In six pages the Paul Edwards' edition of Equiano's book that considers the freedom struggles of an educated onetime slave is examined. Two sources are cited in the bibliography.
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the desire for the soul. It is safe to say, however, that today, freedom means many things to a great deal many people. In the book, Equianos Travels, by Heinemann,
the main character, Equiano struggles to free himself from many things, and having done so, to remain freed. Olaudah Equiano, who would later be renamed Gustavus Vassa, was taken from
his home in Nigeria when he was a young boy with the intent of selling him to a Virginia planter in the West Indies. At first he was simply terrified
that the white sailors were going to eat him alive. "The distance of this province from the capital of Benin and the sea coast must be very considerable, for I
had never heard of white men or Europeans, nor of the sea . . . [E]very transaction of the government, as far as my slender observation extended, was conducted by
the chief or elders of the place. The manners and government of a people who have little commerce with other countries are generally very simple, and the history of what
passes in one family or village may serve as a specimen of the whole nation." (Equiano 34)
His merchant seaman master took it upon himself to educate Equiano, and later Miss Guerins actually sent Equiano to school in London. He lived in
the West Indies for a while, then was bought by a British naval officer, Captain Pascal. As one can see, Equiano was a man who had no permanent home. In
fact, it can be decided from a reading of his autobiography that the most at home he felt was on the sea. But why not? After all it was the