Final Paper
Zip-a-Dee Doo-Dah: Travel is not a Cheerful Matter for Slaves
Nowadays, most people think of travel as a leisure activity, something to do in their spare time when you have money. However, this is a fairly new way of thinking of travel. Through the centuries, until about the last hundred years or so, travel has been an exhausting excursion. Sometimes, as in the experiences of the Africans kidnapped for the slave trade, it is forced upon the traveler, making the journey terrible and painful. The slaves of the autobiography The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, Written by Himself (henceforth Equiano) and “The Black Man’s Lament, or How to Make Sugar” (henceforth “Lament”) by Amelia Alderson Opie suffered immensely in their travels. For these characters, their travels were not something fun they could do to get away at their disposal, but rather a forced and atrocious emotional battle. Interestingly, these voyages, although horrible, had a positive effect on their lives after their forced migration and (rare) eventual freedom.
When first planning a trip, the destination must first be decided on. Families can argue for days trying to decide where they will go. Dad wants to go to Europe, Mom wants to see China, Grandma wants to take a cross-country road trip, and so on. For slaves, the choice was made for them. Some may have been curious and wanted to explore on their own, but they certainly had no desire to be forced into leaving. Most probably had no interest in leaving their homes, but were commanded by slave traders to come to the West Indies, America, or England. In “Lament”, The Negro says that the White man sends his ships to Africa “to tear us from our homes and friends” (Opie 20). These slaves clearly don’t want to leave, because it described it as “tearing”, which has a very negative connotation when used to describe taking something. They did not get to make their own decision on the matter, which makes the travel undesired. Despite this, the slaves were affected positively: through their travels, they learned some of the languages of other African tribes, as well as English. In the case of Equiano, this helped them function better in their new society, which would make life easier for them.
After the destination is selected, how they will make it there is the next step on their journey. Modern day traveling involves planes, trains, and automobiles. In the days of Equiano, slaves were transported in ships. While modern sojourners travel comfortably, recently kidnapped slaves were squeezed into tiny spaces in the hold. A “tightly packed” ship had every square inch of floor covered with horizontally-lying slaves; if the cargo were lucky, they got to travel “loosely packed”: side by side horizontally along the wall of the ship, with an empty area in the middle (Clarkson 80-81). Not only was it cramped, but dirty and unsanitary as well. The holding areas were not cleaned until after the ship arrived at port. Weeks of vomit and human excrement accumulated; because of the bacteria, diseases were rampant among the captives. Many abductees would die from these diseases, combined with general fatigue and limited movement from the journey in cramped sleeping quarters. Equiano described the hold as thus:
“I was soon put under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste any thing.” (Equiano 39).
The holding area strengthens the souls of the slaves, if they survive, because after enduring such evil alongside such tragedy, they should be able to cope with anything. Despite having to see beastly acts done to their peers, the characters survived.
On modern leisurely travels, travel is often done with family, or at least a loved one or close friend. They laugh, they cry, they appreciate and criticize the jaunt together. Even if parts, or all, of the trip are unenjoyable, they experience them as one. For the slaves, this was not the case. Even if they were kidnapped in a group, they might be put on different parts of the ship. They might be bought and sold separately. Once they were separated from their families, they would probably never see them again. Mothers lost their children, husbands lost their wives, and siblings lost playmates. In Equiano’s case, he was slightly fortunate, but only slightly. He was separated from his sister shortly after coming to the West. After months of not seeing her, they were finally reunited, and thought they would never be divided again (Equiano 35). They slept that night together with their master, and all seemed well; the next day, however, she was ripped away from him again, and this time, he never saw her again (Equiano 36). This second round of separation made the journey and the detachment from one another even harder. The slaves of “Lament” had similarly painful experiences. “From parents, brethren’s fond embrace; / From tender wife, and child” (Opie lines 21-22) they were taken, never to meet again. Despite all the agony of losing their loved ones, the struggle helped to empower the slaves. Just as the dangerous conditions on the ships made them stronger physically, the formidable emotional predicaments strengthened them emotionally.
