LITR 5731: Seminar in
American Minority Literature
University of Houston-Clear Lake,
spring 2003
Student Research Project
Craig Sprowl
LITR 5731
May 7, 2003
Dr. Craig White
The Slave Narrative: Creation of Identity
Introduction
The
African-American slave narratives can be classified as a sub-genre of the
broader genre of autobiography. The slave narrative was the account of an ex-slave, escaped
or freed. The first American slave
narrative was written by Briton Hammon in 1760. From 1760 to the end of the Civil War approximately six
thousand slave narratives were published. Having
read Franklin’s autobiography, I was interested in examining the slave
narratives, and seeing what areas of similarity, or differences I could find.
I also wanted to find out what differentiated slave narratives from each
other, and what they had in common. Equiano’s
narrative had caught my interest because he converted to Christianity, and
religion plays an integral role in his story.
Since the slave narratives are essentially an American production, and
America was, especially at that time, overwhelmingly Christian, I wanted to know
what role Christianity played in the slave narratives.
Most of the research centered around mainly two slave narratives, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa
the African, and Narrative of the Life
of Frederick Douglass. Both of
these narratives were taught in this class, and from the research I have learned
that these two slave narratives are regarded as probably the two best that
exist. Frederick Douglass’s
narrative is generally regarded as the most significant slave narrative ever
written.
The
journal is divided into three sections. In
the first section, The Slave Narratives as Autobiography, I review James
Olney’s article I was Born: Slave Narratives, their Status as Autobiography and as
Literature. Olney’s article
deals with the construction of the slave narrative and the common elements to be
found in all slave narratives. The
second article is, Kimberly Drake’s Rewriting
the American Self: Race, Gender, and Identity in the Autobiographies of
Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs. Drake
uses the psychological theory of Freud and Lacan to show how the ex-slaves write
their identity by the act of writing the slave narrative.
At the end of this section I included a book review by one of the
preeminent authors in the field of the slave narrative, Henry Louis Gates’s, Figures
in Black: Words, Signs, and the Racial Self.
In the second section of the journal, Christianity and the Slave
Narrative, I review Donald Gibson’s Christianity
and Individualism: (Re-) Creation and Reality in Frederick Douglass’s
Representation of Self. The
article shows how Douglass uses Christianity in his narrative.
Next, I review Adam Potkay’s Olaudah
Equiano and the Art of Spiritual Autobiography.
Potkay shows how Equiano’s story mirrors certain parts of the Bible. To wrap up this section I review Angelo Costanzo’s book, Surprising
Narrative: Olaudah Equiano and the Beginnings of Black Autobiography.
The final section of my journal consists of three website reviews.
The Slave Narrative as Autobiography
Article
Review
James
Olney “I was Born: Slave Narratives, their Status as Autobiography and as
Literature”
James
Olney introduces his article by asking whether the slave narrative should be
considered autobiography. He notes that there are “over six thousand” slave
narratives, and one would expect to find some variation among the texts (Olney
46). Olney finds that the
narratives are very similar to each other, not only in their construction, but
in their content. He provides a
definition of what autobiography is, “autobiography may be understood as a
recollective/narrative act in which the writer, from a certain point in life –
the present, looks back over the events of that life and recounts them in such a
way as to show how that past history has led to this present state of being”
(Olney 47). The author contrasts
Augustine’s Confessions, where the
author’s memory plays an integral role in the text, to the slave narrative.
The slave narrative is largely episodic in nature, and typically does not
use memory to reflect on the events, but merely to recall the events as fact. Olney makes an interesting analogy between classic
autobiography and the slave narratives as autobiography, “the slave narrative,
with a few exceptions, tends to exhibit a highly conventional, rigidly fixed
form that bears as much the same relationship to autobiography in a full sense
as painting by numbers bears to painting as a creative act” (Olney 48).
I think this is quite an oversimplification.
There are exceptions, and not all slave narratives should be lumped
together. However, supporting
Olney’s assertion, Frederick Douglass’s The
Life of Frederick Douglass, is probably regarded as the finest slave
narrative, because it deviates the most from the typical slave narrative.
Despite its difference, Douglass’s narrative can fit into the
“pre-formed mold” that Olney outlines.
Olney
illustrates how the typical slave narrative can be “fitted to a pre-formed
mold” with “obligatory figures, scenes, turns of phrase, observances, and
authentications” (Olney 49). Olney presents the reader with what he calls the “master
outline” for the slave narrative, showing the features they all have in
common.
A.
An engraved portrait, signed by the narrator.
B.
A title page that includes the claim, as an integral part of the title,
“Written by Himself” (or some close variant).
