Week 4: The Difficult Yet Intriguing Novel of Olaudah Equiano

    The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is definitely one of, if not the most unique (and difficult!) books we’ve read for class. It’s the only autobiography of the bunch, and the writing feels less like the author trying to set up this world and story rather than a man telling his audience about his life in a rather matter-of-fact way. As somebody mentioned in class, it reads in a similar fashion to Hayy Ibn Yaqzan since this is a difficult book to skim or read quickly, and in some cases, it’s difficult to read in general. I have noticed that a lot of writing from the 1700s-1800s is very wordy with little consideration for concision. Sentences can just go on comma after comma, making certain concepts difficult to grasp in their verbosity. Additionally, most of the story so far has been told in a very pragmatic way, sort of listing event after event without too much flow in terms of the story beats.

    Despite these challenges brought on by differing time periods, the story has been fascinating so far. The fact that Equiano was moved around/sold/kidnapped so many times that I as a reader was losing track is a testament to how terrifying and traumatic it must have been for Equiano himself. I found it interesting seeing much of the outside world from the perspective of a boy who has not seen anything of the like, attributing things to magic and calling birds flying fish. The main thing I knew about the Atlantic slave trade were the appalling living conditions in the deck of the ship, to the point where the air was not breathable. Seeing it recollected in personal and accurate detail was awful. I also knew about slaves trying to jump off the boat, since suicide was a preferred option to them over living as a slave. I would say I was surprised at how “loyal” Equiano’s master was to him. I’m certainly not patting him on the back considering he was still a slave owner, but at the very least Equiano seemed connected to him.

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2023 at 4:15 PM

    Hi Andrew, I have also noticed the brisk and matter of fact tone of storytelling, although I have to say I enjoy it much like I enjoyed the style of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan. It is fascinating to read a first hand account of the Atlantic slave trade, and I too am surprised that he has had such seemingly generous masters.

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  2. Paulos HabtewoldFebruary 22, 2023 at 12:18 AM

    Hi Andrew, I agree that the story was incredibly hard to skim. I tried a couple of times subconsciously until I realized what I was doing and went back because I did not understand a thing. The flow of the story was a part of the reason it was so hard to skim. The story just moved from place to place, idea to idea, so quickly you had to be paying incredibly close attention or you would just be lost from one paragraph to the next.

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