The Writing Style of The Interesting Narrative by Olaudah Equiano

Welcome back to my new series where I’m posting all my critical work from my MFA program. In this one, I’m analyzing one of the best books about the transatlantic slave trade written by someone who is quite likely to have survived it (depending on who you talk to) and who became a wealthy British trader and abolitionist. This is a great book and I highly recommend.

Olaudah Equiano uses dense sentences, long paragraphs, and a strong personal narrative to describe his life being captured in Africa and transported to the New World as a slave and his ultimate purchase of freedom and his life in England. 

The first thing that the reader confronts in this work is the sentence structure. 18th-century English is quite a bit different from more modern language, and those differences are obvious right away. The sentences are often long, and there is a copious use of commas and semicolons to tie it all together. These long sentences build into long narrative paragraphs. The author uses a style typical of the time. He uses dense 18th-century sentence structure that is excellent at conveying much information in as few words as possible. This adds to the personal narrative because he is able to create a strong story and strong sense of setting, place, and time despite being efficient with his words and using this style. He begins in this manner, “I believe it is difficult for those who publish their own memoirs to escape the imputation of vanity; nor is this the only disadvantage under which they labour; it is also their misfortune, that whatever is uncommon is rarely, if ever, believed; and what is obvious we are apt to turn from with disgust and to charge the writer with impertinence.” (pg. 31) The paragraph doesn’t break for another page. 

The way he writes about his life in Africa, might come off as reportage but he uses just a few words to create the world that he grew up. Although the forward of the book states that the historical record indicates he may have been born in Carolina rather than Africa, the first chapter after his life in Africa is either a brilliant description of his memory or it is a tremendous work of fiction that uses the principles of personal narrative to create the world of his tribe and their simple, sustainable lives. “Our tillage is exercised in a large plain or common some hours walk from our dwellings, and all the neighbours resort thither in a body.” (pg. 38)

He even admits that his memory of his early years is limited, “Such is the imperfect sketch my memory has furnished me with the manners and customs of a people among whom I first drew breath.” However, his language about those manners and customs is complete. He touches on everything from farming (see previous) to the local religion, “Though we had no places of public worship, we had priests and magicians or wise men.” (pg. 42) It is interesting that this is one of the shorter sentences but comes in the middle of another massive paragraph. The formatting of the paragraphs and sentences is effective only because it serves his goal to pack in plenty of detail in as efficient a manner as possible. This reinforces the 18th century style of writing. There are moments where the narrative reads as if the whole book was written in the same style as the U.S. Constitution. The style is dated but effective. 

This narrative moves along at a fast pace. Equiano does not bother with the tedium of detail. For example, when he describes his journey to Dahomey, he uses only a few lines, “Thus I continued to travel, sometimes by land sometimes by water, through different countries, and various nations , till, at the end of six or seven months after I had been kidnapped, I arrived at the sea coast. It would be tedious and uninteresting to relate all the incidents which befell me during this journey, and which I have not yet forgotten ; of the various hands I passed through, and the manners and customs of all the different people among whom I lived; I shall therefore only observe, that, in all the places where I was the soil was exceedingly rich; the pomkins, eadas, plantains, yams etc. were in great abundance and of incredible size. ” (pg. 54) 

His fast pace continues and by the mid-point of the book, he is already joined up with his new master is getting used to a life at Sea, “We remained in the sight of his island for some days, and then proceeded for America, which we soon made, and got into a very commodious harbour called St. George, in Halifax, where we had fish in great plenty, and all other fresh provisions.” (pg. 73) 

Throughout the book, Equiano continues to use this style to create a compelling personal narrative of his travels from Africa, at sea, and then to his own industry in England becoming a wealthy tradesman and popular abolitionist.