understand his individual idea of freedom as a form of survival.

In the text, The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano himself, one element that I failed to understand, but continued to judge, was the tone of Equiano towards the English. As I read his work, I couldn’t help but shake my head over and over again as Equiano made his enslavement out to be like an adventure. If his work would have been used to introduce me, a non-American, to the history of slavery, then I would have thought that slavery was not as bad as history made it out to be. As if the tone of the story was not misleading enough, I was flabbergasted when even within his African culture slavery were present. Of course he makes the distinction that his slaves are criminals or prisoners of war, but was Equiano not a prisoner to the English? The difference is the treatment of course, but both were prisoner and both had to surrender their individual freedom. They both answered to a figure of authority. To me, that was ironic.

Equiano remarks, “Those prisoners which were not sold or redeemed we kept as slaves: but how different was their condition from that of the slaves in the West Indies! With us they do no more work than other members of the community, even their masters…Some of these slaves have even slaves under them as their own property, and for their own use (ch.1)”. Here, he definitely, emphasizes on how different he treats slaves in comparison to slavery done by the participants in the West Indies slave trade. In his home, slavery is good, perhaps even a kind act towards prisoners. The English had many tropes in regards to Africans, some in which they saw them as uncivilized cannibals. I couldn’t help but think if the English thought they were being “kind” when taking Africans away from such primitive world and introducing them to the wonders of the modern. Reading Equiano’s voyage as an enslaved, that is exactly what he expressed. As if the wonders of the modern world make up for enslavement as a whole just because he found it fascinating.

While he almost brags about how his culture treats “slaves”, he rebukes other’s form of slavery. He says, “Such a tendency has the slave-trade to debauch men’s minds, and harden them to every feeling of humanity…it is the fatality of this mistaken avarice, that it corrupts the milk of human kindness and turns it into gall…Surely this traffic cannot be good, which spreads like a pestilence, and taints what it touches! which violates that first natural right of mankind, equality and independency… For it raises the owner to a state as far above man as it depresses the slave below it (Ch.5).” Here, slavery is definitely bad and immoral. In my eyes both are forms of slavery, one more severe than the other, but both nonetheless deprive absolute freedom. In the West Indies, there might have been cases were the enslaver might not have been as brutal to the enslaved, perhaps they showed kindness, but still the enslaved remained enslaved, no matter the treatment there was no equality, no freedom.

Equiano was definitely kind towards the English in his text. And while I did judge him for it, especially because once freed he participate in a society that upheld slave trade, as an immigrant I somewhat understand it. As someone who came from the outside, he was exposed to the emergence of race, the awareness of blackness, of modern clashing with premodern, among other things. When confronting these things my instinctive response is to fit it, to assimilate, which is what he perhaps did when he started dressing like the English, and reading and writing, embracing Christianity, or even working. Except his tools to assimilate happened to depend on the slave trade. Above all, his assimilation was for a grand purpose, and that was to write this abolitionist “slave” narrative. Equiano’s idea of freedom, short-term, was that of individual freedom. But only, by gaining his individual freedom, could he become a sort of ambassador for enslavement, and thus for the long-run, pursue or encourage the collective idea of freedom.

Ammaline Pauta

A Forcible Appeal for the Abolition of the Slave Tarde, 1792
(The British Museum)

The Image illustrates the irony of slavery. In the scene above we can see two slaves tied to palm trees while being flogged by African overseers, a white woman looks on carelessly. Notice that all Africans in the image are enslaved, the overseers doing the flogging have an owner just as the Africans being flogged do, but it is that minimal distinction in position that makes a significant notion. The form of attire also hints at the position of each individual; the Africans with lower status have zero to no clothing and are refer to “slaves”, the Africans with stripped suits, hats and shoes hold a higher status and as you can see have the tittle of “overseers”, even if all four are enslaved and are owned. Last but not least, the one with the highest position, the woman, is dressed richly and stands on the sideline taking no physical action to the event that is taking place. Power, authority, and freedom seems to play a distinctive part in the image above. Do the overseers feel certain freedom when they are handed the power to do as whites do and flog “slaves”? Is there freedom in authority and power, perhaps? To feel the power and rule over another being, to feel as the white men probably feels, is it to feel freedom? This image is used as a form to elicit sympathy for enslaved Africans during the abolition of slave trade, but examining the picture closer we can see how corrupt and debauched the logic of captivity and freedom of the British Empire system in the 18^th century really was.

