Abolition, Ethnicity, and Identity in The Interesting Narrative - Literature Essay Samples

Published in 1789, The Interesting Narrative by Olaudah Equiano is an autobiography detailing his experiences as a captive in the transatlantic slave trade. Equiano presents the narrative of his life as a story meant to inform and entertain, but also to further the cause of abolition.1 This underlying purpose must be considered in conjunction with other historical details in order to gain a full understanding of the author and his work. Firstly, it is necessary to recognize that Equiano was speaking as a member of a minuscule minority in the eighteenth century—that of the African scholar. In contrast, his intended audience was principally the wealthy, educated classes in the Western world that might have had some power to bring an end to slavery. Wilfred Samuels argues in â€Å"Disguised Voice in The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African† that the author’s handicap in achieving this aim was the prevalent, supposedly scienti fic belief that Africans were not developed enough to articulate themselves in an educated way.2 The Interesting Narrative is thus an entertaining biography, but also a plea to be treated as a serious, historically based work. The strength of Equiano’s abolitionist argument depended on the credibility of his evidence; many of his readers were loath to even believe that an African had written a book, while others attacked his assertion of African origin.3 It is the battle against such opponents that frames the story of Equiano’s life—the story of how an enslaved African escaped his unfortunate station by obtaining an education and, as the author himself said, by receiving the â€Å"mercies of Providence.†4 Additionally, in traveling back and forth across the Atlantic and transforming from a captive slave to an educated scholar, Equiano develops an identity as a displaced African, a resident of the New World, and eventually an Englishman. This unique combination enables him to become the rare spokesperson for Africans who truly understands slavery from both sides. Equiano’s diverse experience colors the tone of his autobiography, as he gently tries to show a hostile audience the evils of slavery. Equiano presents his antislavery argument on a variety of fronts, both subtle and explicit. In editing and updating his autobiography, Equiano refuted claims of fabrication and published a series of recommendations of his work by educated persons. A â€Å"List of English Subscribers† attached to The Interesting Narrative, including notable landowners from that era,5 establishes validity by indirectly suggesting to the reader that if important people actively follow Equiano’s work, then it must hold merit. In a more explicit way of directing attention to his true agenda, Equiano utilizes a supplicatory tone in an introductory letter addressed â€Å"To the Lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons of the Parliament of Great Britain.†6 He entreats the audience to look upon The Interesting Narrative with compassion, sympathy, and open-mindedness. Still, Equiano takes care to write with delicacy here; if he were to seem too bold, like a Negro who does not know his place, then he would certainly inflame anger and rebuke in the reader’s heart.7 Another point raised by the Narrative is the complicated question of Equiano’s ethnicity. When describing life in his homeland in Chapter 1, Equiano writes, â€Å"Our day houses are left open †¦ we sleep †¦ insects which annoy us during the night.†8 By identifying with the practices of Africans, he establishes himself as one as well. Equiano states that he is from â€Å"a section of the kingdom of Benin called Eboe.†9 Yet, as Byrd goes on to say, this does not necessarily create a sense of nationalism or pride, because Igbos may not have been self-aware of their country in relation to others ne arby. The reader learns that Equiano is an Igbo, but not what the importance of this distinction is. Though Equiano is African by birth, he has lived so long with Europeans and New World colonists that he writes in a way they can easily understand. In fact, when Equiano published Narrative, he had spent three-fourths of his life traveling and living with Europeans and colonists in the New World.10 This time had greatly shaped Equiano’s character and opinion of whites. Three years after moving to England, he says, â€Å"I now not only felt myself quite easy with these new countrymen, but relished their society and manners. I no longer looked upon them as spirits, but as men superior to us; and therefore I had the stronger desire to resemble them; to imbibe their spirit, and imitate their manners†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 11 Equiano’s strong admiration for the English shows that he has adopted their ways and wishes to be recognized as one of them. It seems that although E quiano is African by birth and recalls with fondness his childhood on the continent, he identifies more readily with Western culture, mannerisms, and society. He strives to be like the English in all ways—except, of course, for their espousal of slavery. The Interesting Narrative offers great insight to the issues of race, ethnicity, and slavery as they existed in the eighteenth century. Equiano’s unique life history allows us to understand the viewpoints of (some) Africans during the transatlantic movement, slave traders, slave sympathizers, New World colonists, and Englishmen. The assortment of people and experiences that inform his account make it truly invaluable.____________________1Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings (New York: Penguin Group, 2003), 32.2Wilfred Samuels, Disguised Voice in The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Black American Literature Forum, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Summer, 1985), p p. 64-69. JSTOR. (28 Sep. 2009).3Alexander X. Byrd, Eboe, Country, Nation, and Gustavus Vassas Interesting Narrative, The William and Mary Quarterly, January 2006 (28 Sep. 2009).4The Interesting Narrative, 31.5The Interesting Narrative, 15.6The Interesting Narrative, 7.7â€Å"Disguised Voice,† 65.8The Interesting Narrative, 36.9â€Å"Eboe,† 3.10The Interesting Narrative, ix.11The Interesting Narrative, 77-78.

