The Whole Picture?

In the preceding chapter I have set before the reader a few of those many instances of oppression, extortion, and cruelty, which I have been a witness to in the West Indies; but were I to enumerate them all, the catalog would be tedious and disgusting. . . . I shall therefore hereafter only mention such as incidentally befell myself in the course of my adventures.

--Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life

But it's hard to blame W.W. Norton (as one poster does) for the shortage of Hemingway and Fitzgerald when the real culprit is Scribner's, which gives anthologists extremely limited rights: one story from each writer. (The writer's original publisher is also to blame for the amount of T.S. Eliot here: no more than 1000 lines allowed.)

--J. Smith, Amazon.com Customer Review



I have to say that I don't like what Norton has done with this work. I think it's wonderful that students (and other readers) are finally given the opportunity to read works like Equiano's -- we certainly didn't read this stuff mumblemumble years ago when I was in high school! -- but I think that Norton cut too much out this time.

As I read these excerpts, I was struck by how many times Equiano says things like "they all used me extremely well" (678) and "their treatment of me made me forget that I was a slave" (681), and "my master treated me always extremely well" (689). What point is he trying to make here? Why does he keep talking about how well-treated he was?



I read on, hoping that there'd be some grand statement to the effect of "no matter how well a slave is treated, they are still a slave," but there was nothing. Does such a statement appear in the original, complete Narrative? I don't know - Norton doesn't say.

I do know there's more to the story than what's included in Norton, as my curiosity compelled me to find out more. I found a long essay by Cathy N. Davidson in which she talks about events in Equiano's Narrative that happen after he received his manumission - which is where Norton's version ends. Apparently, Equiano was in grave danger of losing his freedom more than once and his fine captain refused to stand up for him as he did when Equiano got the manumission from Mr. King in the first place.

I have to wonder what other important things we're missing in this version. We're not seeing the whole picture.

ADDENDUM: I found these video clips of actor Joe Williams as Equiano reading extracts from the book: Olaudah Equiano on Africa, Olaudah Equiano on the slave trade, Olaudah Equiano on the plantation owners, Olaudah Equiano on England.

ADDENDUM, after class on Thursday: In class today while discussing Phillis Wheatley's poems, we briefly talked about the hymn "Amazing Grace." I mentioned that there was a film about it in which Equiano is a character - it's actually about the end of the slave trade in England (and the hymn figures prominently in the movie's story). Here are two trailers for the movie:





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