The image above enriches a reoccurring idea presented in the book The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano. And that is the paradoxical idea of freedom in the 18^th century and slave trade.  An Abolitionist text for white people, Equiano, throughout the story depicts white people in a passive, almost kind manner. He sees and witness’s horrible things and describes them as such using imagery, but what he himself experiences is told in a manner that makes it seem as him being kind to enslavement.  Being an abolitionist text, it is understandable to make his captivity seem bearable and adventurous, so as to appeal to white men to enlist in the abolitionist cause. But what about after? When he is free. Looking at the image above, which character would Equiano be? Definitely no the Africans being flogged. And he cannot be the white woman, for he is not ignorant to captivity and enslavement. He critiques, “Such a tendency has the slave-trade to debauch men’s minds, and harden them to every feeling of humanity…it is the fatality of this mistaken avarice, that it corrupts the milk of human kindness and turns it into gall…Surely this traffic cannot be good, which spreads like a pestilence, and taints what it touches! which violates that first natural right of mankind, equality and independency… For it raises the owner to a state as far above man as it depresses the slave below it (Ch.5).” Although Equiano says this before he is free, he becomes an individual that survives on “such a tendency”. He is “tainted” by it, and has been “touched” by it, and I don’t mean captivity, but rather freedom and power and authority. He is tainted, for once freed, he survives on the system and keeps his freedom because of how the system is sustained. Freedom here, is a double-edge sword that exists because there is such a thing as slavery. Equiano’s conception of freedom is from an Enlightment perspective that co-exists with liberty and individualism. For that reason, Equiano embodies an individual idea of freedom rather than a collective idea of freedom. Meaning he works with the system for his own ends and freedom. Similar to how the overseer above in the image seems to be doing, he submits to the corrupt system for his own end. No one in the picture and Equiano himself think of the enslaved as a whole, but center their actions on the individuality of their own self.

Barbarities in the West Indias, 1791
(The British Museum)

The picture above displays an enslaved African being drown in steaming liquid by a mean-looking overseer. As he pushes the African underneath, the overseer is saying, “B-t your black Eyes! what you can’t work because you’re not well? – but I’ll give you a warm bath, to cure your Ague, & a Curry-combing afterwards to put Spunk into you”. In the background we can see many things pinned to the wall, among the many, a black arm and ears. The scene above is gruesome and barbaric, but it depicts the cruelties behind enslavement in the 18^th century.

Dissimilar from Equiano’s passive description of the English, the protagonist in Oroonoko by Aphra Behn paints a completely different picture. Where Equiano reflects an individual idea of freedom, Oroonoko attempts at a collaborate idea of freedom but fails. Oroonoko displays the barbarities that arise in enslavement, unlike Equiano. However, Behn’s depiction of the natives are full of irony. They are depicted as savages and barbaric for they are said to be more in tune with their basic human virtues. She says, “so that they cut in pieces all they could take, getting into houses, and hanging up the mother and all her children about her; and cut a footman, I left behind me, all in joints, and nailed him to trees.” Yet, look at the picture above and tell me who has limbs hanging and is presently boiling a human alive. Behn like Equiano have a passive way out outright calling out the behavior of the whites. The character of Bannister is embodied in the overseer above, for Bannister is described as a “a fellow of absolute barbarity”. While Behn fail to take a side she displays in detail the way enslaved individual are treated, although it contradicts to how she also seems to see the natives. In both stories there is irony in slavery and the treatment of the enslaved, jut as much as freedom becomes a double edge sword. Oroonoko’s experience as a “slave” to the English reflect more of how we view slavery in history, where the treatment of the enslaved were inhuman. As opposed to how Equiano paints the English.