Essay about Contrasting Neo-Classic and Pre-Romantic...

Contrasting Neo-Classic and Pre-Romantic Literature Neo-classicist writers placed great emphasis on taking a practical approach to life and their writing, focusing often on logic, science, and technology, and preferring not to employ frivolous embellishments or reflect on the abstract. They wanted unadorned fact whereas the romantics favored a more creatively inclined form of expression (Anderson et al. 1). Before the romantics began, however, pre-romanticism edged in slowly, acting as the bridge between an era of unpolluted logic and another defined by emotion. Pre-romanticism’s presence was actually felt during the same age as neo-classicism, as its contemporary, not its successor, yet still there is an assortment of differences†¦show more content†¦Satire, in both prose and poetry form, was one of the more popular methods of expression, considering that it acted as the ideal tool for highlighting society’s foibles. A particular insensitivity came along with such a barefaced documentation of life, but revealed also was an outlook that was both unambiguous and unafraid (Anderson et al. 704). Jonathan Swift is possibly the most famous satirist, known for his searing denunciations, particularly in Gulliver’s Travels and A Modest Proposal (Anderson et al. 811). In the former, he attacked humanity bitterly with four books documenting the adventures of Captain Lamuel Gulliver, the supposed author, who traveled through four bizarre lands. While superficially, readers might consider the piece entertaining and imaginative, those mindful of its underlying intent are aware that Swift is underlining the foolish exploits and debased logic of humanity as it stands (Anderson et al. 814). A Modest Proposal was written with a more specific goal of bringing the destitution of Ireland to the attention of the public (Anderson et al. 811). With neo-classicism being the emulation of classical Greek and Latin, one might note that London was to the neoclassicists as Athens or Rome was to the classicists.Show MoreRelatedOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pagesof organizations. The authors’ sound scholarship and transparent style of writing set the book apart, making it an ingenious read which invites reflexivity, criticalness and plurality of opinion from the audience. This is a book that will become a classic in organization studies. Mihaela L. Kelemen, Professor of Management Studies, Keele University, UK An unusually rich and deep philosophical book on organization theory with several new thinkers and ideas. Pedagogically a well-structured book withRead MoreGp Essay Mainpoints24643 Words   |  99 PagesTerrorism a. Can terrorism ever be eradicated? 7. Sports a. True purpose of sports nowadays b. Sports and Media 8. Foreign Aid a. How effective is Foreign Aid? 9. Migration a. Is migration/having foreigners good? 10. Subjects a. Literature b. History c. Mathematics d. Universal language 11. Businesses a. Business morality b. Charities as businesses 12. Democracy a. Good vs. Bad 13. Social Issues (only stats provided) a. Gender b. Family c. Equality 14Read MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesINTRODUCTION whole, treats the two wars and their prehistory and aftermaths as genuinely global phenomena, not as conflicts among the great powers of Europe, the United States, and Japan, which has been the obsessive focus of most of the vast literature on this subject that defined much of twentieth-century history. As Carl Guarneri argues cogently in his contribution to the collection, which provides the fullest bibliographic references, the emergence of the United States first as one of the

