Genre The Slave TradeFinal

Genre Assignment May 2015
Question 3. Political tract, autobiography, travel narrative. How successfullydoes The Interesting Narrative use genre to persuade its
readers of the evils of the slave trade?
1
Genre: The Slave Trade and the Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Genre, Encyclopaedia Wikipedia tells me, stems from the Latin word ‘"kind" or "sort", from
Latin: genus (stem gener-)’1
in my own words: being the categorisations of themes of writings. The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano has been categorised, under the genres of
political, autobiographical, and travel narrative, which of course, all come into it without question:
 Political, in that we see the zeitgeist of the times, where Olaudah and others wanted to
abolish the continuing trade in slaves2
 Autobiographical, of course – this is Olaudah’s own story, penned by him.3
 Travel narrative, because he documents with precision his journeyings from his home and
through Africa, to Europe and Britain, to the West Indies, America, and finally back to
Britain, which became his permanent home.
As I explore further the genres the book covers and my understanding of the mindset of the readers
of Olaudah’s day, I intend to argue that there are three other genres or themes which powerfully
bring the plight of the slaves into a perspective which that society could grasp more productively –
productive towards giving understanding of the evils of the slave trade.
My first argument is that this book is first and foremost an overall genre of Christian
Testimony – not ‘religious’ genre - many other genres emerge in this book but the context is
predominantly a Biblical outlook. From the very first paragraph: “I regard myself as a particular
favourite of Heaven”4
, to the very last word, hundreds of Biblical references show that he is a
committed Christian. This is what immediately drew me to the book and through the text I am able
to read what is written and discern whether we are talking of true conversion or simply an idea of
what Christianity is. Olaudah finds the difference out for himself, as we read:
‘O, ye nominal Christians! Might not an African ask you, learned you this from your God,
who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you? Is it not
enough that we are torn from our country and friends to toil for your luxury and lust of
gain?’5
He was able to look back on those ‘Christians’ and see that there is a division between the form of
‘religion’ and true Christianity. John Newton - the well-known slaver turned preacher - found the
same problem:
1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre, accessed 4 April 2015
2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/antislavery_01.shtml, accessed 4 April 2015
3
http://abolition.e2bn.org/people_25.htm, accessed 4 April 2015
4
One of the many verses expressing this concept is Psalms 17:8, Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the
shadow of Your wings
5
Angelo Costanzo, The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African
Equiano, Olaudah, b. 1745;, 1934,( Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 2001), 88

2
In this place were many sincere Christians, but I didn’t know where to find them. Indeed,
I wasn’t aware of a difference, but assumed that all who attended public worship were
good Christians. I was just as in the dark about preaching, thinking that whatever came
from the pulpit must be true.6
When current-day readers, not having this Christian insight, read of the coincidences and the
warmth and friendliness of some of the people along Equiano’s journey, they may not understand
the genre and be sceptical of the accuracy of his writings. Society was not so cynical of a person’s
own story, and with novels not being so prevalent in that era, they were ready to accept the truth
of people’s writings. Today we will regularly hear people refute the veracity of books and articles;
fiction today has taken over our main pastimes, whether it is the written word, films or TV series.
But not so in Olaudah’s day; or else why would it have had the impact that it did have?7
There is a
modern term for those many, good coincidences: ‘God-incidences’8
In the book God’s Smuggler by
Brother Andrew, he records many miracles, which could also be called ‘God-incidences’.
“The bestseller tells of the young Dutch factory worker's incredible efforts to transport
Bibles across closed borders-and the miraculous ways in which God provided for him
every step of the way.”
9
That synopsis gives an idea of the book; without going through Brother Andrew’s story, suffice it to
say, that he records some amazing experiences.10
The accuracy of Equiano’s writing is also
questioned, these days, for example, his birth/dates/places. It is doubtful whether readers would
have quibbled over such peripherals in Olaudah’s day, and considering he was just eleven when he
was wrenched from his tribe, there needs to be some leeway with his remembrances, particularly
as he also had to learn new languages from that time onwards. What if these recordings of
‘American birthplaces’11
were just what we now call ‘typos’? Perhaps, even, just a genuine
mistake, in the midst of so much else to remember. Ending this point on the difference between
what is called ‘religious’ works and Christian writings; the difference is an important one. There are
so many writings, words and actions, brought out under the guise of Christianity, and to lump them
all under one genre is inaccurate. ‘Religious’ works can incorporate all sorts of error and wrong
6
John Newton, Out of the Depths, Published May 8th 2003 by Kregel Publications (first published 1981) 97
7
Ibid., “Equiano knew that one of the most powerful arguments against slavery was his own life story. He published his
autobiography in 1789…It became a bestseller and was translated into many languages.”
8
Tim Stewart, http://www.dictionaryofchristianese.com/godincidence-god-instance-god-wink/, Accessed22
nd
February2015
9
Brother Andrew, God’s Smuggler, Published October 1st 2001 by Chosen Books (first published 1964)
10
http://www.inspirationalchristians.org/brother-andrew/ , Accessed 22
nd
February 2015
11
“he twice listed a birthplace in the Americas.” According to www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/
equiano_olaudah.shtml, Accessed 26
th
February 2015

