3 questions

Robert Murillo                                                                                                                   Period 5

Teacher: Tanis                                                                  

Short Answer Questions

1.       How does” Equiano’s account of his journey to the new world” compare with the narrative of William Bradford in “Of Plymoth Plantation”?  Please use textual evidence to support your writing.

Equiano’s journey was all about a young boys childhood on a slave ship, where he was experiencing tortures and mistreatment among slaves, but he was confused wondering why people were doing this and couldn’t wait to be on land.  “Of Plymouth Plantation” was about slave traders heading to Africa in search of slaves to bring home, yet along the way he believes that god is punishing him in trying to do this because of the harsh seas.  I believe that Equiano’s experience was similar from when the slave traders in “Of Plymouth Plantation” finally arrived in Africa, because they were not sure of what to expect, such as the natives being savages and etc., while Equiano felt the same way of when he would reach land. The fear between both the slave traders, and Equiano was very harsh on both of them, for Equiano he thought he was going to be eaten from the way he was being treated, for the traders they were afraid of dying out at sea with no burial, and no word home.

2.       How do you account for the attitude and behavior of the Europeans toward the Africans, as described in the selection?

The attitude towards the slaves was as if they were nothing more than currency traveling back and forth from country to country. The traders from “Of Plymouth Plantation” haven’t even seen the slaves and their first impression is that they could be complete savages. The Africans themselves were excessively scared for the fact that they were treated like animals, and because of that treatment they thought that they would have gotten eating alive. They were used for hard work and they were treated like dirt. Slave women were raped for amusement and no slaves had a say in anything.

3.       Some of the Africans in this selection prefer death than slavery, while others do not. Why is that. Please provide at least 2 reasons that you were able to gain from the reading.

There were many reasons that the slaves wished for death, one of them being the fear that the Americans were cannibals and wished to eat them. Another was there was lack of air in the hull where they were kept from too many occupants, so some would actually begin to suffocate. Even worse was where they slept, which was on raw wood which would eventually turn into sores and cuts and etc., and to make that even worse they were bathed in salt water which would burn they’re wounds. There were also a small few who wished to live, the main and probably only reason they hoped to live was in hope of a better place for when they had reached land.