C.
A handful of testimonials and/or one or more prefaces or introductions
written by a white abolitionist friend of the narrator (William Lloyd Garrison,
Wendell Phillips) or by a white amanuensis/editor/author actually responsible
for the text (John Greenleaf Whittier, David Wilson, Louis Alexis Chamerovzow),
in the course of which the preface to the reader is told that the narrative is a
“plain, unvarnished tale” and that naught “has been set down in malice,
nothing exaggerated, nothing drawn from the imagination” – indeed, the tale,
it is claimed understates the horrors of slavery.
D.
A poetic epigraph, by preference from William Cowper.
E.
The actual narrative.
Under
E., “The actual narrative” Olney gives twelve types of content
that are often found within the narrative.
As the first type he lists, “I was born,” to cruel masters or
overseers, to descriptions of escape. It
would take too long to repeat Olney’s twelve types.
I think this is where Olney’s argument runs into trouble.
These similarities of content all relate to a slave’s experience.
Because all slaves had masters, were auctioned, were whipped, or
witnessed whipping, had difficulties with the barriers to becoming literate does
not mean it is not literature, it just means that those are common features of
the institution of slavery. For
example, one could make a comparable list regarding war literature.
In war literature one could find a description of weapons, descriptions
and the brutality of death, contact with superior officers, contact with the
enemy, and the questioning of war, etc.
F.
An appendix or appendices composed of documentary material – bills of
sale, details of purchase from slavery, newspaper items, further reflections on
slavery, sermons, anti-slavery speeches, poems, appeals to the reader for funds
and moral support in the battle against slavery. (Olney 50-51)
In
the case of Douglass’s The Life of Frederick Douglass, there is a preface written by
William Lloyd Garrison, an abolitionist who praises Douglass’s qualities as a
fellow human, and denounces the institution of slavery, calling for readers to
be moved by the narrative. Following
the preface, is a letter from Wendell Phillips to Frederick Douglass commending
him for writing the narrative, and comparing Douglass’s story to a declaration
of freedom, not unlike the Declaration of Independence.
In The Interesting Narrative of the
life of Olaudah Equiano, there is a dedication “To the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal and the Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain” (Equiano 17).
Following the dedication is a preface written anonymously in which a list
of notable names in English society are given; those who support an end to
slavery. The writer of the preface
goes on to state the authenticity of Equiano’s narrative, and how he has
stated just the facts. At the end
of Douglass’s narrative there is an appendix explaining his stance on
Christianity, so readers won’t get the wrong idea from reading his narrative. Douglass states that he loves Christianity, but hates the
false and corrupt Christianity practiced by the slaveholders.
Douglass includes a couple of poems, and concludes by stating that he
hopes his narrative is able to help the cause.
Olney
cites the reason for these conventions; the preface, letters, appendices,
photographs, signatures, as in Linda Brent’s Life
of a slave Girl, the expression “Written by himself,” or “herself”,
is needed to provide an authentication of the author.
Olney states that Franklin, as well as all other white autobiographers,
did not need to authenticate themselves. Olney
remarks; with the exception of Frederick Douglass’s Narrative,
it is doubtful that we should claim the other slave narratives are autobiography
or literature. However, he does
acknowledge that the slave narrative marks the beginnings of black literature,
and that future black authors like Richard Wright, DuBois, Johnson, Ellison, and
Maya Angelou borrow from, and expand on the slave narratives.
Olney’s
article is important for pointing out similarities that most slave narratives
have in common, but I think he goes too far concluding that these similarities
make the slave narratives not literature. The
letters A through F, in Olney’s “master outline,” with the exception of E.
the narrative itself, all refer to items that authenticate the slave’s
narrative. The idea that a
person’s writing would need to be supported to be believed, doesn’t point to
a failing on behalf of the writer, but rather indicates there is a problem with
the reading audience’s acceptance of a black author.
However, Olney does regard Douglass’s Narrative
as the exception, and considers it literature.
I would argue that Equiano’s Narrative
is literature as well. Certainly,
Equiano’s narrative is episodic, but it also contains many instances of self
reflection that I don’t think can be easily discounted, or fit into a mold.
For example, in Potkay’s article, that is reviewed later, Equiano finds
many points of similarity between his native Igbo culture and Jewish culture.
Equiano’s human self reflection concerning these two different worlds
reflects an ambivalence that doesn’t fit into Olney’s types of content to be
found in slave narratives.