3
thinking, and reveal flawed understanding; leading me back to the discernment I mentioned at the
beginning of this paragraph.
The difference I would like to show between an overtly Christian Testimony and a spiritual
biography can be high-lighted by other books on the market at the moment:
 Loving My Inner Mean Girl: Story of Treyce & Teca – ‘World renowned
handwriting expert, Treyce Montoya, shares shocking, very personal, and never-
before-told experiences with the help of Teca, her inner mean girl.’12
 A Child Called "It" - The story of Dave Pelzer ‘This book chronicles the
unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California
history.’13
These are spiritual biographies as well as autobiographies because of going into the feelings and
emotions of the writers, but they do not bring in a Biblical faith and therefore they can be viewed
in a different category to Olaudah’s or John Newton’s writings. John Newton was the other side of
the slave trade and he also went through many trials and tribulations, so that when we read his
writings (actually the book is produced later from his letters) Out of the Depths, we discover
through his memoirs, that he suffered horribly, in a different way to Olaudah, and he too
incorporates hundreds of Bible verses which show how he could see God’s hand in his life:
They brought me back to Plymouth and walked me through the streets guarded
like a felon… I was confined…I was kept awhile in iron shackles, then publicly stripped
and whipped….Inwardly or outwardly I could perceive nothing but darkness and
misery… I was tempted to throw myself into the sea. According to the atheistic system I
had adopted, this would put an end to all my sorrows at once. But the secret hand of
God restrained me.
14
Because Olaudah was able to write with such authority, using many, varied and relevant Biblical
verses, this would have been very helpful also, in capturing the hearts of the people of that time
who were themselves mainly church-goers, and this was a time when awareness of the evils of
slavery were coming to the fore through prominent people of the time: William Wilberforce and
indeed John Newton who had turned preacher, by this time.15
The next genre, for which I have an argument, is ‘literary anthropology’:
What role does writing play in the processes of accruing anthropological knowledge?
What is the history of the relationship between anthropology and particular kinds of
writing? … to make sense—at particular historical, social-structural, political, and
12
Treyce Montoya, Loving My Inner Mean Girl: Story of Treyce & Teca, (Published December 24th 2013 by Lulu)
13
Dave Pelzer, A Child Called "It", (Published September 1st 1995 by Health Communications)
14
Ibid., 36-37
15
http://abolition.e2bn.org/people_24.html, Accessed 23
rd
February 2015

4
personal moments. Literary anthropology has thus been a focus of growing
anthropological concern for the way in which it throws light on the entire complex of
the human social condition…
16
There is valuable information regarding the tribe from which Olaudah came; he was brought up in
a gentle and liberal atmosphere, quite different from our usual knowledge of African tribes. His
father was an elder or chief, a ruling family, in effect.17
Therefore we can understand that he
would have been naturally brought up to respect himself and his position in life, to know his worth.
He had not been taught that innate racialist indoctrination, where one race is more important than
another – their main conflict was staying clear of the kidnapping groups around them. There are
some interesting insights into his home community which contrast with other Christian (and
anthropological) genre books I have read where the ‘hidden’ peoples can be cannibalistic and
savage.
† Peace Child - by Don Richardson. ‘In 1962, Don and Carol Richardson risked their lives to
share the gospel with the Sawi people of New Guinea. Peace Child told their
unforgettable story of living among these headhunting cannibals who valued treachery
through fattening victims with friendship before the slaughter.’18
† Bruchko - by Bruce Olsen. “A man was standing over me, yelling and wailing at a terrific
pitch, slashing at me with whips which he held in each hand. White froth dripped from
his lips. I tried to roll away from his blows, but several young men appeared and poked
me back toward him with long, sharp arrows which they held in their hands.”19
This anthropological outlook helps us to gain an understanding of Olaudah’s resoluteness, when it
came to having to submit to the power of the slavers; first those of his own countrymen then to
foreign slavers; and he understood that avarice was their motive. Through the honest eyes of this
innocent African, in those first years of travel in his own country he did not receive any ill
treatment,20
and discovering this ‘new’ world to which he was taken, we also live through those
experiences with him.
Continuing with showing the evils of the slave trade through genre, in this argument from the angle
of anthropology, we have seen the primitive yet, loving family network he was torn from: and still
another side to this is the way of such hidden peoples in their own quest for the true God:
16
Rapport, Nigel, Literary Anthropology, last modified: 01/11/2012, oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-
9780199766567/obo-9780199766567-0067.xml, Accessed 21.2.2015
17
Op.cit. 46
18
Don Richardson, Peace Child: An Unforgettable Story of Primitive Jungle Treachery in the 20th Century, Published
August 8th 2005 by Regal (first published 1974),268-269
19
Bruce Olsen, Bruchko: The Astonishing True Story of a 19-Year-Old American, His Capture by the Motilone Indians and
His Adventures in Christianizing the Stone Age Tribe, Published July 18th 2006 by Charisma House (first published
January 1st 1973), 74, 137-138
20
Ibid., 66, 54

