I found the discussion between Gordon Turnbull and Olaudah Equiano to be rather interesting considering the content of Equiano’s narrative that we’ve read thus far, and our class discussion this past Tuesday. Turnbull defends the institution of slavery in the British West Indies, claiming that Europeans were rescuing “the kidnapped Africans from the brutal conditions existing in their native lands. He depicted the slaves in the English colonies as living in a well-provided and happy state” (326). It is then stated that Equiano attacked Turnbull’s claims in a letter written February 5, 1788. Clearly Turnbull’s account of what happened once the slaves stepped off the boat is not entirely accurate, for he describes the situation as if it were the best thing to ever happen to these now enslaved peoples. Yet, Equiano’s novel has not contained the horrible and demhumanizing description of slavery that I was expecting. In fact, most of his journey he has described as being somewhat of a positive learning experience.
For example, throughout his story it appears as if Equiano actually become rather friendly with many of his various masters as he was a good worker and they respected him for that. In fact he states that after a few years he felt “happly situated” at sea (92). He also began to feel more like an Englishman everyday he was out at sea. He describes his account of being fed and housed rather well, and only seems to be in despair when he has to change masters as he worries about his next master maybe not becoming his friend. This can be seen when he describes himself being plunged into “a new slavery,” comparing his previous experiences to that of “perfect freedom” (111). Equiano also discusses the captain’s clerk teaching him how to write, and promising Equiano that he would allow him to enter into business with him once he was a free man. Yet, in the meantime, Equiano was still treated “with the greatest kindness” and didn’t seem to mind his situation all that much (108).
Along the lines of our class discussion on Tuesday, it appears that all the descriptions of actual slavery are far more positive than those of the actual slave trade itself. However, Equiano still obviously ponders the idea of escape even though he does not describe his situation as all too miserable. In fact, Equiano was only physically harmed when he attempted to escape and was later found. Other than that he was properly treated and didn’t describe any of his masters as too unreasonable, brutal, or even mean. Maybe I’m overstating his happiness, as he could have just been trying to make the best of a bad situation, but Equiano’s story of slavery is vastly different from what I had previously learned on the subject.
