In the quest to end cruel and inhuman treatment of slaves in British colonies, Olaudah Equiano publishes his memoirs of his life as a slave in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African. Written by Himself. Equiano addresses the audience as a humble Christian man fighting to eliminate the suffering of his countrymen by opening his scares for the world to see. He encourages society to look at him and his countrymen as human being, no as animals.
In the narrative, Equiano attempts to show the similarities between his life style in Africa and the life style of a society that oppresses his countrymen. He starts with the layout of the land; he describes Benin with its "extent and wealth, the richness and cultivation of the soil, the power of its king, and the number and warlike disposition of the inhabitants" (McMichael, 458). Equiano makes comparisons of Africa to that of Europe, so the society being address can see there is not much difference in the how the two are ran. He recalls a practiced hygiene ritual during his youth to stress that cleanliness is the utter most importance among Africans, since slave were often look upon and treated as dirty animals.
Equiano appeals to the humanitarian and Christian emotion of the reader by rehashing the horrors and violence he witness and force to endure. He mentions his abduction at the age of eleven along with his younger sister. Equiano relives the fears that were felt for his sister's fate and how often he witness young female slaves suffer at the hand of their white captors. (Equiano, 205) He conjures images for the reader of his first encounter with the Iron Muzzle: "I had seen a black woman slave as I came through the house, who was cooking the dinner, and the poor creature was cruelly loaded with various kinds of iron machines; she had one particularly on her head, which locked her mouth so fast she could scarcely speak, and could not eat or drink" (Victor Arago).