5
† Bruchko: ‘I began to hear shouts…excruciating yells….I had never heard anything quite as
agonizing….I had never heard Motilones cry out like that….”God, God, come out of the
hole.”’
† Peace Child: ‘”You want Hurip to die?” I asked…. “Why?”…”…He is the same man who
killed and devoured my little brother!...the peace child my father gave to Hurip is dead!
Hurip himself killed him!”
“But the Peace Child God gave still lives”…Forgive him Amio…
† Olaudah’s Story: “As to religion, the natives believe that there is one Creator of all things,
and that he lives in the sun….They believe he governs events, especially our deaths…”
The Motilones had a way of crying out for God. The Sawi had their way of finding peace with the
surrounding tribes, by giving a child: a peace child, but without an understanding of forgiveness,
the hatred and cannibalism would have continued.
Olaudah reveals his own people’s reverence for a creator God; but not an informed understanding.
This again, through the anthropological genre would have drawn the readers of the day into an
empathy with Olaudah, and revealing, as to the unChristianised view of God. This was new to them
and to see how different to their own ‘civilised’ lives, his had been bringing us to the part that
missions played in that time; mission was beginning to gain momentum with the desire to take
medicine and Christianity to those hidden (unreached) people. (William Carey, known as the father
of modern missions, went to India as a missionary in 1793.)21
The final argument is against an acceptance of slavery being a racial issue or even a
phenomenon of ‘unenlightened times’. All were free before avaricious bullies came and stole
them. We can follow the bullies through Olaudah’s life, including the emotional bullying by the
first captain’s wife22
; that is, jealousy precipitating the removal of Olaudah and consequently
leading to all the horrors which were awaiting him.
There has always been slavery – and, I dare to say, always will be – because of unscrupulous
people exercising power over the weaker – over those they can use and abuse.23
We constantly
hear of some family or group holding an innocent captive, treating them cruelly, working them
shamelessly.24
Some of the first slaves recorded were in Babylon - 18th century BC25
, then of
21
Fred Barlow, www.wholesomewords.org/missions/bcarey1.html, Accessed 2March 2015
22
Olaudah's note: Thus was I sacrificed to the envy and resentment of this woman......, that she caused the captain to
treat me thus cruelly. page 113
23
Hannah Parry for MailOnline, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2983836/Organised-criminal-gangs-run-13-000-
slaves-Britain-says-government-regulator.html, Accessed 07 March 2015
24
Fraser Nelson,www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9395161/Connors-family-case-shows-that-Britain-must-
fight-slave-trade.html, 12 Jul 2012, Accessed 24 February 2015
25
History of Slavery, www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=cio, Accessed 24 February 2015

