Jane Austen (1775-1817) is rightly famous for “marriage plot” novels that represent the social intrigues of the British landed classes in the eighteenth century. Northanger Abbey, though published posthumously, is actually the first novel that Austen completed for publication, in 1803. Mixing aspects of the social realism her later novels would become known for and a parody of the conventions of Gothic fiction, Northanger Abbey reads in some ways like a statement of artistic purpose. Critiquing the sentimentalism of earlier novels, as well as the sensationalism of Gothic horror, Austen clearly grasps at a different standard of realism. We might even say that Northanger Abbey includes aspects of “metafiction” (fictional writing about writing) that offers a compelling commentary on the ability of the novel form to accurately represent everyday life, in particular the specific social issues and confinements women face.

So: what are some of the moments in our excerpts from Northanger Abbey in which Austen and/or her characters reflect on questions of novelistic form and women’s writing? For the asynchronous assignment, find a passage where Austen gets “metafictional.” Comment here with a paragraph or two discussing what that passage reveals.

Dashawn Britt

1.“Their color is a diabolic die.”

   Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,

  May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.

  ON BEING BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA. Phyllis Wheatley 

 

Phyllis Wheatley used similes and metaphors to describe how the skin color being black is related to “diabolic die” which means devilish or pertaining to the devil as dictionary.com defined the term. In that time people thought white people were pure and anything white is basically how things should be. Being refined and join the angelic train meant after the sugar cane is refined and all of the impurities are removed then they will be pure. That’s how they looked at blacks like sugar cane because it was refined. 

 

“Diabolic.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/diabolic?s=t.

 

Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave

2.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 author used imagery to describe what a “Perfectly sculpted negro” may look like. Instead of having rusty black skin, he was a perfect ebony complexion. I saw a short video about how blacks are viewed and how they use stereotypical attributes to classify us to look a certain way. They thought all Africans looked the same but as soon as they saw Oroonoko they compared him to Romans or Europeans because they couldn’t believe he appeared the way he did.

“‘I’d Never Seen Black People Look Like That.’” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/iaed-never-seen-black-people-look-like-that/.

3.“The scene of the last part of his adventures lies in a colony in America, called Surinam, in the West Indies.”

This biographical information was unknown to me, before reading this text, I have never heard of Suriname. Suriname is in South America. I learned that over 90% of Suriname is covered by tropical rain forest. It is known for its Dutch sugar plantations. This makes sense now because throughout the story the slaves are working in the plantation so I get a sense to why they would work in the field in this region to pick the from the sugar cane.

“Suriname Facts for Kids: Geography: People: Food: Animals.” Travel, www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/suriname-facts.html.

REFLECTIONS on the REVOLUTION IN FRANCE.

EDMUND BURKE 

4.“All circumstances taken together; the French Revolution is the most astonishing that has hitherto happened in the world.”

This Historical context was interesting to me because this was a bold statement. It intrigued me so I had to look up a few facts about the French revolution to see if I support this claim. I have a few facts that I found to be profound such as The French Revolution gave the world its first public zoo, in taking the Tennis Court Oath they swore not to disperse until they had drafted constitution for France, with or without the participation of the clergy and nobility. The citizens of France demolished and rebuilt their nation’s institutions and the changes they wrought, often bloodily, persist as a reminder of the power of the people. These are a few things that made the French Revolution one of the most astonishing things to happen in the world.

McQueen, Paul. “10 Facts About the French Revolution You Need to Know.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 13 Feb. 2017, theculturetrip.com/europe/france/articles/10-facts-about-the-french-revolution-you-need-to-know/.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of

Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, by Olaudah Equiano

5. That he who cannot stem his anger’s tide

Doth a wild horse without a bridle ride.”

The author did a great job using a metaphor to compare a person’s anger to a wild horse without a bridle. When a person can’t control his anger, it is difficult to control a person because they are no longer being logical, they are acting off of emotions. Like a horse without the bridle which controls the horse’s direction. When a person can’t keep his anger at ease that person loses all sense of direction and sense. 

 

“On Being Brought From Africa To America” By Phillis Wheatley“

Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land, taught my benighted soul to understand” (Wheatley lines 1-2).

