![]() ![]() Read wanted to punish Equiano for getting into a fight with his slave Equiano was shocked that the man did not respect his status as an independent individual, and that he was to be "flogged round the town, without judge or jury" (139). When white men refused to pay him for the goods they purchased of him, there was no way to find redress. When Equiano achieves the status of a free black, he encounters the same thing. There were no courts that would hear them, and no law enforcement that would protect their assets. Their freedom was only nominal, and they lived in fear of re-enslavement or constant abuses to their person and liberty. ![]() Equiano wrote that "hitherto I had thought only slavery dreadful but the state of a free negro appeared to me now equally so at least" (122). Clipson protested virulently but was given no hearing and was forced onto the captain's ship despite his physical evidence of freedom. Clipson was free, but was accosted by a Bermuda captain who claimed Clipson was a slave and that he had orders to take him to Jamaica. In the West Indies, he met a free black named Joseph Clipson whose story formed the basis for his realization. Several times in the Narrative, Equiano presents his belief that free blacks often suffered worse than slaves. What evidence does Equiano provide to support his claim that free blacks had more difficulties than slaves did? ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |