Slave Ships example essay topic

Oppression and cruelty; just two of the many words used to describe slavery. However no word or words can be used to truly illustrate the hardships and tough times that the slaves went through. In the time of slavery, innocent people were taken from their homes and separated from their families to be sold as workers to people around the world. They did not just work, similar to modern times, they were restrained and held captive while being forced to work in terrible and unsuitable conditions. These people had dark skin, which the slave owners saw as an asset due to the fact that they could stay in the sun longer. In particular was a slave by the name of Olaudah Equiano, who wrote a personal narrative on his own experiences during slavery.

In his writings, he did an excellent job in highlighting the oppression and cruelty in his own life and other peoples as well. The point of his narrative was to turn the English public against slavery. Based on what I have read, I can now give a clearer opposition to slavery due to the fact that he has exemplified what slavery was really like. The idea of taking many, many people from their homelands and bringing them to a foreign place seems a bit over whelming. This seems like impossibility when looked at by the slaves' point of view. During the times of slaves, the ships and such were not as advanced as they are now.

They used wind and oars to power the boats. In addition, these boats were not being produced at a high rate. The point being the ships were so over crowded that it seemed pointless to ship slaves overseas. The slaves were put in these ships and packed into rooms that were not made to accommodate that many people. Equiano writes, 'The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely enough room to turn himself, almost suffocated us' (p. 56). This was how the slaves were kept when they were put under the deck.

Enormous amounts of people packed into one small space. In this situation, one must think about the possible outcomes. If there are a lot of people, literally on top have on another, outbreak of disease will eventually occur- and of course it did. Even before disease, there was the stench of people perspiring and the wretched sounds of the women crying. The chains that were attached to them and the filthy latrines that they had were not helping the situation. When sickness did break out, many of the slaves died.

They are so close that it is impossible to save many. Now the question is brought up: Why? Why bring all these people on a ship, when more than half are not getting off alive. Many of the slaves on board the ship also committed, or at least tried, to commit suicide by jumping off the boat. 'Two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together, preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the netting and jumped into the sea; immediately, another quite dejected fellow, who on account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed his example' (p. 57) says Equiano. He goes on to write how the crew stopped the boat and went into the water to get some of the slaves and further punish them by whipping them back on board.

So, again the question, why do it? The overall harsh treatment that the slaves had to endure was enough pain to last a lifetime. And in fact it did. The treatment didn't just last on the ships; it went all throughout the lives of the slaves. They were constantly beaten. Whipping was very popular and extremely painful.

This was the way that the slave owners / masters showed their power. They had to keep the slaves in fear and by beating them it was successful. The whipping was not only bad, but the overall savagism was also taking a toll. The masters really did not care at all for the slaves as a group of people. For example, on one such account, Equiano explains how the masters on board the ship caught a bug shark.

In stead of giving some of the shark to the starving slaves, they cut the tail off and threw it back. The slaves at the time could definitely use the nutrition. After all, they were extremely malnourished, ' we had only one pound and a half of bread per week, and about the same quantity of meat, and one quart of water a day' (p. 65). The slaves must also fight in battle against others who are looking to seize their fleet. Many times slaves were killed in battle when other ships fired at the slave ships. The slaves were the ones manning the guns and Equiano tells how he had to do his job or they might kill him...

' We were also, from our employment, very much exposed to the enemy's shots; for we had to run nearly the whole length of the ship to bring the powder' (p. 77). Other jobs that he posed paid him well for being a slave. The slaves did hard work and got paid very little, 'I have rowed the boat, and slaved at the oars, from one hour to sixteen in the twenty four, during which I had fifteen pence sterling per day to live on, though sometimes only ten' (p. 91). He goes on to explain how this pay was considerably more than other slaves were. Although there was a lot of physical abuse there was most definitely mental torment. These people, who are human beings that have feelings, had their lives totally adjusted right in front of their eyes.

They have been taken from each other, taken from family, and taken from their homes. From the point that they were kidnapped (in Equiano's case) they had to live their life in fear. That was the notion that was part of their everyday life. It is not just the fear of dying; it's the fear of not knowing what will happen next. When the snow covered the deck of the ship, Equiano had no idea what it was. This is a sign of fear to me; just like a baby coming into a new world.

There was outright mental abuse towards the slaves, especially when the master told Equiano that they might eat him. This was hell for him because every second of his life on the ship, he though they would devour him. In battle, he knew at any moment a fired cannon my take him life on his way to the other side of the ship. And of course his fear of his master gaining knowledge of his hiding out. He had run away and hid, but he was found. He was worried about what they were going to do to him, but that luckily they didn't take his life.

Finally, the whole idea of the slave trade is a distasteful idea in itself. Selling a person for their body to do horrible work. It was very tough for all these slaves to be brought into a market and gawked at by possible buyers. People willing to pay money for a human being, but to them [owners] the slaves were just property. The slave traders and owners of this time overlooked the fact that the slaves themselves were human beings.

Human beings with feeling and emotions, not just some piece of equity. We all know that the slave trade was bad, but do we really? We can say the slave trade was wrong, but that isn't good enough. Equiano did a good job of illustrating what an atrocity the slave trade really was. Up until this point, many people didn't realize what kind of trouble the slaves had in their lives and how it affected them. We should all be grateful to have a person, who lived through slavery such as Equiano, that can inform us and give us the information that we need to make sure we put an end to slavery and make sure it never happens again..