Tuskegee Syphillis Experiment

The theme of Olaudah Equiano's extraordinary autobiography, The Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African written by Himself, is that of liberation and freedom. Through this theme, Equiano advances his view on life in that it should be flourishing with equality for al mankind, not just a predetermined few.

In this slave narrative, Olaudah Equiano chronicles the series of horrific events he encountered as a result of having been kidnapped and forced into slavery. In the initial pages of the selection, Equiano blatantly assorts that it is his sole aim to "promote the interest of humanity" in writing the text. Equiano does so by expounding on the cruel and dehumanizing effects of slavery as it relates to everyone involved in the process: the slave, the slave holder, the plantation wives, and white society in general. Thereby, appealing to all, especially white society, to abolish such a horrendous practice. To accomplish such a feat, Equiano employs the use of simplistic sentimentalism in hope to gain the sympathy and affection of the reader. His account of being introduced to the Europeans, which forced him into slavery, is especially powerful. He vividly recalls the pestilence and horror of the middle passage, regarding it as the most evil of deals one must encounter...

I was carried on board. I was immediately handled and tossed up to see if I were found by some of the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. Their complexions too differing so much from ours, their long hair, and the language they spoke (which was very different from any I had ever heard), united to confirm me in this belief.

In addition to the middle passage, Equiano writes of the evil acts he witnessed as a slave on a Virginia Plantation. There, he alleges that he witnessed slaves tortured with thumbscrew and the iron muzzle.

Equiano portrays the mayhem and chaos