6
course the Hebrew slaves laboured for hundreds of years under their burden in Egypt; we can also
read about British and European slaves on the Barbary Coast;26
where there too, was excruciating
cruelty. All of these slaves suffered horrible torment and persecution. The motive according to
Giles Milton27
was the desire to attack Christianity. He records horrific tales of the 1700s in ‘The
Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa’s One Million European Slaves’.
Olaudah writes about a young ‘mulatto’ man who was a free person and had a free wife and child,
and they were all very happy. No one had tried to enforce captivity on him before, until a
‘Bermudas’ captain decided otherwise and told him he was not free. He was violently treated, his
certificate of freedom ignored, and he was carried away on the ship. This sad story again
underlines the principle of ‘might overcomes right’28
. Certainly this is a ‘captivity narrative’ genre,
but the racial aspect is incidental as regards the black slaves of Olaudah’s era; and he, through his
own dignified upbringing shows us the secret of not being subject to a racialist expectancy.
Injustice and cruelty are not racialist phenomena, alone; we all experience it to one degree or
another, whatever colour or nationality, some a lot worse than others. But the mental make-up,
learnt from childhood, is what causes the different responses. Hence the PC movement of these
times: that fear of giving offence. The continuation of this argument is that it is not words that
make the problem but the offence intentionally given, or the offence chosen to be received; the
problems are far deeper than words. This is something that is individually/in families,
taught/learnt. Olaudah never doubted his own worth and although ill-treatment brought him to
some grave physical and emotional lows, he did not accept that he was less of a man because of it
– he knew when to speak authoritively and often argued with his masters when he believed them
to be wrong. In fact his own self-worth enabled him to take over as captain more than once, and
his fondness for certain people had nothing to do with their colour.29
He wrote objectively about
the characters, not holding a grudge against white people in general and not looking for hidden
meanings; accepting behaviour as it came – whether from cruel or kind people, that being a true
division of mankind.
26
Robert Davis, www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml, 17 Feb 2011, Accessed 24
February 2015
27
Milton, Giles, White Gold, (London, Hodder & Stoughton 2004), 16, 18, 49, 133-134,156
28
Op.cit., 135-137
29
Op.cit., 163-164

7
The poet Phillis Wheatley adds an extra dimension to the writings of slaves her poems were
not about the trials of the life of slaves, though she is celebrated for her spiritual poetry, and
features in the book The Clapham Sect:
Another unexpected friend and protégé of Thornton in New England was the slave poet
Phillis Wheatley of Boston whose husband was Thomson’s American agent. Just seven
years after coming to Boston from Gambia, Phillis was writing English poetry, and she
published Poems on Various Subjects seven years later, in 1773, an unprecedented
achievement for a slave, causing a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. She published
it in London, on a visit where she stayed with the Thorntons ….”She is a blessed girl”, he
told John Newton.30
The Clapham sect had originally formed as The Proclamation Society, consisting of
reformers, who then took on the abolitionist movement. And further on in The Clapham
Sect, we read more detail of individuals in society wanting to add their weight to the
abolitionist campaign. Thomas Clarkson was passionate about it and had an essay
published by the Quaker James Phillips. Although we can see that the beginnings of the
movement came through the Quakers and spread outwards, particularly amongst those
who could see beyond the economic debate over slavery, there were many witnesses -
former slaves and others involved, having witnessed the cruelty of plantation life -
Olaudah was part of this group with Clarkson, James Ramsay and Granville Sharp, all had
writings to show the evils of the slave trade and Clarkson used a box of slave artefacts to
influence his hearers further.31
Increasingly, public opinion was moved and changed by
this genre. The first of the Slave Narratives, according to
Tomkins28
, in Britain, was by a former slave, Ottobah Cugoano.
These genres helped much of society to be involved: Josiah
Wedgwood, an ardent abolitionist, designed the famous
engraving with the slogan “Am I Not a Man and a Brother?”32
We can appreciate how the mix of genres within Olaudah’s book all have their place in
showing the evils of the slave trade: The Christian perspective aligning itself with the majority
of society’s churchgoers. The anthropological, bringing that outer, innocent world to contrast
30
Stephen Tomkins, The Clapham Sect, Lion Books (20 Aug. 2010), 23, chapter ‘The Proclamation’
31
abolition.e2bn.org/box.html, Accessed 2 March 2015
32
Ibid., chapter ‘The Slave Trade’

