Presentation of the Figure of the Slave in the Romance Era Essay

Presentation of the Figure of the Slave in the Romance Era - Essay Example by means of his ability to quote John Milton and the Bible, important secular and religious books, he surprised the public with its gamy literary quality and caused many to seriously scruple what theyd been told. Approximately ten years after Equianos work was published, Robert Southeby wrote his poem The Sailor Who Had Served in the Slave Trade. The poem captures the essence of a lost soul transaction with the guilt of his past tr use upment of slaves, for his failure to recognize them as humans and also Gods chosen creatures. By exposing the progression of the lost sailors great sin, Southeby provides a glimpse into the general attitudes of the British people, showing a strong shift in understanding from the past to Southebys present. Both works make use of contrasts to combat parkland beliefs that Africans were a separate species more like animals by showing them instead to have equal or greater intellect ual capacity, to have a cultured frame of mind, and to be included within the Christian framework of existence. Evidence of Intellectual Capacity Just the idea that he was able to write his birth story, without requiring someone else to transcribe what he said, made Equaino different from many other former slaves whose stories have been immortalized. While all surviving stories of slave experiences are considered valuable Their literacy, accompanied with their sit as former slaves, provides their narratives with an added sense of authenticity and authority on the subject of the slave trade (Gunn, 2007 6), Equianos was different. He did it with such a high degree of skill that the British, expecting to find a relatively amateur accounting, instead found themselves fully engaged in a thrilling story of adventure... interpreted together, Equiano and Southeby provide a clear way to look at the prevailing attitudes and beliefs about slaves at that time. They do this by exploring conc epts of individual intellectual pursuit, culture and order, and their characters position within the framework of the Christian church. Equiano proved he was an intelligent individual, capable of expressing himself to the most educated of English society with skill and persuasively, when he wrote his book. He brought into fountainhead whether Africans could be trained to be on a par with white people intellectually speaking, which further questioned whether Africans were truly an inferior, more animal species. Although Southebys sailor hadnt popular opinion it strange that slaves were flogged to death on a regular basis on the slave ships and had to be military forced to touch the slaves in order to make them eat before, he changes his mind after the murder. He is a creature of feelings and emotions, acting on base elements of dominance as he follows through on his captains orders. Similarly, Equiano shows his society back in Africa to be highly organized and quite civilized, in cluding a rich strand of the arts interwoven into daily life, as compared to the brutality and force depicted in Southebys world.