In the following essay I am determined to leave my reader with not just the material I've been asked to cover, but with the excitement of Equiano's love for god and life it self that has overwhelmed me when reading his accumulated journal entries. Within this paper I have been requested to address four specific questions which I will address one at a time. In using ideas and information from what I have read I intend to communicate to the reader in successfully manner as to help them understand my thoughts about the following four questions. One, What observations does he make about his situation and about slavery in general? Two, What conclusions does Equiano draw about the motivations of the Europeans he encounters? Three, How does Equiano describe the slave trade? Lastly four, To what extent does this work offer a significant and useful depiction of the past? So with out wasting my reader's time lets enter the life of Olaudah Equiano. .
First, I have decided to explain how Equiano a once free child playing with his sister handles being kidnapped into slavery and how he makes of the situation. In the being of the writings Equiano and his beloved sister were seized by two men and a woman that had entered the village when all the adults were gone doing their daily chores. With this sudden change in atmosphere Equiano explains that his only comfort was that of bathing his tears in his sisters arms all night. Quickly Equiano was separated from his only comfort, which was his sister. Equiano tells the travels through the woods and towns on foot, and most of all being separated from his sibling to be merciless. Although he keeps his thoughts positive and mentions the one comfort of the slave trade that keeps him from being suicidal, "they all used me extremely well, and did all they could to comfort me, particularly the first wife, who was something like my mother." By this statement you would think that Equiano observes the slave trade as almost like home although he thinks nothing of the kind.