The Interesting Narrative of the Life of
Olaudah Equiano
Some of the
most interesting books on the List are the autobiographies. I previously read
the amazing story of Bernal Diaz del Castillo and several the books have been
pretended autobiographies (fiction in first person narration) and that of
Olaudah Equiano (with the most absurd long title of “The Interesting Narrative
of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African”) follows in those
footsteps. His life was an odyssey worthy of a tale.
Equiano was
a native West African, who at a tender age was kidnapped from his village and
sold to slavers. Arriving in the West Indies he is “lucky” to be sold to a “good”
captain of a ship who uses him as part of his crew. In that function Equiano
takes part in the Seven-year war against France as a young boy. This is not
without physical danger as Equiano is close to getting shot and bombarded to
pieces. During his travels Equiano visits England and gets familiar with family
and friends of the captain and he starts learning to read and do math. At the
end of the war, when he expects to be set free and get a share of the prize
money, his captain pulls a trick on him and sells him as a slave to a ship
going back to the West Indies. Turns out the captain got a new wife, and she
wants him to get rid of Equiano because he had become a favorite with his
former wife.
Again,
however, Equiano is “lucky” and gets sold to a merchant who is decent to his slaves
and uses him and his slaves to work in his shipping business. In that way Equiano
gets to sail all over the Caribbean and see and experience firsthand how slaves
and black people in general are treated. Ultimately, Equiano is able to buy his
freedom, but even as a free man there are no justice for black people and he
narrowly escapes many dangers, both from white supremacists and from the
natural dangers of a seafaring life.
The general
message and ultimately the purpose of the book is to be an eyewitness to the
injustice and inhumanity of the slave business and how wrong it is that there
is no justice whatsoever when it comes to colored people. Equiano formulates
himself in a way a British gentleman or lady would be familiar with in the
eighteenth century and acts according to what is considered common sense and
gentile behavior, effectively removing the “them and us” barrier. Equiano is on
the inside, telling the reader he is no different from her or him, so why does
he need to be treated any different? That he turns (intensely!) pious towards
the end even serves to remove religious arguments (heathens are lesser humans).
As such it
is incredibly effective, even for a modern reader. You cannot read this and not
feel indignation and shame of belonging to a nation that dabbled in slavery
(yup, some of the rich eighteenth century mansions in Copenhagen were built on
slavery wealth). It is easy for us today to condemn slavery as an inherent
evil, but it took more back then. It is convenient to shut the eyes on the
darker consequences of what brings you wealth, that has not changed in 230
years. The book was therefore also a highly political text in support of the abolitionist
cause and given political agenda’s ability to color things favorably it is
possible that not everything in this text holds water. Some criticism has been
raised that Equaino was in fact from South Carolina and not West African, but
it actually matters little. Even if some of the events are imagined, they are
painted so vividly and true to a reality in the West Indies that the message
rings true.
Even
without the political angle, this is one spectacular odyssey and the sheer
adventure of it was enough to keep me riveted throughout.
Only miss
for me is the religious emphasis in the last three chapters. They are mostly
filler and I could have done without them.
Nevertheless,
strongly recommended, both as an interesting adventure and for anybody
interested in slavery and race issues. There were times reading this I wondered
if we really have come that far in 200 years.