In lines 1-2 in the poem “On Being Brought From Africa To America” by Phillis Wheatley, she writes about being kidnapped and taken from her home in Africa to America as a slave at the age of seven or eight years old. Wheatley was born in Senegal, Africa and when she was taken to America she was brought to live in Boston Massachusetts. She was raised by Mrs. John Wheatley who gave Phillis an education because she saw that she was very intelligent. Phillis Wheatley was the first African American woman who wrote and published a book of poetry in 1773.

“On Being Brought From Africa To America” By Phillis Wheatley

“Taught my benighted soul to understand” (Wheatley line 2).

            According to the English Oxford Dictionary the Word Benighted is defined as without understanding. The origin of the benighted can be traced back to the late 16^th century. The word benighted is used in the poem to show that Wheatley did not understand what was happening to her when she was taken from her home in Africa and brought the America to live. She was only a child of seven or eight years old and did not have complete understanding that she was being kidnapped and turned into a slave against her knowledge.

Oroonoko By Aphra Behn

“All that love could say in such cases being ended, and all the intermitting irresolutions being adjusted, the lovely, young and adored victim lays herself down before the sacrificer, while he, with a hand resolved and a heart breaking within, gave the fatal stroke, first cutting her throat, and then severing her yet smiling face from the delicate body, pregnant as it was with the fruits of tenderest love” (Behn 72).

            In the novel, Oroonoko writtenby Aphra Behn, there are several themes. The theme of death appears throughout the novel but the tragic death of Imoinda is the most heartbreaking of them all. Oroonoko kills his beloved wife Imoinda because he does not want her to suffer by the hands of Byam who wants to kill him. Oroonoko fears that his wife will be raped and murdered by his enemies and he can not bear to have that happen to her. The tragedy of her death is that Oroonoko himself was the one who killed her.

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

“I see him more with envy than with fear” (line 10 Smith).

            In this line, Smith is speaking to her frustration that due to her being a woman she is not allowed to come and go as she pleases. Charlotte Smith does not fear the lunatic, she envies the freedom that she does not have. This poem was written in 1797, during that time period women were not allowed to make their own choices. According to A Vindication of The Rights Of Women written by Mary Wollstonecraft in 1792, some men believed that a woman’s mind is not in a healthy state due to their conduct and manners. It can be said that during this time period men made most of the decisions for women because men believed that they were the superior sex. Therefore, her envy of the lunatic is due to her lack of freedom.

Excerpts from A Vindication of the Rights of Women By Mary Wollstonecraft

“ I wish to persuade women to endeavor to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them, that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonymous with epithets of weakness, and that those beings who are only the objects of pity and that kind of love, which has been termed its sister, will soon become objects of contempt” (Wollstoncraft page 4).

            Mary Wollstoncraft was an English writer and a leader in advocating for educational and social equality for women. She believed that both women and men should be educated equally, which she wrote about in one of her published works, A Vindication of the Rights of Women. This work written by Wollstonecraft is known as a work of feminism. She called for women to be more than just good wives to men and good mothers to their children but to be strong in both mind and body. Wollstonecraft’s desire was for women to receive an education just as good as the education that men receive. Mary Wollstonecraft believed that with a good education, women can work in various professions. Mary Wollstonecraft fought for the betterment of women.

Citations

“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

Original source: National Cyclopedia of American Biography (Bio Ref Bank)

Database: Biography Reference Bank. Accession Number: 203046903. April 15, 2020.

“benighted, adj.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2020. Web. 26 April 2020.

Oroonoko. Place of publication Not Identified: Penguin, 2016.Print.

“Two Sonnets By Charlotte Smith” in “Two Sonnets, Charlotte Smith (1797)” on manifold Schloarship at CUNY

“Excerpts from A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Mary Wollstonecraft (1792). Cuny.manifoldapp.org  

Bouazza Azzouzi

Professor Micheal Rumore

English 302

April 20, 2020

1. Why Nature plays a huge part in Romanticism era ?

“The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending we lay waste our powers.

Little we see in Nature that is ours.

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon” (1-6) William wordsworth.

