Analysis of Themes of Slavery in Literature Essay

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The theme of slavery has been thoroughly investigated over many decades; the world of literature reflects this global problem of humanity through national sufferings, and social oppressions experienced throughout centuries. The paper will be concentrated on the analysis of the works ‘The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano’ by Olaudah Equiano, ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass’ by Frederick Douglass, and ‘Incidents in the Life of a slave Girl’ by Harriet Jacobs, through which the authors managed to reflect their personal experience, exaggerating slavery reality through its corruptive power, cannibalism and psychological oppression.

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The horror of slavery was demonstrated by Equiano’s narrative, depicting the period of slave trade through human moral mistakes. The story ‘The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano’ appeared to be the background for the stories of abolitionists, who dedicated their works to the disclosure of slavery as the grave error developed by people from generation to generation.

‘The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time’ (Equiano, 113)

It is necessary to underline the fact that the author shows American slaves through their sufferings of horror treatment; the slaves lived in poor conditions and were sold as cargo, being packed and transferred from ship to ship.

‘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’ (Equiano, 205)

Equiano’s narrative managed to reflect the atmosphere of slavery horror touching African cannibalism producing emotional effect on the basis of personal experience. It is the reflection of life under the pressure of constant fear and psychological pressure. Besides, the narrative touched the problem of social isolation, being taken from native land to the world of Western culture, striving to keep his purity and innocence characterizing him as an African.

Further on, the theme of social isolation as the basic slavery component was continued by Douglass’ narrative in the story ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass’; the author touched the problem of social ignorance concentrating of whites’ strategies and power aimed against black people.

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‘My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, and the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died:

the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!‘ (Douglass, 89)

The author managed to demonstrate the limitations of rights and freedoms oppressing black people; slaves were deprived of opportunity to get any knowledge, as this could lead them to capability sense and self-sufficiency, being the path to freedom. The narrator demonstrated how slave owners kept black people aside from getting any education; the story appeared to be the reflection of white people’s power over the nation of Afro-American origin. The author managed to illustrate the destructive effect of slaveholding promotion, which gradually leads to moral health damaging and psychological oppressions suffered by the whole humanity. It is necessary to stress that the theme is close to modern period, when the racial discrimination problem is still faced by most Eastern World countries.

And finally, it is necessary to analyze the depth of slavery problem through the story by Jacobs Harriet ‘Incidents in the Life of a slave Girl’; the author raised the theme of slavery corrupting power and morality destruction. Special stress is given to the slavery mastership, which is the basic element in slave-holders psychological destruction.

‘When he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in everything; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his, never before had my puny arm felt half so strong’ (Jacobs, 114)

Personal experience of the author depicts white people as inhumane monsters oppressing their servants and providing horrible conditions for their existence. It is necessary to stress that the story provides a comparative line between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ slave owners, which have almost the same features, being characterized by betrayal and roughness.

The central problem of the story was focused on the character’s unrealized dream; the dream of having a family and a home, getting freedom and living in love. It should be stressed that the disclosure of slavery destructive nature was highlighted by the narrative through personal freedom limitation and moral oppressions.

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The three narratives analyzed above appeared to be presented as the authors’ tool to demonstrated the depth of slavery horror and reflect the feelings of fear suffered black people living in the oppressive conditions.

The analysis of the stories ‘The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano’ by Olaudah Equiano, ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass’ by Frederick Douglass, and ‘Incidents in the Life of a slave Girl’ by Harriet Jacobs, gave an opportunity to evaluate the depth of one common problem shared by the authors’ narratives, the problem of slavery destructive power and horror corruption. The stories managed to reflect the atmosphere of black people oppressions and limitations which are still suffered in some countries. The theme of slavery appeared to be emotionally colored and thought provoking because of personal experience image disclosure and the depth of horror reality created by human beings through slavery promotions.

References

Douglass, F. ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass’ Penguin Classics, 1982.

Equiano, O. ‘The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano’. Coffeetown Press, 2008.

Jacobs, H. ‘Incidents in the Life of a slave Girl’. Oxford University Press US, 1988.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Analysis of Themes of Slavery in Literature." November 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/analysis-of-themes-of-slavery-in-literature/.

1. IvyPanda. "Analysis of Themes of Slavery in Literature." November 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/analysis-of-themes-of-slavery-in-literature/.


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IvyPanda. "Analysis of Themes of Slavery in Literature." November 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/analysis-of-themes-of-slavery-in-literature/.

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