On many modern trips, there might be sightseeing and enjoying the adventure of seeing a new place. Sometimes, there are unpleasant moments, but the overall journey tends to be fun and relaxing. Over the weeks of the slaves’ sojourn, however, the captives have more to bear than just the stink of rotting flesh, broken-down human waste, and stale body odor; they also have to deal with the brutality of the transporters, who have no feelings whatsoever about the hostages. The dead slaves are even envied by those who live: “ Oh! Happy those, who . . . / Die from their prison’s putrid breath! / Since they escape from White man’s pow’r, / From toils and stripes, and lingering death” (Opie lines 25-28). In Equiano, if a slave refused his food, he was whipped for being insolent (Equiano 39). If he tried to jump overboard, he was to be severely lashed for his daring (Equiano 39). Sometimes, the beatings were so merciless, the slaves would die. The captors were so heartless, “One white man in particular I saw . . . flogged so unmercifully with a large rope near the foremast, that [the slave] died in consequence of it; and they tossed him over the side as they would have done a brute” (Equiano 40). Many people would crumble at this torture, and give up. However, Equiano and the slaves of “Lament” persevered; again, the physical pain helps to heighten their corporeal and emotional strength.
There are many things that modern families take for granted when they travel. They can choose where they go, how they get there, and how long the trip and stay take. They get to experience their journey with people they love. Despite this, many people do not appreciate that their “rough” trips are by far better than the migrations that slaves such as those in Equiano and “Lament” were forced to take. They had no control over the location, the mode of transportation, or the length of the trip. They were usually forced to do it with people that didn’t even speak their language and were often separated from their families permanently.
Despite all this, they took the hardships they had to bear and used them to improve their circumstances, or at least their outlook on life. Even when modern families have awful traveling experiences, they take nothing from the experience. They don’t learn how to improve interaction with each other or which places are better to go, so their next trip can be more exciting. They draw nothing from it. On the other hand, slaves that had truly the worst travel experiences ever gain new perspectives on life from their horrendous experiences rather than complain. So the next time you think your family vacation is the worst trip ever, think about the slaves whose only choices were to go on these dreadful journeys or be killed. Maybe then you will at least be appreciative of having to share a bed with your little brother.
Works Cited
Clarkson, Thomas. “Slave Ship: Loose Packing” British Literature 1780-1830. Comp. Anne K. Mellor and Richard E. Matlak. Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace College, 1996. 80. Print.
Clarkson, Thomas. “Slave Ship: Tight Packing” British Literature 1780-1830. Comp. Anne K. Mellor and Richard E. Matlak. Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace College, 1996. 81. Print.
Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, Written by Himself. Ed. Werner Sollors. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. Print.
Opie, Amelia Alderson. “The Black Man’s Lament” British Literature 1780-1830. Comp. Anne K. Mellor and Richard E. Matlak. Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace College, 1996. 82-84. Print.
12.8.2009
Originally, I thought caleb williams would have wanted to write his story for a sense of catharsis. sometimes after a emotional experience, you just need to write about it and get it off your chest, and maybe after being accused of something, you can get the truth of what happened out there. However, after our discussion yesterday, it seems like he only did it out of selfish means. He wanted to get his side of the story out, but he even admitted that it might not be the full truth. after reading the post script, it seemed like he was just gossiping, saying it could be the truth, but also not. it makes the rest of the story (which at first i hated) seem more intriguing, because it could be truth or lies. at least at the end he came clean an said it could be either. unlike the author of a million little pieces, who said it was a true story, when in reality it was all fiction.
