According to Olaudah Equiano, the motives behind Western and African slavery is what drives their differences. Equiano describes the motives for African slavery as a punishment for wrongdoing. Individuals who have committed heinous crimes and are worthy of punishment, are kept as slaves. Slavery serves as a form of imprisonment and is used to teach these individuals a lesson. He explains that although these slaves are criminals, that essentially they are treated with some level of dignity and mostly the same as others. A main difference being that they are not allowed to dine with freemen at the same table. Some of these slaves were even able to rise to prominent positions in their society. The motives for Western slavery are far more brutal