Article
Review
Kimberly
Drake “Rewriting the American Self: Race, Gender, and Identity in the
Autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs”
Kimberly
Drake proposes that the system of slavery attempts to eradicate the identity of
the slave. Because the slave has suffered a loss of identity, the slave
narrative becomes the process through which the slave can write and assert their
identity. In effect, the slave’s
very writing can be seen as writing themselves into existence.
Drake explains that the slave uses the American form of autobiography,
and adheres to the norms of the culture to give themselves an “American
identity” (Drake 91). She draws
upon Freud’s and Lacan’s theories of the formation of identity to explain
how slaves’ identities are damaged through slavery. She explains that slavery
has the effect of destroying the slaves’ identity formation.
Drake applies Elaine Scarry’s theory of pain’s effects on the victims
of torture. She explains the
theory, quoting Scarry, “Pain destroys the victim’s voice, his /her ability
to express him or herself in words, in doing so, it also destroys the contents
of the consciousness, or the victims sense of self” (quoted in Drake 92).
The slaves’ families are disrupted.
Some slaves did not know who there parents were, and others only had a
sketchy recollection. For example,
in Frederick Douglass’s case, he only sees his mother a few times, and his
father is whispered to be a white man. Drake
concludes that as a result of the destruction of the black family under slavery,
black fathers are replaced by the slave owner and master.
Because of the psychological association of the human father with the
voice of the father, or language, “the child enters into society not as a
subject but as an object, a slave, and thus is deprived of the ability to use
language to speak for him or herself” (Drake 99).
She asserts, “slaves are by definition feminized, prevented from
entering the patriarchy as speaking subjects…slaves owners reminded male
slaves of their status by addressing them as boy long into old age” (Drake
99). The deprivation of the father
and the prohibition from learning to read and write constrict the formation of
identity in the slave. In the
object’s attempt to become a subject, literacy is the key.
She points out that literacy is the important first step in Douglass’s
acquisition of identity.
Drake
presents Douglass’s Narrative, as an example of a slave writing their identity that is
modeled after a recognized and American form of autobiography.
She cites Rafia Zafar’s work that discusses the similarity between
Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography and Frederick Douglass’s Narrative.
“The Franklinian model of autobiography, however, portrays the self as
unique, revolutionary, Oedipal in its ability to throw off the restraints of the
past and father a new man. Frederick
Douglass consciously models himself after the man most exemplary of the American
ideology of self-creating individualism, Benjamin Franklin – “the
Philadelphia founding father, who by the self-conscious act of writing his life,
began the all-American genre of rags to riches” (quoted in Drake 95).
Zafar’s points of similarity can be seen in Douglass’s “adopting
the role of the self-made man,” his portrayal of himself as “atypical yet
also representative,” and his understanding of “the significance of his
autobiography for those still enslaved” (quoted in Drake 95).
Later in the journal, Gibson’s article portrays Douglass’s rebellion
against his white masters, especially Covey.
In his rebellion Douglass asserts his individualism and transforms
himself into a new man much in the way that Franklin does.
In conclusion, Drake’s analysis provides the psychological motivation
for the slave to write the narrative. Literacy
becomes the key for the slave to be able to construct, or write their new
identity.
Drake’s
article is important because she introduces psychology into slavery.
It is an interesting notion to think that the slave narrator is literally
and figuratively writing their identity, and writing themselves into existence
through the narrative. By focusing
narrowly on the psychological interpretation for the reason behind the slave
narrative, she ignores the political reason for the narratives. The slave narratives served as propaganda for the
abolitionists. While she touches on
the form of Douglass’s Narrative, patterned after Franklin’s Autobiography,
she does not discuss why so many narratives used the language of Christianity to
tell their story. However,
Drake’s article is important for showing the connection between literacy and
identity. By writing their
narratives, the slaves establish their voice.
Book
Review
Henry
Louis Gates Figures in Black: Words, Signs, and the Racial Self
In
the first chapter, Literary Theory and the
Black Tradition, Gates contends that black writing is often not taken
seriously by the white establishment. An example of this is the reaction to Phillis Wheatley’s, Poems
on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published in 1773.
“Voltaire, George Washington, Benjamin Rush, Thomas Jefferson, and
Benjamin Franklin reviewed Wheatley’s book, yet virtually no one discussed the
book as poetry” (Gates 5). Gates
reveals that Jefferson refused to consider her a poet.
Gates quotes Jefferson; “The compositions published under her name are
below the dignity of criticism” (quoted in Gates 5-6).
Jefferson thought that her work was of such poor quality that he refused
to discuss her poetry. Not only did prominent American figures view the
African-American as incapable of producing literature on an equal level as white
authors, so too was the opinion of some of Europe’s leading philosophers.