The oxford learner’s Dictionaries defines nature as “  all the plants, animals, and things that exist in the universe that are not made by people, and the way that things happen in the physical world when it is not controlled by people”  the poets in romantic era gave tremendous respect to the nature against the material changes. With changes that happened people started to shift to material word and left the nature behind, so the romantics specifically the poets put themselves in the first lines to remind people of nature. In addition to that nature has the power to shape the mind ad the imagination of the poets than an industrial revolution cannot achieve.

1. What “Shepherd” symbolize in the poem of “The Sea View” by Charlotte Smith

“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.

  Or from his course celestial sinking low

 The summer sun in purple radiance glow” (1-5) Charlotte Smith

Smith uses the Shepherd which refers to a man who control a group of cheap. Smith

Chose “the upland Shepherd” as a symbol of peace mind in a place far away from the

 The dirty city. Smith also uses Shepherd to connect spiritually god and earth. Shepherd

 Also has a literal meaning of being an innocent person and the closest one to nature

  Whom knows the value of the nature. Thus, Smith maybe is tying here to compare two

 type of people the one who evaluate the nature, and the ones who destroy it.

3-

“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, beating his color, there could be nothing in nature more beautiful, agreeable, and handsome. There was no one grace wanting that bears the standard of true beauty.” Aphra Behn (Oroonoko)

In this passage, we see that Oroonoko described as a European hero. However, throughout the novel, these high European qualities such as roman name or his color are different than Africans, eventually all these fake names and could not help him defeated to fight enslavement because it is too powerful to be solved by European qualities. None of these European old forms and honor gave him the freedom to choose his life as he wants to live. Adapting European characteristics never been a solution for enslavement. The solution is to fight the enslavement disease until you be free as you are as an African man not a free man with European qualities.

1. Why many of poet’s chooses “the sea” in their poems

“Is there a solitary wretch who hies

 To the tall cliff, with starting pace or slow,

  And, measuring, views with wild and hollow eyes

 Its distance from the waves that chide below.

Who, as the sea-born gale with frequent sighs?

Chills his cold bed upon the mountain turf,” (1-6) Charlotte Smith

The sea was the central subject for many poets throughout the romantic era. the sea

has a strong connection with nature knowing that nature was one of the main thems and held at a higher level of attention from the poets in the romantic era. Thus, the sea was a symbol of being free from the rules of human and dirty cities during the 1800 century.

1. ON BEING BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA.

“Some view our sable race with scornful eye,

  Their colour is a diabolic die.”

  Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,

  May be refin’d and join th’ angelic train.” (5-8) PHYLLIS WHEATLEY

This passage gets my attention because of its powerful of imagery that Wheatley used

To deliver her thoughts. Reading the poem in the first time was hard to understand, but

  After reading it for the second time, I started to get its meaning by its strong imagery

   that Been used “A poem, however, must build its pictures from words. by taking note of    its imagery.” Kennedy a Dana Gioia (443). The poet used imagery in such a way that

  makes me engage and entering the rooms of the poem. And makes poem enjoyable    For readers.

Work Cited

Kennedy, X.J and Gioia Diana. backpack Literature “an introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing.” California, Pearson.2016

Osborn, Michael. The evolution of the Archetypal sea in rhetoric and poetry. Quarterly Journal of speech 1977, vol.63, p.347.

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/nature

                   

Destiny Vega

“…but in the water, one would think they were gods of the rivers, or fellow-citizens of the deep; so rare an art they have in swimming, diving, and almost living in water; by which they command the less swift inhabitants of the floods.”

Aphra Behn used the literary element of figurative language in this quote. Behn is saying something other than the literal meaning of the words. She uses phrases as “god of rivers” to show us that they were able to handle the water and swim or hunt in amazing ways that many people were able to do. This is important because it shows us how they were able to survive and hunt for food. 

“It is not titles make men brave or good, or birth that bestows courage.”

This quote by Aphra Behn stood out to be because she I believe that she is saying that Oroonoka is considered noble and a hero is because of his title. If he did not have the title he probably would not be considered that. This is important she emphasizes that people who do not have titles have more of an opportunity to be courageous because they have no titles. What we are born as does not automatically because us “brave or good” it is somethings that we have to prove. 

