Olaudah Equiano Book Report

“ Olaudah Equiano’s Silent Study on the English and Persuasions on his Road to Abolish Slavery and Finding the Hidden Comparative Details between the New York Artisans and Gustavus Vassa” When Equiano’s autobiographical text was first published in England, 1789, it was a big hit, as I would say. It was mostly considered as “to end the slave trade and played a crucial role in the nationwide abolitionist movement of the late eighteenth-century England” (Ito 83). For me it was not a surprise that England would have been onboard with the whole aspect of abolishing slavery because throughout Equiano’s autobiography I could notice how well he was being treated. For example, Equiano as a boy was taken to Guernsey and he said, “This woman behaved
This is because for the readers in that time, they knew how slaves were treated, which was very miserable. As I can understand, Equiano was intelligent on starting from the top, the top signifying important peoples like the Parliament and aristocrats. Although the Parliament did not act on Equiano’s request, just by starting from such a high point brings people’s attention. And also he knew that by having the support of aristocratic figures, more and more people would take an interest in him and his book. This brings me to another point on the tactics that Gustavus Vassa used. Having prominent names in the list of subscribers and given Vassa support could have given, or did give the English people security on what they were reading, if it was interesting and if it had a good reason to be read and dealt with. Some subscribers as Ito mentions “as “His Royal Highness of the Prince of Whales”, “His Royal Highness the Duke of York”, “The Right Hon. The Earl of Dartmouth”, “The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of London”, “His Grace the Duke of Northumberland” (Ito 84). Equiano was indeed being intelligent on putting each one of these aristocratic figures’ names on his book, because it could be seen as a hidden persuasive style. Equiano did so