Hume, Kant, and Hegel commented on the inferiority of black people, and
Africans, which was proved by their lack of culture, and literacy.
One
of the tasks the abolitionists faced was changing the widespread belief in the
white audience that the black was fundamentally inferior to the white person.
The production of black literature was one way to help dispel the notion
of inferiority. The authenticating
aspects of the slave’s narratives, the prefaces, and the letters, usually
written by white abolitionists, help establish the ex-slave as the equal of
white. Literacy of the black person
demonstrates their equality to whites, and refutes the argument that black
people are on par with the apes.
Gates
also postulates that literacy is a commodity, and through literacy, identity and
freedom are obtained. Gates tells the interesting story of Job, the son of Solomon
(Suleiman), an African of some distinction who was sold into slavery.
He wrote a letter in Arabic to his father in Senegal, but the letter
never reached his father, and came into the hands of James Oglethorpe.
Oglethorpe had the letter translated and was so moved by the letter that
he paid for his freedom. He states,
“Job Ben Solomon literally wrote his way out of slavery; his literacy,
translated into forty-five pounds, was the commodity with which he earned his
escape price” (Gates 12-13). Gates
mentions that there are some other instances of this kind of thing happening.
Chapter
Three of Gates book is titled, Binary
Oppositions in Chapter One of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas an
American Slave Written by Himself. He
explains that the slave narrative became, “during the three decades before the
Civil War, the most popular form of written discourse in the country” (Gates
81). He states that the slave narrative is a peculiar form of autobiography that
contains many elements of the picaresque and the sentimental novel.
Gates follows by examining Douglass’s narrative strategy.
He explains binary opposition and its fundamental relationship to
language. Gates notes; “When any
two terms are set in opposition to each other, the reader is forced to explore
qualitative similarities and differences, to make some connection, and,
therefore, to derive some meaning from points of disjunction” (Gates 88).
Gates analyzes the first chapter in Douglass’s Narrative, revealing
Douglass’s genius through the construction of his narrative.
According to Gates, Douglass creates oppositions to show the “presence
or absence of some quality” (Gates 89). For
example, Douglass includes descriptions of items found on the plantation; he
lists farm animals and the slave. The mentioning of the slave along with the farm animals can
be seen as a comment on the lack of humanity on the plantation.
In the rest of the chapter, Gates offers a detailed analysis of
Douglass’s intricate construction.
Gates’s
book is an important work that begins with a background of black writing, and
how it was received by prominent Americans, and some leading European
philosophers of the time. In the abolitionists’ promotion of the slave narrative, to
show that African-Americans writers were on an equal intellectual level to white
Americans, they had to struggle against the widespread belief in the inferiority
of the black person. Understanding
the publics’ common perception of black people, and the resistance to black
writing, it becomes evident why the slave narratives contain the authenticating
function as described above in Olney’s article.
Figures in Black, deals with
many other aspects of black writing, for example there are chapters on Phillis
Wheatley and Harriet E. Wilson. There
are chapters on Jean Toomer’s work, dialect, and signifying in black culture.
Gates’s theory that the slave narrative is a combination of the
picaresque and the sentimental novel is interesting. His analysis of the first chapter of Frederick Douglass’s
Narrative, an intriguing look at the complexity of Douglass’s work, shows the
genius of the African-American mind, proving African-Americans are on an equal
intellectual level to white Americans.
Christianity and the Slave Narrative
Article
Review
Donald
B. Gibson “Christianity and Individualism: (Re-) Creation and Reality in
Frederick Douglass’s Representation of Self”
Gibson
examines the ambivalence towards Christianity that many slaves felt.
Gibson quotes Douglas, “O God, save me! God, deliver me, Let me be
free! If there any God? Why am I a slave?” (quoted in Gibson 591).
There is an appeal to God for deliverance from the condition of slavery,
but at the same time there is the doubt that God could exist, because if He did,
how could He allow such a thing as slavery.
Douglass’s questioning is natural in light of the reality he knows as a
slave. Gibson explains that it is significant that Douglass’s
questioning of God comes directly before his stay with Covey.
Douglass resists two white figures of authority, Auld, which he refuses
to obey in his prohibition against reading, and later Covey, who he rebels
against because of his cruelty. Gibson
states; “Douglass’s appeal to God to save him, to deliver him, is
psychologically an extension of his appeal to Thomas Auld to save him to deliver
him from the wrath of Covey. Covey,
Thomas Auld, and Captain Aaron Anthony, reputedly Douglass’s biological
parent, are all conflated into one conception of the authoritative
male-parent” (Gibson 592). It is
because of Douglass’s example of father figures in the physical world that he
exhibits ambivalence toward God. According
to Gibson, Douglass had a fear that God could be as cruel and sadistic as his
white masters.