12.1.2009
Something that I have noticed in a lot of our books is that the heroes are often immature and spoiled. And by heroes, i mean the men of the books. Not the women or heroines. Waverly and Caleb Williams especially are this way. They do whatever they want. when someone or something doesn’t go their way, they get really upset and act childish to get their way. as in waverly’s case, he switches sides so he can always be in the group in control, or whichever group will benefit him the most. They all like to be in control, and behave immaturely when they aren’t the “top dog”.
The heroines, however, are not this way. occasionally, the exhibit signs of a damsel in distress, but for the most part, they are strong characters that take care of the own problem in a logical way. Catherine, from Northanger Abbey, logically deals with Thorpe by ignoring him, and actively pursued Mr.Tilney (as activelyas was possible for women to do so in the early 1800s) . She is taking control of her life, or as much control as she can as a woman, unlike the heroes of our novels.
12.10.2009
This is the final draft of my final essay. It still needs a little editing and some more details to support the thesis, but otherwise it is pretty much done.
Zip-a-Dee Doo-Dah: Travel is not a Cheerful Matter for Slaves
Nowadays, most people think of travel as a leisure activity, something to do in your spare time when you have money. However, this is a fairly new way of thinking of travel. Through the centuries, until about the last hundred years or so, travel has been an exhausting excursion. Sometimes, as in the experiences of the Africans kidnapped for the slave trade, it is forced upon the traveler, making the journey terrible and painful. The slaves of the autobiography The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, Written by Himself (henceforth Equiano) and “The Black Man’s Lament, or How to Make Sugar” (henceforth “Lament”) by Amelia Alderson Opie suffered immensely in their travels. For these characters, their travels were not something fun they could do to get away at their disposal, but rather a forced and atrocious emotional battle. These voyages had a tremendous effect on their lives after their forced migration and (rare) eventual freedom.
When first planning a trip, the destination must first be decided on. Families can argue for days trying to decide where they will go. Dad wants to go to Europe, Mom wants to see China, Grandma wants to take a cross-country road trip, and so on. For slaves, the choice was made for them. Some may have been curious and wanted to explore on their own, but they certainly had no desire to be forced into leaving. Most probably had no interest in leaving their homes, but were commanded by slave traders to come to the West Indies, America, or England. In “Lament”, The Negro says that the White man sends his ships to Africa “to tear us from our homes and friends” (Opie line 20). These slaves clearly don’t want to leave, because it described it as “tearing from”, which has a very negative connotation when used to describe taking something. They did not get to make their own decision on the matter, which makes the travel undesired.
After the destination is selected, how they will make it there is the next step on their journey. Modern day traveling involves planes, trains, and automobiles. In the days of Equiano, slaves were transported in ships. While we travel comfortably, recently kidnapped slaves were squeezed into tiny spaces in the hold. A “tightly packed” ship had every square inch of floor covered with horizontally-lying slaves; if the cargo were lucky, they got to travel “loosely packed”: side by side horizontally along the wall of the ship (Clarkson 80-81). Not only was it cramped, but dirty and unsanitary as well. The holding areas were not cleaned until after the ship arrived at port. Weeks of vomit and human excrement accumulated; from the bacteria, diseases were rampant among them. Many abductees would die from these diseases, combined with general fatigue and limited movement from the journey and cramped sleeping quarters. Equiano described the hold as thus:
“I was soon put under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste any thing.” (Equiano 39).
The holding area strengthens the souls of the slaves, if they survive, because after enduring such evil alongside such tragedy, they should be able to cope with anything. Despite having to see beastly acts done to their peers, the characters survived.
On our modern leisurely travels, we often travel with family, or at least a loved one or close friend. We laugh, we cry, we appreciate and criticize the jaunt together. Even if parts, or all, of the trip are unenjoyable, we experience them as one. For the slaves, this was not the case. Even if they were kidnapped in a group, they might be put on different parts of the ship. They might be bought and sold separately. Once they were separated from their families, they would probably never see them again. Mothers lost their children, husbands lost their wives, and siblings lost playmates. In Equiano’s case, he was slightly fortunate. After years of not seeing his sister, he was finally reunited with her. They slept that night together with their master, and all seemed well; the next day, however, she was ripped away from him again, and this time, he never saw her again (Equiano). The slaves of “Lament” had similarly painful experiences.
