Olaudah Equiano Summary
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African
Equiano starts his story off by acknowledging how journal writers often protected themselves against cases of vanity. Further, people expect memoirs to have emotional occasions and personages if they are to be intriguing. Equiano apologizes that he is "neither a saint, a hero, nor a tyrant;" he is lucky enough to have been favored by Heaven, which he feel has blessed him throughout everything he encountered in his life. He hopes that his work, even if less than scintillating, will serve the purpose of helping his enslaved brethren.
He begins with a history of Eboe, where he was born in the kingdom of Benin, which was part of Guinea. Equiano was born in 1745 in Essaka, a small area so far from the ocean that he had never heard of the town nor did he hear about white people existing. …show more content…
They believed he controlled life, war, and death. They accepted the migration of spirits, but thought that their friends and relatives who did not migrate stayed with them after death to guard them from demons and any signs of evil. The Odoe people also practice circumcision. Their children were generally named after a special or remarkable event: Olaudah meant "vicissitudes" or "fortune," but also signified his loud voice and command of speech.
The thing that strikes Olaudah as he recalls his people is the similar lifestyle of the Odoe people and the Jews. He discusses several journalists who discover this connection wrote that Africans could trace their pedigree from Afer and Afra, the descendants of Keturah, who was Abraham's wife and concubine. Like the Jews, the Africans practiced circumcision, sacrifices, burnt-offerings, and purifications. Olaudah ventures on the difference in skin color between Eboan Africans and modern Jews, and blames it on the difference of climates or their
Equiano starts his story off by acknowledging how journal writers often protected themselves against cases of vanity. Further, people expect memoirs to have emotional occasions and personages if they are to be intriguing. Equiano apologizes that he is "neither a saint, a hero, nor a tyrant;" he is lucky enough to have been favored by Heaven, which he feel has blessed him throughout everything he encountered in his life. He hopes that his work, even if less than scintillating, will serve the purpose of helping his enslaved brethren.
He begins with a history of Eboe, where he was born in the kingdom of Benin, which was part of Guinea. Equiano was born in 1745 in Essaka, a small area so far from the ocean that he had never heard of the town nor did he hear about white people existing. …show more content…
They believed he controlled life, war, and death. They accepted the migration of spirits, but thought that their friends and relatives who did not migrate stayed with them after death to guard them from demons and any signs of evil. The Odoe people also practice circumcision. Their children were generally named after a special or remarkable event: Olaudah meant "vicissitudes" or "fortune," but also signified his loud voice and command of speech.
The thing that strikes Olaudah as he recalls his people is the similar lifestyle of the Odoe people and the Jews. He discusses several journalists who discover this connection wrote that Africans could trace their pedigree from Afer and Afra, the descendants of Keturah, who was Abraham's wife and concubine. Like the Jews, the Africans practiced circumcision, sacrifices, burnt-offerings, and purifications. Olaudah ventures on the difference in skin color between Eboan Africans and modern Jews, and blames it on the difference of climates or their