Olaudah Equiano Essay

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano and They’re made out of Meat by Terry Bisson are two very different narrative, but at the same time are still easily compared. The narrative of Equiano’s life tells the story of his experiences being taken by white men from his native country and sold into slavery. They’re made out of Meat is about aliens researching the human race. Just by these short descriptions one may think that the two narratives cannot be compared, that they are completely different. One who has read both will know that this is not true.
In both stories neither of the narrators know what to expect with the “other” characters they’re speaking of. In the case of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Olaudah does not know what to expect from the white men that are taking him and other Africans from their native country. In the case of They’re made out of Meat, the aliens do not know about the humans except that they are made out of meat. Olaudah says in his narrative “… I found some of my own nation, which in a small degree gave ease to my mind. I inquired of these what was to be done with us?” (Equiano 95). In Bisson’s story the aliens
In Bisson’s narrative the aliens never make contact with the humans, they chose not to answer the humans question of “Hello. Anyone out there? Anyone home?” (Bisson 2). Olaudah said “I was immediately handled, and tossed up to see if I were sound, by some of the crew;” (Equiano 94). In They’re made out of meat the aliens stated, “Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing.” (Bisson 2). Olaudah had no choice, he wasn’t given a choice of if he wanted to go with the white men, and he was taken from his native country unwillingly. The aliens on the other hand, were the ones in charge, they had the option of seeing the humans or not and chose not