Monday, July 29, 2019
History J3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
History J3 - Essay Example uiano gives a vivid description of the Middle Passage which demonstrates the terror of the prisoners, the abject conditions on board and the attitude of the slavers to their cargo. The captured African slaves are absolutely terrified on their passage. The main reason for this fear is the ignorance of the Africans, as this is their first encounter with Europeans. Equianoââ¬â¢s horror is ââ¬Å"heightened by my ignorance of what I was to undergoâ⬠(Equiano, 1789).The fair complexion, long hair and alien language of the white men makes Equiano believe that they are ââ¬Å"bad spirits, and that they were going to kill meâ⬠(Equiano, 1789). The large copper furnace and the dejected, fettered prisoners reinforce his fear of being sacrificed. Another factor which contributes to Equianoââ¬â¢s fear is the water: ââ¬Å"not being used to the water, I naturally feared that element the first time I saw itâ⬠(Equiano, 1789). Most of the captured slaves are from interior Africa and have never seen the sea. The ship and its navigation seem magical to the Africans. The conditions on board the slave ship are extremely miserable. The slaves are confined to the unventilated hold, where they are chained and packed tightly together. The initial cargo of slaves is supplemented by the additional slaves taken on at sea. This makes the hold ââ¬Å"so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himselfâ⬠(Equiano, 1789). Equiano paints ââ¬Å"a scene of horror almost inconceivableâ⬠: the heat, the toxic miasma of perspiration, the suffocating atmosphere, the increasing irritation of the chains, the groans of the dying, the shrieks of the women, the stench of humanity and the tubs of human excreta ââ¬Å"into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocatedâ⬠à (Equiano, 1789). The stink of the holds is beyond tolerance.The pestilential air makes the slaves ill and even causes fatalities. The rations are insufficient to satisfy the slavesââ¬â¢ appetite. It is a mark of the slaversââ¬â¢ spite that they
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