I robot free essay sample

The circumstance that caused Del Spooner to become skeptical about robots. The time is the car accident makes him and young girl to river. At that time, a robot came to save him but not that girl drowns. Because Spooner can survival after that accident. So he does not believe the robot anymore and the robot cannot be live like a human 2. In a brief parallel to The Matrix, it seems that no one else doubts the begin nature of the robots. In The Matrix, people can only see human, nothing else. In me, robot movie, robot is appear realistic and work for human. In The Matrix, seem like everything made by many number and function. In the l, Robot movie, they are not deceiving themselves about this. Because people known the robot had create by human. And they can see clearly the different. 3. Only humans can find significance in a wink because wink is meaning thing that only human can understand. We will write a custom essay sample on I robot or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The wink does not have suppose meaning, it Just the action created by human. So, only human can know what is it means. The wink is the communication signification between human and human. 4. The reality of the Three Laws, which we find out about even before the story begins to be told, already tell us that there is some problem with the robots. Because robot is a machine used to serve for human. Everything in their mind had set up by human. Robots do not have feeling and emotion. All they can know is follow the program. Robot does not have human being. 5. Some scholars think that moral laws are hard-wired into the human beings behavioral abilities while others say this is not the case. The implications for the definition of the human being if we follow the moral law, we are human. Human can understand others feeling. Moral law is the thing to keep us in a way. But everything is not perfect. It built up dependent on people actions. So, moral law is made by human and can be complete by human only. 6. Del Spooner is dangerous to the U. S Robotics; they try to kill him because his vision about robot is different from another people. Del Spooner is an only one human being that hate robot, and try to destroy as much robot as he can. All the other human being is depend their lives, activities mostly on robots; robots do all the Jobs for them. Too much depending on robot, let the robot do all human beings obs, that make the robots can program themselves to have human beings mind and control the world. Del Spooner knows it; he tries to kill the head of U. S Robotics to stop the unneeded battle. He becomes to be dangerous to the U. S Robotics. 7. Human were born in unperfected form; God give us permit to sin to make our life better. Human being can get more intelligent and smarter by studying, getting their own knowledge to make themselves better. Robotic cannot be human being; they can feel pain, dreaming, crying only human being can have all that felling made by God.

Life In The 1900s Was Depressing And Was An Era Filled With Extremely

Life in the 1900's was depressing and was an era filled with extremely hard and strenous work that didn't offer any future for the average canadian in doing better. If you were an average wage earner you would be virtually stuck in the same job for the rest of your life, while rich maintained their wealth mainly caused by the low taxes. Living conditions were poor for average canadians and even worse for the arriving immigrants. At this time some of the modern convienences were just being invented and even if it were for sale only the extremely rich had the option of purchasing the items. Sports being very new, in the aspect of it being organized was small time compared to present day. Travelling required time and was uncomfortable. Only the rich could have the luxurious accomadations for those long journeys. Many jobs were available to most people but you were under constant scrutiny while working and would have to be willing to do any thing the boss wanted. I believe my friends and I would most likely resent and despise it if we had to live in the 1900's. During the 1900's horses played a significant role in the everyday life. A horse drawn carriage would bring a docter to the house of where a baby would be born. A hearse was pulled by horses to the cemetery when somebody died. Farmers used them to pull their ploughs while town dwellers kept them for transportation around town. Horses puled delivery wagons for businesses such as bakery, dairy, and coal company. Horses pulled fire engines through the streets in a fire emergency. The bicycle was widely accepted by canadians because of its easy maintence compared to a horse. The bike allowed an option of transportation. The bicycle also gave a sense of freedom to virtually anybody willing to learn. Henry Ford revolutionized the world we live in by inventing the "horseless carriage", if it had not been for him, instead of taking the GO bus in the morning we'd be riding a horse named Wanda. Not only did his invention offer a method of transportation to the public, but it helped with our emergency services such as fire engines, police cars, and ambulances. Now we have a large variety of cars to choose from varying in size and price. He also brought a large profitable industry to North America...The car industry. Back then there weren't many problems that they created. Today, we have our deteriorating ozone layer, poisonous chemicals that come from exhaust fumes (CO2)(Carbon Monoxide). Not to mention the traffic accidents, parking problems and traffic jams in downtown Toronto. 11 years previous to WW I Orville and Wilbur Wright made a successful flight in the first airplane at the beach of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Although the flight only lasted 12 seconds it would change the way we see the world. The telephone allowed the houseneeds to be satisfied without leaving they're homes. Women received an oppurtunity to work as a a switch board operator. I don't know if I can stress the importance of Marconi's invention enough. But I can say, that without it not only would there be no T.V. or radio there would be a lot of unemployed people right now(even more unemployed than now!!!). The reason for that is radio provides people with jobs such as DJ's, musical programmers etc. Also, radio is a major form of advertising, without it there would not be as many advertising agencies or as many positions in this field. Without T.V., advertising agencies would also face the same consequences. T.V. provides millions of people with employment in commercials, T.V. shows, and movies. Baseball was the most popular sport in the United States where the World Series began in 1903. Tom Longboat was born in Brantford, Ontario and was known for outrunning a horse over a 19 km coarse. He set a record of 2 hours, 24 min and 24 seconds when he ran the Boston Marathon. Jan 22/1901 Queen Victoria died at the age of 63 years. The Queens reign stretched across the globe. With her death came modernization. In the early 1900's horses were being used extensivley for all transportating duties and some manual labor jobs.

