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