Even before he converted, Equiano grew sensible of a God that existed and was aware of him. That religion was not too different in its tenets and practices than that of the Jews, but Equiano soon learned about Christianity. Equiano claimed that he was born in Africa and practiced the religion of the Eboe land in which he was raised. In this quote, Equiano reveals the depth of his spirituality, and the extent to which he attributes the circumstances of life to a deity. I began to raise my fear from man to him alone, and to call daily on his holy name with fear and reverence: and I trust he heard my supplications, and graciously condescended to answer me according to his holy word, and to implant the seeds of piety in me, even one of the meanest of his creatures.

I thought I could plainly trace the hand of God, without whose permission a sparrow cannot fall. Equiano's account is a valuable source for examining the realities of the slave system, for its evocative writing and historical perspective. It was so terrible that many slaves wished for death, but even this was rarely possible by one's own volition. Individuals were severed from their families and thrust together with strangers whose languages they could not speak. Many had no idea why they were there, and were frightened of the white faces on the ship. The cries of pain, terror, and grief filled the air at all times. They rarely had enough to eat or drink, and would grow sick in droves. Slaves could not move about, and barely escaped without their limbs atrophying. There was no privacy, even for women and girls. Excrement and refuse were everywhere, and the air was heavy with noxious, harmful smells. Slaves were chained to the hold and had to perform their bodily functions while chained. It is a profoundly evocative and devastating account of one of the most terrible events in human history: the forcible removal of millions of Africans from their home, and their subsequent transportation across the Atlantic in slave ships, under the most abominable and hellish conditions imaginable. Equiano, 58Įquiano's writing on the Middle Passage is the section of the work most likely to end up in anthologies for history and literature classes. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers.

Equiano the interesting narrative