“The King of Coramantien was himself a man of an hundred and odd years old, and had no son, though he had many beautiful black wives: for most certainly there are beauties that can charm of that color.”

Aphra Behn uses characterization in this quote to shows us that the King of Coramantien is a patriarchal figure in his society that lives by this hierarchy. He has many wives who are old and young because he knows he can have them and take them for his own. He is a wicked man and generally does not care about others in his society and he proves this when he Imoinda from Ooronoko. 

“They have plurality of wives; which, when they grow old, serve those that succeed ’em, who are young, but with a servitude easy and respected; and unless they take slaves in war, they have no other attendants.”

Behn used the literary element of plot to shows us what happened or happens in the story. I think this quote is important to the story because I think it shows us the ways of which royals learn from the white men. They have many wives and have no care. This is the relationship that white men have with there women and it is something that is taught. 

“He was adorned with a native beauty, so transcending all those of his gloomy race that he struck an awe and reverence even into those that knew not his quality; as he did into me, who beheld him with surprise and wonder, when afterwards he arrived in our world.”

I believe that in this quote Aphra Behn is emphasizing on racism. I feel as if she is describing the King in a way that is racist. To me she is writing that he is beautiful despite the color of his skin and physical features. She is writing he is unlike anyone else in race and has qualities that are worthy to note. What is being said, in my eyes, is not kind but rather rude. 

Reading Communities

Bouazza Azzouzi

Professor Micheal Rumore

English 302

April 20, 2020

From 1807 To 2020

I have been living in New York for five years since I moved from my original country (Morocco). since then and year after year, I keep discovering and observing a lot of things in the city of extreme as they said. Even sometimes I keep forcing myself to ask questions, where I am? What I am doing here? How did I end up here? Everything seems different for me than the life I was living in my backcountry. However, and after a while, I started getting into the system that drives people every day in the city of extremes as they say. Indeed, I accept this way of living by force of trying to fit myself in a different type of living that focuses more on work and money. In fact, at a certain time, I felt that I lost my true nature in this city. Thus, I decided to change the way I am living, and I went back to school to study English literature. As they say, literature is a reflection of society, William Wordsworth proves that in her beautiful poem called “ the word is too much” (1807)Wordsworth points out the Idea of how people are much consumed with the material world and living nature outside of their thinking.

 Wordsworth is reflecting on her society in the early 1800 century, but her idea still is very related to the way New Yorkers living in their everyday life. He makes a clear point on how people live and how to live become with all these industrial revolutions. “

“The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending we lay waste our powers.

Little we see in Nature that is ours.

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bears her bosom to the moon,” (1-5) Wordsworth

 Throughout the poem Wordsworth argues that people lost the ability to think of nature instead of following their economic status also he mentions that we have all kind of powers of soul we can use for getting and spending, he’s speaking of materialism means that getting ad spending all that is wasting our happiness, however, we need to go back and connect more with nature in order for us to live a happy life.  He argues that we are too busy with the industrial and mechanical world, therefore we lost our self among these factories. This piece of literature from the early 1800 century is an example that literature can reflect on our societies, and literature has the power to connect the past and present.

   Even if Wordsworth wrote this poem in the early 1800 century, it still has a valid message to be applied to New York now. Because after five years of living and discovering New York,  I can say that people are too concern about time and making money, yes I do not blame them because they are part of the system that values work and work, people are chasing the time in their daily life New York forces people to become machines that never stop and sometimes cannot try to enjoy their relationships. In other words, their souls already dead for making money to pay their expenses

 What William Wordsworth addresses in his poem. “the world is too much for us” I think it was the beginning of world transformation; from time to time becomes worst, complicated and sophisticated until we end up dealing with material life.

Work Cited

Wordsworth, william. Prose and poetry, the prelude. V,1, London 1802.

Paula Castro

Professor Rumore

ENG 302

20 April 2020

Critical Annotations 

Oroonoko by Aphran Behn 

1. “His eyes were the most awful that could be seen, and very piercing; the white of them 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” (Behn, 15)

In the simile “the white of them being like snow, as were his teeth” the author compares the white in Oroonoko’s eyes and teeth to the snow; suggesting that Oroonoko became cold since he was forced to leave his home land, this could mark the beginning of the Oroonoko’s transformation. Therefore, the simile highlights the before and after of Oroonoko’s settlement in the West. Also, water symbolizes life and by comparing Oroonoko’s features to snow, she could be suggesting that his life has been frozen since he cannot continue with his royal obligations, illuminating the lack of freedom in Oroonoko’s new life. 