Gibson
explains that that there were two passages in the Bible that were used to keep
slaves in their place. “He that knoweth his master’s will and doeth it not,
shall be beaten with many stripes” (Luke 12:47) and “Servants, be obedient
to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling,
in the singleness of your heart, as unto Christ” (Ephesians 6:5).
While Douglass would have been aware of the use of the bible by preachers
to keep the slaves in their place, he shapes his text to parallel events in the
bible to his own advantage. Gibson
parallels Douglass’s fight with Covey with the Bible’s account of Jacob and
his fight with an angel. He also
shows that Douglass’s fight with Covey can be seen as patriarchal rebellion
against God in the Garden of Eden. Another
way, in which Douglass’s struggle with Covey is represented in Christian
terms, is when Douglass writes, “He only can understand the deep satisfaction
which I experienced, who has himself repelled by force the bloody arm of
slavery. I felt as I never felt before.
It was a glorious resurrection, from the tomb of slavery, to the heaven
of freedom” (Douglass 395). Douglass uses the important story of the
crucifixion of Christ to frame his story. Gibson
concludes, “being broken was his crucifixion, his defeat of Covey was his
resurrection and ascension” (Gibson 595).
Gibson
turns his attention to attack critics of Douglass.
He cites Peter Walker’s Moral
Choices, David Leverenz’s, Frederick
Douglass’s Self-Refashioning, and Paul de Man’s, Autobiography
as De-facement, in their implication that Douglass’s narrative is, “a
conscious construction on Douglass’s part of an inauthentic self, a
fictionalized version of actuality” (Gibson 595). Gibson defends Douglass’s Narrative by saying that Douglass
had no other model to write his autobiography, no other language; he only had
what was available to him in the culture at the time. He criticizes Peter Walker for writing, Douglass had a
“hopeless secret to be white” (Gibson 596).
Gibson states that Douglass “understanding of the world” can be seen
in his fight with Covey where he becomes a doer, a man of action.
Gibson sees Douglass as pragmatic, individualistic, and in the same mold
as Franklin, stating that he often gave a speech called “Self-Made Men”
(Gibson 596). Both Franklin and
Douglass create themselves as individuals in their texts.
Both show their struggle to achieve, by throwing off their old selves,
and creating new identities.
Unlike
many slave narratives, Douglass’s Narrative doesn’t contain a conversion
story. Douglass’s assertion of
himself as an individual can be seen as being modeled after Franklin’s
autobiography. The difference is
that Douglass used allusion to Christian themes to tell his story.
It is interesting to see how Douglass used Christian symbolism in his
narrative. Douglass’s use of Christian symbolism is more subtle than
the symbolism used by the authors, reviewed later, in Costanzo’s chapter, Black
Autobiographers as Biblical Types.
Article
Review
Adam
Potkay “Olaudah Equiano and the Art of Spiritual Autobiography
Potkay
begins his article by asserting, in order to understand Equiano, we need to
understand the “talking book” episode.
He shows where Henry Louis Gates has traced the origins of the episode to
Ukawsaw Gronniosaw (1770). “Gates
is drawn to the talking book topos because it establishes an African-American
literary tradition: repeated and revised by successive black authors –
Gronniosaw, Marrant, Cugoano, Equiano, and finally John Jea” (Potkay 678).
Gates views the “talking book” episode as the black authors’
communication with each other through their texts. However, Potkay views Equiano’s talking book episode as a
search to understand origins. He
relates the account of the young Equiano in England asking his ship mate who
made snow. The answer is that God
made the snow. So the “talking
book” episode can be linked to Equiano’s interest in Christianity, hoping to
understand God, and “specifically the Bible, a book that claims to explain the
genesis of all things” (Potkay 678). Equiano’s
interest in the origin of things is echoed in the Gronniosaw narrative.
Potkay describes a scene from Gronniosaw’s autobiography, which as an
infant, he asks his mother to explain the origins of things.
Later in England, Gronniosaw adopts the Christian faith.
In the John Lea autobiography, he is taught to read in an angelic vision.
What Lea is told to read is the Word of God.
The theological curiosity of the slaves leads them to understand the
answers to their questions are to be found in the Bible.
Literacy is the tool for satisfying their spiritual curiosity.
Potkay
states; “My argument is that Equiano reads and renders his own life – and
perhaps, by extension, the life of his race – as mirroring the movement of
Biblical history from the Old Testament to the New.
