Humane Slavery?
Throughout his narrative, Equiano portrays his own experience with slavery as positive. Kind masters, work he excells at, and eventually being able to honestly buy his freedom. Overall, his story is as ideal as could be for a slave, to the point of seeming almost too fortunate. The effect of this is painting humane slavery in a positive light and showing how slavery can be conducted in a "morally correct" manner. This is certainly what Equiano most likely wanted to show his benefactors, many of whom were white and likely owned slaves.
However, I don't believe that Equiano believed in this at all. He writes of how slavery (not masters or those who benefit) is evil, and it corrupts inherently good men. Equiano also describes how, despite being well-treated for a slave, there were times when he would rather die than continue without freedom. This seems more like his actual thoughts, and they are much more in-line with other sentiments I've read from former slaves.
The question remains: if Equiano doesn't believe in slavery, why show that humane slavery is a good thing? I believe that it is because he wanted to aim realistically. Slavery was the norm, and it is near impossible to change an entire society's viewpoint with just one book, so there was a very slim chance that he could turn the majority of the US abolitionist with his story. However, he could point them in the right direction. Equiano's narrative works to humanize enslaved people and show that they are deserving of fair and humane treatment. If he could convince the US of this, they would all be one step closer to believing that slaves were, in fact, humans deserving of basic rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
There is a chapter in the book fully dedicated to explaining the horrors that many enslaved people were forced to face. However, he fails to include any of his own tragic experiences as an enslaved person, which I think aligns with your point that Equiano wanted influence a larger audience.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Equiano harbors far more resentment for the entire practice of slavery than he explicitly states in his book. To come out and say that slave holders are evil and that the entire practice of slavery should be immediately abolished would cause his upper-class white audience to shut down. By taking a more conservative approach to his argument – as you say, "aiming realistically" – he is making his argument much more palatable to his intended audience.
ReplyDeleteI'm convinced by this argument and think you offer some really good evidence for it!
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