Comparing Douglass Olaudah Equiano And David Walker's Appeal
A common theme among the narratives of Olaudah Equiano and Frederick Douglass, and David Walker’s “Appeal” is the slave’s wretchedness. However, there is a significant difference in the way each of these authors present their own personal perspective, to make the case about and against the slave system.
Equiano’s autobiography is a direct and diplomatic plea to the royal class in England for the abolition of slavery. In a letter directed to the Parliament of Great Britain he writes “May the God of Heavens inspire your hearts with peculiar benevolence on that important day when the question of Abolition is to be discussed, when thousands in consequence of your determination, are to look for happiness or misery!” (The Classic Slave Narratives, page 18).
Douglass, on the other hand, through his autobiography, takes a sharp political position to expose the slave’s mental and physical …show more content…
S. government it was protected, committed against other human beings. By describing his own experiences as slave, he conveys the mental and emotional bondage as well as the physical suffering that slaveholders inflicted not just upon him but upon all Africans and African-Americans, who where held as a slaves in this country. He clearly demonstrates how slaves were made.
He begins by telling us where he was born, “I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot country, Maryland.” (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, page 339), and this introduction is important, it has no date of birth. Here, he illustrates one of the much mental bondage that slave owners had over their slaves, the privilege of knowing the date of birth was an exclusive right of white children, and for Douglass, this was a source of mental unhappiness during his
Equiano’s autobiography is a direct and diplomatic plea to the royal class in England for the abolition of slavery. In a letter directed to the Parliament of Great Britain he writes “May the God of Heavens inspire your hearts with peculiar benevolence on that important day when the question of Abolition is to be discussed, when thousands in consequence of your determination, are to look for happiness or misery!” (The Classic Slave Narratives, page 18).
Douglass, on the other hand, through his autobiography, takes a sharp political position to expose the slave’s mental and physical …show more content…
S. government it was protected, committed against other human beings. By describing his own experiences as slave, he conveys the mental and emotional bondage as well as the physical suffering that slaveholders inflicted not just upon him but upon all Africans and African-Americans, who where held as a slaves in this country. He clearly demonstrates how slaves were made.
He begins by telling us where he was born, “I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot country, Maryland.” (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, page 339), and this introduction is important, it has no date of birth. Here, he illustrates one of the much mental bondage that slave owners had over their slaves, the privilege of knowing the date of birth was an exclusive right of white children, and for Douglass, this was a source of mental unhappiness during his