One day they had taken a number of fishes; and when they had killed and satisfied themselves with as many as they thought fit, to our astonishment who were on deck, rather than give any of them to us to eat, as we expected, they tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for some as well as we could, but in vain; and some of my countrymen, being pressed by hunger, took an opportunity, when they thought no one saw.them, of trying to get a little privately; but they were discovered, and the attempt procured them some very severe floggings. One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together, (I was near them at the time,) preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings and jumped into the sea: immediately, another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same, if they had not been prevented by the ship's crew, who were instantly alarmed. Those of us that were the most active, were in a moment put down under the deck, and there was such a noise and confusion amongst the people of the ship as I never heard before, to stop her, and get the boat out to go after the slaves. However, two of the wretches were drowned, but they got the other, and afterwards flogged him unmercifully, for thus attempting to prefer death to slavery. In this manner we continued to undergo more hardships than I can now relate, hardships which are inseparable from this accursed trade. Many a time we were near suffocation from the want of fresh air, which we were often without for whole days together. This, and the stench of the necessary tubs, carried off many.During our passage, I first saw flying fishes, which surprised me very much; they used frequently to fly across the ship, and many of them fell on the deck. I also now first saw the use of the quadrant; I had often with astonishment seen the mariners make observations with it, and I could not think what it meant. They at last took notice of my surprise; and one of them, willing to increase it, as well as to gratify my curiosity, made me one day look through it. The clouds appeared to me to be land, which disappeared as they passed along. This heightened my wonder; and I was now more persuaded than ever, that I was in another world, and that every thing about me was magic. At last, we came in sight of the island of Barbadoes, at which the whites on board gave a great shout, and made many signs of joy to us. We did not know what to think of this; but as the vessel drew nearer, we plainly saw the harbor, and other ships of different kinds and sizes, and we soon anchored amongst them, off Bridgetown. Many merchants and planters now came on board, though it was in the evening. They put us in separate parcels, and examined us attentively. They also made us jump, and pointed to the land, signifying we were to go there. We thought by this, we should be eaten by these ugly men, as they appeared to us; and, when soon after we were all put down under the deck again, there was much dread and trembling among us, and nothing but bitter cries to be heard all the night from these apprehensions, insomuch, that at last the white people got some old slaves from the land to pacify us. They told us we were not to be eaten, but to work, and were soon to go on land, where we should see many of our country people. This report eased us much. And sure enough, soon after we were landed, there came to us Africans of all languages.
Reflection:
Equiano suffers many horrible hardships as he was taken from his land so he could serve to a rude pompous buffoon. He was stripped away from all dignity that he ever had while on the ship in the deepest part of it, yet h still found hope in all the things that he was allowed to do. Like after a certain time he was allowed to walk on the surface of the ship to get fresh air, but others abused that privilege he thought, the ones that tried to jump onto the middle of the ocean were caught by nets on the sides and they were brought back up and killed. The slaves were treated awful as they were never fed even the leftover tables scraps of the fish they caught. Instead the scraps were thrown overboard and the slaves watched them throw the food over as they begged.
When he finally arrived on the island of Barbados he was placed with other blacks in a line up to be chosen like a material at an auction. He was chosen quickly due to the fact that he was spry and younger compared to the other slaves who were old men or women with young children. He heard of good masters on the island that the slaves lived more than twice as long as the ones that are abused with awful places to live. They have to work no matter what and they do not get paid a lot while they still go further in debt buying the food from their masters. Equiano is a great person to learn English and take his time to describe what the troubles that blacks had to go through on a daily basis so no one forgets.
Dear Diary:
I awoke chained up with my parents and sister as we sat next to a magical device that created a lot of heat. It was like fire, but much hotter. We stayed chained up for a few days when we were finally able to travel to the top of the ship to get some fresh air. Suddenly a few men jumped off the edge and the white men were in no rush to grab them, I ran over to the side to see what happened and a white man quickly grabbed me and began to whip me. I saw that they were caught in a net on the side, the white men began to pull them up, but their lives were not spared. I went down to the hull of the ship because my parents could not believe what I saw and how I would react to it.
We arrived on shore and we were immediately handed over to a giant white man on a horse who seemed to gain more joy from yanking us along into a market of people trading blacks for others and buying them. My family did not want to be separated so we were lucky to be sold in a package deal as only for 30 shillings, I was so ashamed to find out they valued 4 lives for 30 pieces of silver. Our master was nice among the rest and let us children have an hour longer for a break in mid-day than our parents and we were given more food, which was probably for our future so that we were stronger to work harder and longer. I hate being a slave, but when I hear I am better off than other blacks I am glad that my family was able to luck out with a positive outlook on the negative outcomes that have pursued us.
Reflection:
Equiano suffers many horrible hardships as he was taken from his land so he could serve to a rude pompous buffoon. He was stripped away from all dignity that he ever had while on the ship in the deepest part of it, yet h still found hope in all the things that he was allowed to do. Like after a certain time he was allowed to walk on the surface of the ship to get fresh air, but others abused that privilege he thought, the ones that tried to jump onto the middle of the ocean were caught by nets on the sides and they were brought back up and killed. The slaves were treated awful as they were never fed even the leftover tables scraps of the fish they caught. Instead the scraps were thrown overboard and the slaves watched them throw the food over as they begged.
When he finally arrived on the island of Barbados he was placed with other blacks in a line up to be chosen like a material at an auction. He was chosen quickly due to the fact that he was spry and younger compared to the other slaves who were old men or women with young children. He heard of good masters on the island that the slaves lived more than twice as long as the ones that are abused with awful places to live. They have to work no matter what and they do not get paid a lot while they still go further in debt buying the food from their masters. Equiano is a great person to learn English and take his time to describe what the troubles that blacks had to go through on a daily basis so no one forgets.
Dear Diary:
I awoke chained up with my parents and sister as we sat next to a magical device that created a lot of heat. It was like fire, but much hotter. We stayed chained up for a few days when we were finally able to travel to the top of the ship to get some fresh air. Suddenly a few men jumped off the edge and the white men were in no rush to grab them, I ran over to the side to see what happened and a white man quickly grabbed me and began to whip me. I saw that they were caught in a net on the side, the white men began to pull them up, but their lives were not spared. I went down to the hull of the ship because my parents could not believe what I saw and how I would react to it.
We arrived on shore and we were immediately handed over to a giant white man on a horse who seemed to gain more joy from yanking us along into a market of people trading blacks for others and buying them. My family did not want to be separated so we were lucky to be sold in a package deal as only for 30 shillings, I was so ashamed to find out they valued 4 lives for 30 pieces of silver. Our master was nice among the rest and let us children have an hour longer for a break in mid-day than our parents and we were given more food, which was probably for our future so that we were stronger to work harder and longer. I hate being a slave, but when I hear I am better off than other blacks I am glad that my family was able to luck out with a positive outlook on the negative outcomes that have pursued us.
1 comments:
Notice that in Equiano's narrative he does not express a tone of anger. It is more of sympathy for his people's confinement and slavery that they were condemend to. It is ironic as well that the white man who have an advancement in technology do not have a sense to see that the Africans are human as well not playthings. Maybe you could add something along those lines in your analysis.
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