Introduction
Olaudah Equiano was one of the most important figures fighting for the abolishing of slavery and slave trade. Equiano is a complex and contradictory personality. Thus Equiano preserves meaning for his existence and dignity for himself by making geography coeval with moral states. The Interesting Narrative in the Life of Olaudah Equiano represents an important translation of cultural identity and new social values. Thesis Some of the contradictions in his character and complexities were caused by social and political landscape, social morals and values typical for the 18th century society.
Essence
Equiano’s awareness of his low status as a slave is a main driven factor in his career and life. It is a known fact that initially viewing whiteness as disfigurement and the English as monsters, Equiano comes not only to accept the ideologies of his imperialist masters but also to employ and articulate their economic ethics. Hardship and life grievances, despair and oppression force Equiano to fight against oppressors and inequality. It is possible to assume that Equiano idealizes ‘a white man’ and European traditions, values and business practices. Equiano questions: “But had the cruel man struck me I certainly should have defended myself at the hazard of my life, for what is life to a man thus oppressed?”(Equiano 2000). The important detail Equiano bestows on each transaction suggests the significance to him of his “mastery” of international capitalism, the choice of label suggests that he is not only purchasing manumission but also legitimacy within the white world. European religion seems to Equiano as an ideal one in contrast to his native traditions. He writes: “Though we had no places of public worship, we had priests and magicians, or wise men” (Equiano 2000). He sees religion as a part of the European culture and political relations. Equiano’s Narrative demonstrates a conscious effort to ascribe spiritual enlightenment to the political arena and hence ascertain the importance of the relationship between spiritual intervention, the ‘mysterious ways of Providence’ and parliamentary decisions concerning the abolition of the slave trade.
Equiano depicts that European religious and business practices play a crucial role in his new identity and self-determination. These practices allow him to become an ‘individual’ in the Enlightenment sense. Equiano stresses the fact that it is not his status as a ‘Christian’ which earned him the appellation ‘Freeman’, but his dabbling in petty trade which paid for his freedom. To a significant extent, Equiano’s Narrative adheres to the conversion narrative framework popularized by radical Protestantism. Yet in an important departure from this, Equiano presents a narrative of cultural exchange in terms of its subtle synthesis of African belief systems with the dissenting traditions of the western world. Equiano describes his experience: “They often used to teach me to read, and took great pains to instruct me in the principles of religion and the knowledge of God. … friendly cautions how to conduct myself, and some valuable presents” (Equiano 2000). Without these lessons, Equiano would not be able to ‘penetrate’ into the European society and obtain a leadership position.
Equiano does not abandon his roots by participating in European wars and slave trade, because Equiano is not a revolutionary but an imperialist; in fact, it is only by becoming a successful trader and subsequent propagandist for abolition phrased as the victory of empire that he is able to articulate his imperturbable dissatisfaction with European intrusions on African identities. Equiano passes for civilized European imperialist trader to mark that frame as inherently self-deluded, complicating its simplistic self-articulation. That the correlations between civilized / barbaric and African / European become so tortured in Equiano’s document as to elude any final classification goes to show only that the paradigms themselves are inadequate. Of course, it is tempting to align the civilized with the African and have done with it; but after reading Narrative, any such reversal of the cardinal hierarchy of imperialist discourse seems almost simplistic. An informed reading of Equiano’s text refuses such easy answers, scraping them away to reveal underlying structures of power that serve to make any uniform notion of subjectivity nonsensical and almost charmingly naïve. Equiano writes: “I early accustomed myself to look for the hand of God in the minutest occurrence, and to learn from it a lesson of morality and religion; and in this light every circumstance I have related was to me of importance” (Equiano 2000). When he complies with his owners’ declarations of power, Equiano’s actions undergo an intricate process of cultural assimilation and severance from African cultural loyalties.
The complexity of this situation is that the former slave becomes slave owner, and the African, Englishman, substituting national identification for complexion as he passes from slave to imperialist. The ruptures in the text are warnings that for the African, integral subjectivity is not so easily maintained; the danger is always that Equiano’s self-mastery will disintegrate, forcing him back into silence. But no matter how skilled Equiano’s articulation of English imperialist ideologies, enough ruptures and silences remain in his text finally to subvert those same ideologies. Equiano makes clear that such complacency required merely that one form of trade be supplanted by another, one more profitable because it depended on a need that all Africans could be assumed to develop, rather than making enemies of the many for the benefit of a few. Equiano comments: “I could not silently suffer government to be thus cheated, and my countrymen plundered and oppressed, and even left destitute of the necessaries for almost their existence” (Equiano 2000). Abolition of the African slave trade would make consumers out of former potential slaves: that is, Parliament would do well by doing good. These shifts seem to enact, perhaps more “coherently” than smoother passages, the paradox of a black man trying to make himself understood to the predominantly white culture responsible for his enslavement. At the same time, his exposure of his own (sexual) collaboration with the traders demonstrates a complex process of assimilation with the host culture. Ostensibly, therefore, his ‘confessional’ disclosure of his collusion with the traders’ sexual violations demonstrates his personal (Christian) salvation, yet his text simultaneously registers a departure from such ideologies, a challenge to the English legislature and an adherence to the African cultural values. Thus, during the eighteenth century male dominance and power of a man dominated in the society. Women obtained secondary roles and were deprived equal rights with men. These facts help to explain complexities of his characters and contradictory actions.
Conclusion
In sum, participation in European affairs and acceptance of the European culture are the main factors which help Equiano to become a part of the European community. During the 18th century, nobody would accept a slave with his barbarian traditions and ‘low culture’. Equiano’s justification of his submission to the pressures of cultural norms and male bonding, is supported by claims alleging his ‘performance’, a hesitancy which correlates with his displaced status.
Works Cited
Equiano, O. The Interesting Narrative in the Life of Olaudah Equiano. 2000. Web.