That is, he reads the pattern of his life as reduplicating the pattern of
salvation history found in the Christian Bible” (Potkay 680).
He reveals that this reenactment is shown in three stages in his
development as set out in the narrative. The
first stage consists of his boyhood in Africa.
Potkay points to Equiano’s narrative where he compares his native Igbo
people to the Jews. Equiano cites
the similarity in customs between the Jews and Igbo as far as customs and
cleanliness. Equiano also comments
on the similarity between the Igbo’s law of retaliation and the Law of Moses;
an eye for an eye. The second stage
in Equiano’s mirroring of Biblical history pertains to his captivity, which
“corresponds to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, the bondage of the house of
Jacob among strangers” (Potkay 683). Potkay
notes that when Equiano is briefly brought to Virginia they call him Jacob.
Despite wanting to keep his name Jacob, the name Gustavus Vassa is forced
upon him. The name Gustavus Vassa
comes from a “sixteenth-century Swedish patriot who freed his country from
Danish tyranny” (Potkay 684). Potkay
claims that the English reading public at that time would have well understood
the significance of the name. The
third stage in Equiano’s narrative is his freedom from slavery.
This stage relates to the New Testament, where Jesus Christ has come to
release mankind from bondage. Equiano’s
freedom becomes a type of salvation. Potkay
adds that in the original versions of Equiano’s narrative there was an
illustration of Equiano holding a bible open to Acts 4:12.
Potkay’s
article is interesting in its connection of the “talking book” episode and
the spiritual search of slaves to understand origins.
Literacy is not seen as a way to establish identity so much as it is a
first step in the conversion to Christianity.
Equiano’s shapes his identity as a Christian.
The creation of Equiano’s identity as a Christian, unfolds, mirroring
important events in the Bible. I
think that Equiano’s narrative is interesting because he doesn’t condemn his
previous life as an African. Other
slave narratives took the view that their life before conversion was pagan.
Instead, Equiano draws similarities between his African society and the
Jews, refusing to condemn his native youth.
Review
of Book
Angelo
Costanzo Surprising Narrative: Olaudah Equiano and the Beginnings of Black
Autobiography
Costanzo’s
book contains five chapters, but I chose to focus on two chapters, The
Spiritual Autobiography and Slave Narrative of Olaudah Equiano; and Black
Autobiographers as Biblical Types
In
the Equiano chapter, Costanzo relates
that Equiano was influenced by Gronniosaw, Marrant and Cugoano.
These three authors had versions of the “talking book” episode that
appears in Equiano’s narrative. Gronniosaw’s
and Marrant’s narratives are spiritual in nature.
Costanzo believes that Equiano used the picaresque tradition to shape his
story. He gives examples from the
narrative where Equiano presents himself as a roguish, humorous, and naïve type
character. Gates, however, believes
the slave narrative to be a fusing of styles of the picaresque and the
sentimental novel. Because of
Equiano’s conversion, and his fight against slavery, Costanzo labels him as a
“purified picaro” (Costanzo 48). Equiano’s
narrative is also associated with “primitivist travel literature” (Costanzo
48). Costanzo claims that
Equiano’s narrative is similar in some aspects to Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Both works describe unknown lands, and both can be seen as
journeys, physical and spiritual. Equiano’s
narrative is also viewed to be a type of spiritual autobiography used by the
Puritans, Quakers, and Methodists. Costanzo
finally compares Equiano’s narrative to Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography in
that he sees Franklin’s work as a secular version of the spiritual
autobiography. Equiano’s beginnings in Africa, his subsequent slavery, and
his efforts to become free, are paralleled with Franklin’s humble beginnings,
and his ability to achieve material success through his hard work.
The rest of the chapter is given over to an in-depth analysis of the
Equiano’s narrative.
In Black
Autobiographers as Biblical Types, Costanzo describes the narratives of
Briton Hammon, John Marrant, David George and Boston King, and Ukawsaw
Gronniosaw. Hammon’s narrative is
a short account of several captivities he suffers, once captured by Indians,
when his ship wrecks off the coast of Florida.
Costanzo states the Hammon’s narrative resembles a spiritual
autobiography, but lacks self-reflection. However,
Hammon quotes passages from the Bible making references to the Exodus from
Egypt. At one point Hammon sees
himself as a David figure confronting Goliath. Marrant’s narrative is written in the tradition of
spiritual autobiography. Marrant
views his life as similar to the life of Christ.
Marrant, twice, almost suffers execution, which he compares to Christ’s
crucifixion. Included in
Marrant’s narrative are the themes of wandering in the wilderness, rebirth,
and references to the Prodigal Son. The
autobiographies of David George and David King are the stories of slaves that
had fled to the British side during the Revolutionary War.
