Olaudah Equiano Imperialism
In The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, the author Equiano recollects on his abduction, the Middle Passage, his years as a slave and later his freedom. He recalls being ripped from his home, an African Ibo village and sold into slavery. The most horrifying details of his story were during the Middle Passage, where Europeans were uncivilized, peaceful and moral to any of the slaves on the ships. Equiano’s experiences gave him knowledge of how Europeans truly are, the real version. As a result, he writes about many of his experiences using pathos as a tool to generate emotion in his readers. Moreover, he uses pathos to challenge the tenants of imperialism articulated by a scholar, James Tully, that Europeans believe that
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His experience during the Middle Passage shows the harsh realities of how slaves were treated from the point of a slave. Equiano tells the audience about his horrifying experiences with pathos, to make the larger argument saying he resists imperialism. While describing the tight packed under deck of the ship, the filth in which people laid, and the feelings of the men who were suffering he uses words like, “Intolerably loathsome”, “suffocation”, “sickness”, “filth”, “scene of horror”, “life of misery”, “unmercifully”, and “death” (2815). Each one of these words or phrases forms an image of squalor and utter despair of the slaves on these ships. He uses pathos here, to resist the imperialist belief that Europeans are civilized because after reading the descriptions of the slave’s treatment, the “civilized” (Tully) European is contradicted on top of Equiano’s pathos. He creates the idea of the “savage” European when he remarks on how they treat slaves as well as their own people: “The white people looked and acted…in so savage a manner; and this is not only shewn towards us blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves” (2814). The additional perspective of the Europeans supports Equiano’s main argument about how Europeans do not follow their own writings of imperialism and how they are savage, not civilized people. His pathos might also appeal to the reader’s emotions and make them feel pity and sorrow for how the Europeans treat the slaves. In describing the Middle Passage with anguish, Equiano resists the idea that European imperialism and their beliefs are right through describing how the Europeans act as “savage” (2814) which ultimately shows the extent of the European treatment towards the
His experience during the Middle Passage shows the harsh realities of how slaves were treated from the point of a slave. Equiano tells the audience about his horrifying experiences with pathos, to make the larger argument saying he resists imperialism. While describing the tight packed under deck of the ship, the filth in which people laid, and the feelings of the men who were suffering he uses words like, “Intolerably loathsome”, “suffocation”, “sickness”, “filth”, “scene of horror”, “life of misery”, “unmercifully”, and “death” (2815). Each one of these words or phrases forms an image of squalor and utter despair of the slaves on these ships. He uses pathos here, to resist the imperialist belief that Europeans are civilized because after reading the descriptions of the slave’s treatment, the “civilized” (Tully) European is contradicted on top of Equiano’s pathos. He creates the idea of the “savage” European when he remarks on how they treat slaves as well as their own people: “The white people looked and acted…in so savage a manner; and this is not only shewn towards us blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves” (2814). The additional perspective of the Europeans supports Equiano’s main argument about how Europeans do not follow their own writings of imperialism and how they are savage, not civilized people. His pathos might also appeal to the reader’s emotions and make them feel pity and sorrow for how the Europeans treat the slaves. In describing the Middle Passage with anguish, Equiano resists the idea that European imperialism and their beliefs are right through describing how the Europeans act as “savage” (2814) which ultimately shows the extent of the European treatment towards the