Although Olaudah Equiano & Harriet Jacobs are both respected slave narrators there were profoundly diverse according to their gender and position. Equiano's story is very emotional, the physical pain and torture that he went through can't compare with the sexual abuse that Jacobs had to endure for years.
Harriet Jacobs and Olaudah Equiano were both African Americans that were introduced into slavery at some point in their life. Jacobs believed that she lived an easy life for the time being, while Equiano lived through the hardship of being kidnapped and made into a slave. Both writers offer incredible insight into what was once a reality for numerous men and women. Not only do these writers point to the physical brutalities, but the writers …show more content…
Unlike Jacobs, Equiano narrates he was not born a slave and instead was kidnapped from his home at the age of 11 by slave traders. Throughout Olaudah Equiano’s youth he learned as much as he could from his masters. Even though he was sold to many masters when he was a child he learned useful skills. Equiano preserved each new skill in his mind and continued to build with his new found knowledge. Instead of letting his fear of the white Englishmen hold him back, Equiano took advantage of his misfortunes which eventually paid off later in life. Over the first half of his narrative, he focuses on his experience as a slave, as he serves during the Seven Years’ War on board a British privateer, expecting to earn his freedom instead he was sold to a new owner in the Caribbean. Throughout the whole passage, Equiano refers to white people as cruel, greedy and mean, Recognized for his intelligence, several encouraged his education and training for business. Remarkably, after only 10 years of work, he had saved "forty pounds sterling," the purchase price of his freedom, by selling to Quakers goods and merchandise that his owner had allowed him to stow on his ships. Upon receiving of the bag of silver, a startled master remained good to his word and approved papers releasing him as a free
Harriet Jacobs and Olaudah Equiano were both African Americans that were introduced into slavery at some point in their life. Jacobs believed that she lived an easy life for the time being, while Equiano lived through the hardship of being kidnapped and made into a slave. Both writers offer incredible insight into what was once a reality for numerous men and women. Not only do these writers point to the physical brutalities, but the writers …show more content…
Unlike Jacobs, Equiano narrates he was not born a slave and instead was kidnapped from his home at the age of 11 by slave traders. Throughout Olaudah Equiano’s youth he learned as much as he could from his masters. Even though he was sold to many masters when he was a child he learned useful skills. Equiano preserved each new skill in his mind and continued to build with his new found knowledge. Instead of letting his fear of the white Englishmen hold him back, Equiano took advantage of his misfortunes which eventually paid off later in life. Over the first half of his narrative, he focuses on his experience as a slave, as he serves during the Seven Years’ War on board a British privateer, expecting to earn his freedom instead he was sold to a new owner in the Caribbean. Throughout the whole passage, Equiano refers to white people as cruel, greedy and mean, Recognized for his intelligence, several encouraged his education and training for business. Remarkably, after only 10 years of work, he had saved "forty pounds sterling," the purchase price of his freedom, by selling to Quakers goods and merchandise that his owner had allowed him to stow on his ships. Upon receiving of the bag of silver, a startled master remained good to his word and approved papers releasing him as a free