Both authors end up in Sierra Leone, where they write their stories.
Both authors were religious men, and both saw themselves as ministers,
David George, a Baptist, and Boston King, a Wesleyan Methodist. While George was aboard a ship off the coast of Africa, he
sees the vision of a mountain in a cloud, like the cloud that guides the
Israelites through the wilderness, on their way to the Promised Land.
I thought it was interesting that David George imagines the Promised Land
to be Africa. Boston King’s work is spiritual in the sense that it is
primarily the story of a missionary. Back
in Africa he hoped to spread Christianity among Africans.
Gronniosaw’s narrative draws upon Biblical events to understand, and
relate his captivity. He uses the story of the Exodus out of Egypt.
He also quotes the prophet Isaiah’s prediction of Israel’s captivity
by the Babylonians. Gronniosaw equates the worship of the sun as a youth in
Africa as being blind spiritually. According
to Gibson, Gronniosaw’s conversion is the primary emphasis of the narrative.
Gronniosaw’s narrative was the first to offer an account of his
experiences in Africa, before being taken captive.
Costanzo’s
book focuses primarily on the Christian aspects of the slave narrative.
It is interesting that Costanzo sees the slave narratives as a type of
picaresque novel, while not mentioning its resemblance to the sentimental novel
as Gates does. However, Costanzo
sees the similarity of the slave narrative to the Conversion narrative.
Costanzo sees Equiano’s narrative as similar to Franklin’s
Autobiography because he views Franklin’s Autobiography as a secular spiritual
autobiography. In the chapter Black
Autobiographers as Biblical Types, it was interesting to see how these
authors constructed their narratives drawing upon the Biblical events and
characters. Unlike Gates’s work,
Costanzo’s book deals exclusively with slave narratives, but none of the
narratives he described can fit into a truly American slave story.
All of the narratives he discusses are like Equiano’s, in that they are
only in American for brief periods of time.
Website Reviews
This website is titled Documenting the
American South. “DAS” is a
collection of sources on Southern history. It is sponsored by the Academic Affairs Library at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
They have 1,230 books and manuscripts available as online texts.
Most of the texts do not deal with slave narrative, but Southern history.
While slave narratives don’t make up the majority of the e-texts, DAS
does have a significant selection. On
the home page there are seven selections from which one can choose. One of those is North American Slave Narratives.
Navigating to the North American Slave Narratives page, one finds the
headings, Collection of Electronic Texts, An Introduction to the Slave
Narrative, An Alphabetical and Chronological Bibliography, and About this
Project. Under, An Introduction, is
a concise background of the slave narrative.
Under the title, About this Project, is a comment regarding the state of
many slave narratives. Many old
slave narratives are housed in scattered collections, and many are in poor
condition. The goal is to digitize
and make available to the public all slave narratives published before 1920.
Under the title, Collection of Electronic Texts, the site has
approximately 180 different authors, and maybe close to 300 e-texts, all slave
narratives. Frederick Douglass’s
and Olaudah Equiano’s narratives can be found in the collection.
Under each author is a listing of available e-texts for that author, and
a listing of subject links related to the author’s work.
For example, under Douglass, one of the related subjects is, Slavery –
Maryland – 19th Century. With
some of the more prominent authors such as Douglass, the page lists a separate
page of suggested readings on the author. The
website is very straightforward in its construction, which makes navigation
through the site painless. The
website provides a valuable service; the preservation, and availability of slave
narratives. The website would be
useful for any researcher wanting to read other slave narratives without having
to try and find them in book form.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu
The title of the homepage is “A House
Divided:” America in the Age of Lincoln. One the first page the titles are The Jacksonian Era,
Pre-Civil War Reform, Slavery, Westward Expansion, The coming of the Civil War,
The Civil War, and Reconstruction. When
one chooses the Slavery section, a new page opens with the title Learn About
Slavery. This page has five
categories: Introduction, Background, Documents, Learning Tools, and Books Films
and Websites. Under the section,
Learning Tools, there are further sections, such as Slave Trade Maps, Images, a
timeline called Chronology of Antislavery, and a timeline of Abolition, and Fact
Sheets with lesson plans for the teacher, featuring Time Line on Slavery.
Under Books, Films, and Websites, there are two interesting areas.
The sections are; A Succinct Essay on the Best Books on the History of
Slavery, and A Longer List of Recommended Books.
