Short Essay 5

     Although Olaudah Equiano begins his narrative by explicitly stating that he is “an African” (p. 4), as one reads his story it becomes clear that, at least at the time of his authorship,  he is actually far more comfortable viewing himself as European. This backdrop is critical to unearthing Equiano’s understanding of the concept of freedom. Equiano’s narrative is essentially a classic tale of an individual’s journey of self-discovery and then self-realization. Equiano clearly believes that he had been destined or, rather, predestined for a meaningful life. His account is full of foreshadowing moments such as his naming or the existence of favorable animal omens (p.19). At age ten, Equiano was enslaved and soon thereafter came into contact with Europeans for the first time. This, it might be said, was the first step of his enlightenment. In a crucial passage from his text, Equiano states that “I not only felt at ease among these new countrymen, but relished their society and manners. I no longer looked upon them as spirits, but as men superior to us; I therefore had the stronger desire to resemble them, to imbibe their spirit and imitate their manners. I therefore embraced every occasion for improvement; and every new thing that I observed, I treasured up in my memory” (p. 62). The reader is struck by the lack of egalitarian sentiment in these words. This is the writing of self-made man, who believes that the true quality of a man is not inherent at birth, but must be obtained through persevering hardships, working diligently, and constantly seeking improvement. Indeed, this is the type of man who would see freedom not merely as the absence of slavery, but as the ability to exert one’s will on the world around him. Thus, for Olaudah Equiano, the concept of freedom seems to have extended far beyond the legal act of manumission and was inextricably linked to his concept of social equality in European society.

            This concept may have been rooted in Equiano’s skillful navigation of interpersonal relationships with the Europeans with whom he had contact. He was consistently able to win favor and respect by displaying his work ethic, mental acuity, and personal charm. He was able to leverage this social favor into a constant state of self betterment. It is through his interpersonal skills that he learned to read and write, was baptized into the church, and learned to be a sound business manager. He was also willing to appear subordinate when it suited the situation, a crucial skill for a man in his position. Tellingly, Equiano displayed this skill after his manumission by continuing to cultivate positive relationships with his former masters (p. 133). This may be an indication that he understood, at some level, that having legal freedom was not a substitute for having social capital. Therefore, throughout his life Olaudah Equiano continued to create an identity for himself that allowed him to be upwardly mobile in English society. He became educated, active in the Church, amassed wealth, married an Englishwomen, and then joined the abolitionist cause. In short, Olaudah Equiano became a man who could, to increasing degrees, exert his will on the world around him. This is not simply the story of a slave made good but, rather, this is the story of a slave who became an Englishman.

            What is interesting about Olaudah Equiano’s view of freedom is that it does not question the superiority of Europeans. Equiano, in the aforementioned passage, actually states as much. Although he presents Africa as a sort of idyllic Eden, he clearly sees Europe as superior, even to the point of asking the Church to send him back to convert the unenlightened Africans (p. 236). What makes Equiano’s viewpoint problematic is that the social equality that he sought could not be taken from the English but, rather, it must be conferred by them, which raises the question of how valid is a social equality that exists at the whim of another. Therefore, he found himself recognizing the superior position of the Europeans while concurrently attempting to obtain the same sort of superiority for himself. For example, upon his manumission, Equiano expresses his desire to present himself to his old master who had ill treated him (p. 137). Although such a desire was couched in affectionate terms, one cannot help but sense that there is an expectation of sly gratification on Equiano’s part. It seems that he may have had a need to prove that he was something more than a slave but, in order to prove this to himself, he first needed to prove it to his former English master. Thus, for Equiano, even his manumission reinforced the notion of English superiority.

            While Equiano sought freedom within the system, slaves in the New World were seeking freedom from the system. As is historically clear from the numerous slave uprisings in the North American Colonies, the Caribbean, and Iberian South America, the New World was the land of slave revolts, not slave assimilation. This may be due to the fact that the majority of the ugliness and brutality of chattel slavery was taking place in the New World, which would naturally result in a slave population that tried to abolish the existing order, as opposed to rising within it. It is interesting to note that the New World was also a place the Olaudah Equiano shunned whenever possible, preferring life on a ship or life in Europe, to life in the colonies. What would otherwise be fertile ground for a man looking to remake himself became a place that he sought to escape and leave behind. The constant fear of re-enslavement, the endemic racism, and the lack of an opportunity for social mobility all made the New World an undesirable place for Equiano. These are the same factors that produced a revolutionary mindset in the slaves that existed wholly within this sphere. The vast majority of slaves living the Black Atlantic sphere could in no way hope for the kind of freedom, social mobility, and equality that Olaudah Equiano strove for and, to a large degree, attained. For these slaves, the road to freedom lay in revolution not self-realization.