On many modern trips, there might be sightseeing and enjoying the adventure of seeing a new place. Sometimes, there are unpleasant moments, but the overall journey tends to be fun and relaxing. Over the weeks of the slaves’ sojourn, however, the captives have more to bear than just the stink of rotting flesh, broken-down human waste, and stale body odor. They also have to deal with the brutality of the transporters, who have no feelings whatsoever about the hostages. In Equiano, if a slave refused his food, he was whipped for being insolent (Equiano 39). If he tried to jump overboard, he was to be severely lashed for his daring (Equiano 39). Sometimes, the beatings were so merciless, the slaves would die. The captors were so heartless, “One white man in particular I saw . . . flogged so unmercifully with a large rope near the foremast, that [the slave] died in consequence of it; and they tossed him over the side as they would have done a brute” (Equiano 40). Many people would crumble at this torture, and give up. However, Equiano and the slaves of “Lament” persevere.
There are many things that modern families take for granted when they travel. They can choose where they go, how they get there, and how long the trip and stay take. They get to experience their journey with people they love. Despite this, many people do not appreciate that their “rough” trips are by far better than the migrations that slaves such as those in Equiano and “Lament” were forced to take. They had no control over the location, the mode of transportation, or the length of the trip. They were usually forced to do it with people that didn’t even speak their language and were often separated from their families permanently. Despite all this, they took the hardships they had to bear and used them to improve their circumstances, or at least their outlook on life. So the next time you think your family vacation is the worst trip ever, think about the slaves that had to choice but to go on their journeys.
12.3.2009
This is the first draft of my introduction paragraph of my final essay. It is pretty longwinded, and definately needs to be refined, but my computer crashed the night before it was due so I had to throw something together the morning before class. It is the basic ideas that I want to cover, but obviously very rough, and definitley needs some refining before it can be turned in even with the second draft. with that in mind, here it is:
Nowadays, many people think of travel as a leisure activity, something to do in your spare time when you have money. We often travel with our families, sometimes fighting over who will get the window seat. However, this is a fairly new way of thinking of travel. Through the centuries, travel has been an exhaustig excursion. sometimes, as in the experiences of the Africans kidnapped for the slave trade, it is forced upon the traveler, making the journey terrible and painful. They are separated from their loved ones, most likely never to see each other again. in the times of Olaudah equiano, travel was not for fun, but a necessity. the slaves of the autobiography The Interesting Narrative f Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African and “The Black Man’sLament” by Amelia Opie suffered immensely in their travels. Their voygaes from Africa to The New World would take months. Hundreds died from disease and exhaustion. Even if you survived, you were almost punished for it because of what waited for you after you were sold to a planattion owner. The end for the slaves did not justify the means of how they got to their destination. In this essay, I will explore how travel has not always been something fun that we can do over the weekend, but rather was once a very difficult and painful thing.
11.18.2009
One thing i have always struggled with in literature classes is reading for detail, especially when I have to read huge amounts of a book in a few days. Especially in classic british literature. I can barely understand it in the first place, even when i take my time and read it thoroughly. But when i have four other classes’ homework on top of that, i cn really only read and hope that discussion of the past nights reading will bring back any recollection of what is happening. reading for school and remembering it is a lot like a “brown-out” for a drinker. i don’t remember what happened in the morning on my own (even right after i read it), but when other people talk about it, i remember the event happening. This also helps me to understand what was going on as well. even when i take my time and read slowly, it just doesn’t sink in until someone says it outloud. which explains why i fail every quiz i ever have on specifics from reading. I can pick up on general ideas or themes while reading, but that’s about it. it’s not that i don’t read. i just don’t understand it. There is usually too much paper to go through to get any details from it anyway.