The Succinct List title opens to a page titled Slavery, Bibliographic
Essay, which includes approximately twenty subcategories within slavery, such as
slaves’ culture, slaves’ capacity to resist, slavery in other countries, and
slave families. Each subcategory
contains anywhere from a couple to ten books on each subject. The section, A
Longer List of Recommended Books, opens up a page titled, Slavery Bibliography.
Many books are listed under categories such as Bibliographies,
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Historiography, Journal, Films, General Works, and
Collections of Essays. I think this
website gives a very good introduction to the institution of slavery in the
United States. The website seems to
be geared towards teachers. The
bibliography sections would be helpful as a starting point for research.
Brycchan
Carey received his PhD from the University of London.
He is currently a Lecturer in English at Kingston University in the
United Kingdom. The website appears to be his own, and not connected with any
institution. On the homepage there
is the title, Slavery, Emancipation, and Abolition. Under this heading are Resources for Slavery, Abolition, and
Emancipation, Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780) African Man of Letters, Olaudah
Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African, Ottobah Cugoano: a former slave speaks
out, British Abolitionists: biographies of people who worked against slavery,
and Discourses of Slavery and Abolition: a forthcoming book, and Complete Index
of this Website. Clicking on the
title, Olaudah Equiano, takes one to the main Equiano page.
There are further headings, A Biography of Equiano, A Map of Equiano’s
Travels, An Annotated Bibliography of Equiano Studies, and Extracts from The
Interesting Narrative. The
Biography section takes one to a separate page with an in-depth Biography of
Equiano written by Dr. Carey. The
biography gives one a good background to Equiano.
Under the Annotated Bibliography section is an extensive listing of the
various editions of his narrative, Contemporary Reviews and Accounts of Equiano,
Nineteenth-Century Commentary, Twentieth-Century Historians, and
Twentieth-Century Critics. The
Bibliography section on Equiano is extensive.
Because the site is large, it features an Index which is helpful to avoid
getting lost. The site is
impressive, and would serve as a good introduction to Equiano.
For the Equiano scholar, the Bibliography sections would be very helpful
for research.
Conclusion
The
slave narrative is an enormous field. My
goal was to find similarity and dissimilarity between slave narratives.
What I did find, even though I didn’t sample a diverse selection of
narratives, was that Christianity played a role in all of them.
Even Douglass’s Narrative makes reference to certain Biblical events.
My original research led me to many articles and books, but with very
diverse topics within the subject of slavery.
In narrowing down the research, it seems like I just got snapshots in
dealing with the slave narrative’s construction.
When I began this project I was not aware of the authenticating aspect of
the slave narrative, much less the reason why it was needed.
A reoccurring theme I didn’t expect to find was the issue of literacy. Drake’s article revealed literacy as an ingredient in the
formation of the psychological self in creating identity.
Gates analysis of Douglass’s text t proved that he was on par with
other white writers, refuting the ignorant African conception.
Literacy came up again in the “talking book” episodes that revealed
literacy as a means to conversion. Gates
said it best when he called the slave narrative a “peculiar autobiography.”
Gates understood the slave narrative as the combination of the picaresque
and the sentimental, while Costanzo viewed the slave narrative as a mixture of
the picaresque with the conversion narrative.
I don’t think I was successful in finding much comparison to
Franklin’s Autobiography because the articles, and books, that dealt with it,
only did superficially. I think if
I had to do the journal again, I would select a variety of slave narratives, and
analyze the texts myself, finding similarities, and differences, instead of
relying on the critics exclusively. I
will take away from this project a much deeper respect for the slave narrative.
Bibliography
Costanzo, Angelo. Surprising
Narrative: Olaudah Equiano and the Beginnings of Black
Autobiography. Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1987
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass. The Classic Slave
Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
New York: Penguin Putnam, 1987.
Drake, Kimberly. “Rewriting the
American Self: Race, Gender, and Identity in the Autobiographies
of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs.”
Melus 22.4
(1997):
91-108
Equiano, Olaudah. The Life of Olaudah
Equiano. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New
York: Penguin Putnam, 1987.
Gates, Henry, Jr. Figures in Black:
Words, Signs, and the “Racial” Self. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1987.
Gibson, Donald B. “Reconciling Public
and Private in Frederick Douglass’ Narrative.”
American Literature 57.4 (Dec. 1985): 549-569.
Olney, James. “I Was Born: Slave
Narratives, Their Status as Autobiography and as Literature.”
Callaloo 0.20 (Winter, 1984): 46-73.
Potkay, Adam. “Olaudah Equiano and the
Art of Spiritual Autobiography.” Eighteenth
Century Studies 27.4 (Summer, 1994): 677-692.