• Research Paper on:
    Influential Literary Work The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

    Number of Pages: 7

     

    Summary of the research paper:

    This paper examines how slave narratives were inspired by the 1789 text The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano in seven pages. One other source is cited in the bibliography.

    Name of Research Paper File: JR7_RAolauda.rtf

    Buy This Research Paper »

     

    Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
    or autobiographies, which offer us an insiders look at what life as a slave, and life as a free individual, was all about. One of the most popular and most  famous works is "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," a record which illustrates the life of one man as a slave and then as a free man. But,  although many may think that Douglass work was one of the first, if not the first, slave narrative, such is not the case. Prior to Douglass narrative we were provided  with "The Interesting Narrative of Life of Olaudah Equiano." In the following paper we examine this narrative, illustrating how it was likely a very positive influence for other to come,  in terms of recording narratives concerning the experience of slavery and the dream of freedom. Olaudah Equiano "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus  Vassa, the African. Written by Himself was the first work that began the nineteenth-century genre of slave narrative autobiographies" (Anonymous The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789)  By Olaudah Equiano bvbooks.asp?BookID=220). In fact, it is difficult to prove that this narrative was anything but "a prototype for those that followed" in terms of narratives concerning the  experience of slavery (Anonymous The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) By Olaudah Equiano bvbooks.asp?BookID=220). In Equianos tale we find a young child, an African,  who was kidnapped and "transported to the Caribbean and then to Virginia, bought by a Quaker shipowner, and placed in service at sea. Aboard various American and British ships, he  sailed throughout the world, and he continued to do so after having purchased his freedom in 1766" (Anonymous The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) By Olaudah 

    Back to Research Paper Results