Olaudah Equiano Book Report Maggie Hennigan College

Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is one of history’s most raw and multifaceted arguments for the abolition of slavery. Seized and forced into the slave trade when he was only eleven, Equiano tells his story as a member of the African upper class, to a subjugated slave, and finally as a free man. This novel stands out because it provides more insight into the wrongs of slavery other than simply describing its physical horrors. Thus, Equiano’s narrative proves to be an effective antislavery text because it looks at slavery from a three-dimensional perspective, and aims to convince the reader of slavery’s crimes toward social stratification, intellect, religion, and economics.

As aforementioned, Equiano originated from an upper class family of the Kingdom of Benin in Africa, and his upper class background strongly shapes Equiano’s views of slavery. As a result of his family’s privileged status, Equiano was exposed to the institution of slavery at an early age, as his family owned many of them. However, what Equiano aims for readers to understand is that the slavery Westerners know is much different than the slavery that took place in Africa. In the west, slaves are treated as second-class...