Document Interpretation 2 Slavery

1. The first thing that greeted Equiano when he was at the coast was not a beautiful
peaceful view of the sea as expected, but the ocean itself and a slave ship.
2. People are usually confused and afraid of things that are unfamiliar to them. It was like
how Equiano felt when he noticed the difference between him and the crew on board in terms of
their appearance and language.
3. On the ship together with him were a large number of black people who were chained
up in misery.
4. Equiano initially thought of those horrifying-looking white men as cannibals who
would eat black people.
5. He was offered a spirituous liquor in a wine class, which brought a strange feeling after
he drank. I wonder whether there was any specific reason for this drink to be given.
6. Equiano received a salutation in his nostrils. I wonder why they needed to do this.
7. He got beaten up just because he refused to eat what the crew offered him.
8. When you arrive at a new country, it is always a relief or maybe happiness to see
people coming from the same nation as you. It was also how Equiano felt when he found some
fellows of his own nation amongst the people that got chained.
9. He realized that the purpose of him being brought on board was not to be eaten by the
white men, but to be carried to their country and work for them.
10. He witnessed a white man whipped a person to death on board, which made him more
afraid and expect to be treated in the same way.
11. Equiano thought of the anchor as some kind of magical spell that would make the
vessel stop when it was let go.
12. They were unable to breathe properly due to the lack of space and the heat on board.
13. The cruelty of the whites heightened in Equiano as they killed as much fish as they
would like to and then tossed the remaining into the sea without sharing it with the blacks.
14. The blacks were treated so badly that they even chose death over that miserable life as
slaves. The number of people wanted to commit suicide by jumping into the sea would just
increase if they were not prevented by the crew.
15. There was one trying to escape, but was caught back and ended up being flogged
brutally for this attempting to prefer death to slavery.
16. Just like Equiano, I was astonished to know there was such a species called flying
fish.

17. The clouds appeared to me to be land, which disappeared as they passed along. This
heightened my wonder; and I was more persuaded than ever that I was in another world, and that
everything about me was magic.
18. The blacks were put in parcels and examined carefully by the merchants, which made
me feel unease because they were treated as if they were objects for sale, not human beings
19. When the beat of a drum was given, the buyers hurriedly went into the yard where the
slaves were at and made decision on their favorite parcel.
20. The blacks not only suffered from brutality when they were on board with the whites,
but were also eventually separated from their family and would never have a chance to reunite.
This autobiography has helped me understand more deeply about the life of slavery when
they were on board. They were treated so awfully and usually whipped by white men to the
extent that they would rather choose to die than to continue on with that miserable life. They
were perceived as objects on the shelf that could be bought with money rather than living human
beings. Eventually, the blacks ended up being separated from their kindred and did not even have
the slightest to be able to meet their family for the rest of their lives. Furthermore, through
Equianos perspectives, I noticed that everything seemed to be fresh and new to his eyes because
he usually felt amazed with what he saw in his surroundings and he sometimes had mistaken
something he had never seen before with magic, believing everything about [him] was magic.