11.20.2009
Proposal for Final Project – English 1500-003, Fall 2009 (Leuner)
Directions:
Fill out this worksheet and then cut/paste your answers to your blog as a blog entry. Hand in a hardcopy in class on Thursday, November 19.
Project Option You Choose:
Write a 5-7 page essay
My topic will be about forced or unwanted travel in our novels, especially in Equiano and The Black Man’s Lament, but also including A Sicilian Romance and The Tempest. It will focus on the contrast of traveling for pleasure to places you want to go versus being taken against your will to places you never wanted to see in the first place.
My project will try to answer why people are taken against their will in the first place. Also, what sort of effect being taken away from their home has on them should also be answered. Another important thing to explore is how they react to these events. Other questions of this nature will also be answered.
My thesis statement will probably be something about how despite all the struggles, the forced travel helped the characters of these works grow. This obviously needs to be refined, but I think it is a good starting point for that.
I am anticipating not being able to find textual evidence from the older novels, at least right away. However, if I just go back and skim through the older works, I should be able to find good supporting evidence as long as I look. It will also be hard to find a lot from the older works, but I think Equiano has more than enough evidence, and will probably be what supports this essay the most. As long as I find a little information from the other works, Equiano will be able to support the essay. I am afraid that I will get behind and procrastinate on this essay, because I tend to do that with every essay I write. However, I think that having a drafting process will Really help. Also, this time, I will really take to heart the advice I get from my peer editors. This will help make my essay interesting for readers, not just a spewing of information back at the reader.
I think this is a good project because I think it is an interesting subject to follow. Most people, at least nowadays, travel for pleasure or work. But sometimes people have to leave their homes with no other choice, either by force or out of necessity to escape or find work. I do not understand this, because I have not personally experienced it, so I wanted to explore it.
11.12.2009
So far, i really like equiano. it is well written, has interesting content, and includes background information that is actually pertinent to the story. it is not overly wordy, which makes it understandable and enjoyable. however, there is one problem that i have with it: there are several paragraphs that go on for multiple pages. The last paragraph for chapter two is five pages long!! it makes reading the narrative like reading someone’s rough draft sometimes. they get on a role and forget to break up the paragraphs, and forget to go back and fix it. The said paragraphs in equiano even switch the subject around. from what i have learned in writing classes, when you switch subjects, you start a new paragraph. he might not have had the greatest education, but his editors should have been able to pick this out. It makes these parts of the book harder to read because they are not broken up for several pages, and it is easier to lose your place. Despite this, i still really like the book.
11.10.2009
I think Equiano started his narrative by describing his home in africa because it is important to understand where he came from before he was brought into our culture. They are so completely different that he needs the audience to see what he came from. This helps the audience understand his character better when they know his experiences. even after being kidnapped and being taken away from his family in brutal ways, he maintains hope that he will see them again. This comes from they loyalty that his african culture taught him as a child.
I also think he started his story off with a chapter on his culture because he wanted to build tolerance for africans. ignorance causes intolerance, so by teaching westerners about his culture in depth, he is helping to dispell the prejudice that most white people of his time held. this is why the opening chapter is important, even though it seems superfluous.
11.5.2009
Usually, i am a very fast reader. At least, when i read for pleasure. when i have to read for class, however, it is usually a different story. in general, i don’t like the books i have to read for class, so i take a long time to read them. It might take me half an hour to read two pages; be it because i can’t focus on it, or there are more interesting things going on, it is too wordy, or i just can’t stand the book, it takes me forever just to bust through a couple pages. usually, i take forever because i hate these books and i can’t find the motivation to read them. However, if i find a connection in a book somehow, i can read it for the same amount of time and finish two chapters rather than two pages. In order to do this, i just need to let myself enjoy the book, rather than hate it. I need to make it worthwhile so i feel like i’m not wasting my time. this is my goal for the last two books this semester.