• “The royal youth appeared in spite of the slave, and people could not help treating him after a different manner without designing it; as soon as they approached him, they venerated and esteemed him; his eyes insensibly commanded respect, and his behavior insinuated it into every soul” (Behn, 43)

According to the Oxford English Dictionary “in spite of” means “in defiance (scorn or contempt) of; in the face of; notwithstanding” meaning that although Oroonoko now appeared (physically) to be a slave, his royal blood still managed to make him different/special, highlighting the theme of Oroonoko being considered “different” among the slaves due to his royal blood. As a prince he still possessed a strong view and that is why “his eyes insensibly commanded respect”; foreshadowing the revolt that he commences on the book due to his strong view that lead him to demand equality. The foreshadowing illuminates the superior/inferior relationship among people throughout the novel, slaves being inferior and the westerners being superior (although even among the slaves Oroonoko was considered to be superior). 

• “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).

In the first sentence the metaphor the author uses compares the satisfaction of being fed with Oroonoko’s satisfaction of the thought of being free. This is important because it resembles the cruelty of the people in charge. And Oroonoko’s suspicion of “falsehood” resembles his ability to analyze and think critically about his situation. They were just trying to appease his thirst of freedom until the baby was born so they could make the baby a slave. The author refers to the baby as “that” as if the baby would be a thing again resembling that they were seen as less than human. This passage highlights Oroonoko’s superior status even as a slave. 

“On Being Brought from Africa to America” by Phyllis Wheatley 

• “’Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,

Taught my benighted soul to understand

That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too” (Wheatley, 1-3)

In the first three lines of the poem Wheatley uses personification, literary consonance and enjambment. In the first line “mercy” is given a human characteristic of bringing the author from Africa. This personification implies that due to the white people’s clemency or “mercy” Wheatley was brought to the United States. There is enjambment from “taught” to “too” meaning that the clause does not come to an end at the line break, but it moves to the next line. The reader must read both lines in order for it to make sense and this implies that a benighted soul is not complete without God. The literacy consonance is with the use of “t” in these three lines and besides giving the poem a rhythmic effect, it reemphasizes the idea of being redeemed. These three literary devices help illuminating how being brought to the United States and having God in your life is so beneficial for the salvation of Africans. 

• “Some view our sable race with scornful eye,

“Their colour is a diabolic die”

Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,

May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train” (Wheatley, 5-8)

The “sable race” serves as symbolism since it is representing the African race. According to the Oxford English Dictionary “sable” means “the colour black; black clothing, also, esp. as a symbol of mourning” suggesting that the African race is not worthy of keeping alive, it should be something to mourn. Also, there is alliteration of the “d” in “diabolic die” making the reader focus on this specific phrase, at the same time, it involves the sense of vision since it makes the reader imagine such color (appeals to the reader’s senses). Also, the assonance in the letter /a/  in “may be refin’d and join th’ angelic train” makes the poem flow smoothly while delivering its message of being equal regardless of race. In this case, Wheatley using these literary devices highlights the importance of equality among Christians. 

Works Cited 

Behn, Aphran. Oroonoko. Penguin Books, 2016.

“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

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

“When you make men slaves you deprive them of half their virtue, you set them in your own conduct an example of fraud, rapine, and cruelty, and compel them to live with you in a state of war; and yet you complain that they are not honest or faithful! You stupify them with stripes, and think it necessary to keep them in a state of ignorance; and yet you assert that they are incapable of learning; that their minds are such a barren soil or moor, that culture would be lost on them;”