8
with the squalid pockets of corruption that confronted society upon the streets of London; the
travel, the adventure, the political, the heartrending slave narrative all would have worked
together in claiming hearts and minds; swaying them towards seeing people the world over,
as people, that is, fellow humans, with the same need for family, safety, esteem, and freedom.
This eloquent piece of writing from Olaudah’s book says it all, and includes one of his many
quotes from Paradise Lost:
Such a tendency has the slave-trade to debauch men's minds, and harden them to
every feeling of humanity! For I will not suppose that the dealers in slaves are born
worse than other men—No; it is the fatality of this mistaken avarice, that it corrupts the
milk of human kindness and turns it into gall. And, had the pursuits of those men been
different, they might have been as generous, as tender-hearted and just, as they are
unfeeling, rapacious and cruel. Surely this traffic cannot be good, which spreads like a
pestilence, and taints what it touches! which violates that first natural right of mankind,
equality and independency, and gives one man a dominion over his fellows which God
could never intend! For it raises the owner to a state as far above man as it depresses
the slave below it; and, with all the presumption of human pride, sets a distinction
between them, immeasurable in extent, and endless in duration! Yet how mistaken is
the avarice even of the planters? Are slaves more useful by being thus humbled to the
condition of brutes, than they would be if suffered to enjoy the privileges of men? The
freedom which diffuses health and prosperity throughout Britain answers you—No.
When you make men slaves you deprive them of half their virtue, you set them in your
own conduct an example of fraud, rapine, and cruelty, and compel them to live with
you in a state of war; and yet you complain that they are not honest or faithful! You
stupify them with stripes, and think it necessary to keep them in a state of ignorance;
and yet you assert that they are incapable of learning; that their minds are such a
barren soil or moor, that culture would be lost on them; and that they come from a
climate, where nature, though prodigal of her bounties in a degree unknown to
yourselves, has left man alone scant and unfinished, and incapable of enjoying the
treasures she has poured out for him!—An assertion at once impious and absurd. Why
do you use those instruments of torture? Are they fit to be applied by one rational
being to another? And are ye not struck with shame and mortification, to see the
partakers of your nature reduced so low? But, above all, are there no dangers attending
this mode of treatment? Are you not hourly in dread of an insurrection? Nor would it
be surprising: for when
"—No peace is given
To us enslav'd, but custody severe;
And stripes and arbitrary punishment
Inflicted—What peace can we return?
But to our power, hostility and hate;

9
Untam'd reluctance, and revenge, though slow,
Yet ever plotting how the conqueror least
May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice
In doing what we most in suffering feel."
But by changing your conduct, and treating your slaves as men, every cause of fear
would be banished. They would be faithful, honest, intelligent and vigorous; and peace,
prosperity, and happiness, would attend you.33
33
Op.cit., 127-128
3,782 words - inclusive of the last quote from ‘The Interesting Narrative’, which I wanted
to put in as I believe it shows the heart of the book: quote = 507 words.

10
BIBLIOGRAPY
Equiano, Oloudah, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview
Press, (2001)
Milton, Giles, White Gold, (London, Hodder & Stoughton 2004)
Newton, John, Out of the Depths, Published May 8th 2003 by Kregel Publications (first published 1981)
Olsen, Bruce, Bruchko: The Astonishing True Story of a 19-Year-Old American, His Capture by the Motilone
Indians and His Adventures in Christianizing the Stone Age Tribe, Published July 18th 2006 by Charisma
House (first published January 1 1973)
Pelzer,Dave, A Child Called "It", (Published September 1st 1995 by Health Communications)
Richardson, Don, Peace Child: An Unforgettable Story of Primitive Jungle Treachery in the 20th Century,
Published August 8th 2005 by Regal (first published 1974)
Treyce Montoya, Loving My Inner Mean Girl: Story of Treyce & Teca, (Published December 24th 2013 by
Lulu)
Tomkins, Stephen, The Clapham Sect, Lion Books (20 Aug. 2010)
abolition.e2bn.org/people_25.html, The Abolition Project, Olaudah Equiano (c.1745-1797): The Former
Slave, Seaman & Writer, 2009
Barlow Fred, www.wholesomewords.org/missions/bcarey1.html
bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/antislavery_01.shtml. 21.2.2015
Carroll, Rory, New book reopens old arguments about slave raids on Europe, www.theguardian.com/
uk/2004/mar/11/highereducation.books, 11 March 2004
History of Slavery, www.historyworld.net
History, www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/ equiano_olaudah.shtml, 26.2.2015
Nelson, Fraser, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9395161/Connors-family-case-shows-that-
Britain-must-fight-slave-trade.html, 12 Jul 2012
Parry, Hannah, for MailOnline, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2983836/Organised-criminal-gangs-run-
13-000-slaves-Britain-says-government-regulator.html, 07 March 2015
Rapport, Nigel, Literary Anthropology, last modified: 01/11/2012, www.oxfordbibliographies.com
Stewart, Tim, www.dictionaryofchristianese.com

Genre The Slave TradeFinal

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Mais procurados

Mais procurados (20)

Destaque

Destaque (10)

Semelhante a Genre The Slave TradeFinal

Semelhante a Genre The Slave TradeFinal (7)

Genre The Slave TradeFinal