Majority Rule Guarantee of Democracy1 essays

Majority Rule Guarantee of Democracy1 essays Swiss Bank Controversy: Whos Money Is It? It is hard to imagine having everything you ever owned taken away in a split second. Many Jews experienced this after the years of oppression by the Nazi regime. The Jews had everything stripped away: their families, their possessions, their futures, and their dignity. I would give that money away for anybody. I should have had some relatives survive. I mean most of my friends, they had sisters, or cousins, or aunts or somebody to belong to. I had nobody, said Gizella Weisshaus (Jones 1996). It has been about fifty years now since the end of the Holocaust. Up until recent times, the survivors of the Holocaust have decided that they deserve their money that they put into the neutral Swiss bank accounts before the war. They did this to protect their assets from the Nazis. This then provides the controversy, fifty years later, do the Holocaust survivors and their families deserve the money back from the Swiss banks, or are the Swiss banks even responsible for paying back the money? The controversy first arose with Gizella Weisshaus, when she could not receive her fathers money after the war ended because she did not know her fathers bank account number. When she was a young girl, her father had been taken away to the concentration camps. As he was being taken away, he mentioned to her that he had put money away in a Swiss Bank account and that she should go and claim it when the war ended. Years after the war she went back to claim the money, and the teller told her that with out an account number she could not do this. They then told her it would take five years to research the dormant account; therefore she would have to wait. Her response was, It made me angry that even now they claim they need five years to find these dormant accounts, as if fifty years wasnt enough (Jones, 1996). Weisshaus was the first one to raise the re...

Mammalian cell Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Mammalian cell - Essay Example hirae V1 is central to increasing binding affinity of the chimeric V1 for phosphate, resulting in reduction of the ADP inhibition. These findings together with a comparison of the crystal structures of T. thermophilus V1 with E. hirae V1 strongly suggest that the A subunit adopts a conformation in T. thermophilus V1 different from that in E. hirae V1. This key difference results in ADP inhibition of T. thermophilus V1 by abolishing the binding affinity for phosphate during ATP hydrolysis (Hu, Wei-Shou, Zeng, & Berger 13). The preparation of Chimeric was constructed by an overlap of PCR-based method. The second procedure, on the other hand involved the introduction of cysteine residues into the D subunit contained in the V1 (Hu, Wei-Shou, Zeng, & Berger 13). Lastly, the last portion of the experiment involved the introduction of protein concentrations of the already purified V1constructs which were established from the UV absorbance which was calibrated by the quantitative amino acid examination (Mather,

The 1912 Presidential Election Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The 1912 Presidential Election - Essay Example All candidates were aware of the massive changes sweeping across the American society and made dedicated efforts to answer the reforms necessary to maintain the Progressive order. Progressivism also necessitated the strategy of each candidate towards fighting corruption, modernizing every element of state machinery and reforming the economy in every possible way. Progressivism and the 1912 Presidential Election Israel says that the fact that the 1912 US Presidential election brought forth a significant reform in the American political system is simple enough to highlight the crucial role played by the Progressive Party (78). The Progressive Party not only succeeded in rising to prominence against the two main parties (the Democrats and the Republicans) but also succeeded in wielding significant influence over the next four years on issues on national importance. This is evident since the progressive party gained over 30% of the vote and had a strong contender – Theodore Roosev elt – as its presidential candidate (Berkin 34). ...  The Progressive Party strongly favored support for labor unions and wanted to maintain a tight grip on business enterprises in an effort to regulate American industry. Milkis says that these reformist beliefs stem from the very life of Roosevelt, who spent his early years growing up in a working-class neighborhood in New York (63). One of the primary persons responsible for the departure of Roosevelt was the incumbent president – William Taft. Taft had previously served under Roosevelt’s administration as the ‘Secretary of War’ until 1908 when he was finally chosen as Roosevelt’s successor to be president. However, Taft’s policies grew increasingly conservative in nature and began to create a rift within the party leading to a split in 1912 (Morrisey 25). Unlike Roosevelt, Taft favored lesser regulatory oversight on businesses and more freedom in the hands of business leaders. Taf t reasoned that such freedom was essential for sustaining innovation and productivity in the American economy and that he favored refraining from any external control on American enterprises unless absolutely necessary (Eisenstark 52). Against the backdrop of these two warring parties, the Democrats fielded Woodrow Wilson as their presidential candidate. The in-fighting between the two factions of the Republican Party proved favorable for Wilson as he had to contend with a disorganized opposition. In fact, these trends helped the Democrats resolve their internal differences and helped them evolve into a significant political force.