1. In this Passage Equiano speaks of being slave being in a “State of War” (Equiano 75). There were many negative stereotypes that slave masters attached to African slaves because they wanted to keep them in a state of inferiority. Equiano witnessed moral atrocities on a daily basis that exhibited a contradiction in how masters viewed the African slaves.  Colonial rulers, through brute force, promoted their economic and religious values; essentially stripping the African slaves of theirs. They wanted the African slaves to exemplify the virtuous qualities that they saw in themselves.  Equiano debunks this delusion and suggests that slave masters are doing nothing more than showing the character of white men through their conduct and example.
2. There is great irony in the way Europeans saw the African People; barbaric, uncivilized, and a people who couldn’t understand culture.  Colonisers kidnapped slaves from a country that had been rich in culture and tradition for thousands of years before their arrival.  Equiano is a subject in the Kingdom of Benen , by way of Eboe , which is now southwestern Nigeria. It is presumed that this pre-Columbian kingdom was and formed by the Edo people, flourished from the 13th to 19th century CE (Cartwright 2020). The kingdom is perhaps best known for its impressive brass sculptures and plaques which frequently depict rulers and their family; they are considered amongst the finest artworks ever produced in Africa.

Cartwright, Mark. “Kingdom of Benin.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 02 Apr 2019. Web. 18 Apr 2020.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano,

• “Indeed, such were the horrors of my views and fears at the moment, that, if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would have freely parted with them all to have exchanged my condition with that of the meanest slave in my own country.”

1. In this passage  hyperbole is used contextually to emphasize, evoke. strong feelings and create strong impressions of Equiano’s psychological state during the first moments of his capture. When Equiano says, “if ten thousand worlds had been my own”(Equiano 25) he is speaking to the unique experience of a person who was not born into slavery but thrust into it. Although he details the many injustices, he witnessed throughout his enslavement he is also writing his narrative after the fact. He purchased his freedom in 1766 but still lived under the constant threat of being jailed, murdered or returned to slavery. His statement speaks to the despair, powerlessness and loss of control that he would give up the power to be free in exchange for being made a slave in his home country.
2. Equiano is bringing to light how vastly different slavery in Africa was compared to what he experienced.  In Equiano’s African kingdom a slave might be enslaved in order to pay off a debt or pay for a crime. Slaves in Africa lost the protection of their family and their place in society through enslavement. Children of slaves born into families could be integrated into the master’s kinship group and rise to prominent positions within society, even to the level of chief in some instances. The type of slavery during the Transatlantic slave trade is referred to as chattel slavery. “A chattel slave is a piece of property, and without rights” (Okoye 1980). This kind of slavery was very different because  it was dehumanizing and solely based on the genetic make-up of a person. Generations  of children, women and men were sold were non-human objects to be owned, used and disposed of at will, as was to be practiced by Europeans

Okoye, F. Nwabueze. “Chattel Slavery as the Nightmare of the American Revolutionaries.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 37, no. 1, 1980, pp. 4–28. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1920967. Accessed 20 Apr. 2020.

ON BEING BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA

Phyllis Wheatley

• “Their colour is a diabolic die.”

Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,

May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.”

1. The term was first used in an Atlantic Monthly article titled “Striving s of the Negro People” in 1897. The concept is often associated with William Edward Burghardt DuBois, who brought the terminology to light famously, in his groundbreaking book,  The Souls of Black Folk (1903). W. E. B. DuBois uses the concepts of ‘the veil’ and ‘double-consciousness’ to explain the “peculiar conditions” (Pittman 2016) within which African Americans find themselves in the United States and the specific tools at their disposal to understand and hopefully dismantle those conditions.  Phyllis Wheatly uses this second sight to provide her with a basis for deeper insights into the social realm and the possibility for more effective actions against the systems of domination in place.

Pittman, John P., “Double Consciousness”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2016/entries/double-consciousness/>.

2. When enslaved Africans first arrived in America, some brought religious traditions with them. But the pain of slavery drove many to look for meaning and hope in a new place – the Bible.  Although many could not read the stories of retribution and salvation took a hold of all slaves who heard them. Christianity was a practice the African slaves saw as a salvation but was also a tool slave holders used to oppress them. Although most slaves could not read, biblical stories of salvation and retribution spread like fire. Out of the more than three quarters of a million words in the Bible, Christian slaveholders had two favorites texts, one from the beginning of the Old Testament and the other from the end of the New Testament (Rae 2018).

Rae, Noel. The Great Stain: Witnessing American Slavery. The Overlook Press, 2018.

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 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