Question 1
Provide two examples (direct quotes) of descriptive language you found early in the passage.
Answer:The following are examples you may have chosen from the beginning of the excerpt.
1. "The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome that it was dangerous to remain there for any time."
The descriptive words "stench," "loathsome" and "dangerous" make the reader realize the intensity of the awful smells, situation and circumstances of the captives imprisoned in the hold of the ship.
2. "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 room to turn himself, almost suffocated us."
The descriptive words like "closeness," "heat," "crowded" and "suffocated" bring to the reader a feeling of suffocation and panic.
3. "This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated."
Descriptive words such as "wretched" and "filth," along with the children falling in the tubs and almost being "suffocated," bring emotions of fear and panic.
Go to question 2.
1. "The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome that it was dangerous to remain there for any time."
The descriptive words "stench," "loathsome" and "dangerous" make the reader realize the intensity of the awful smells, situation and circumstances of the captives imprisoned in the hold of the ship.
2. "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 room to turn himself, almost suffocated us."
The descriptive words like "closeness," "heat," "crowded" and "suffocated" bring to the reader a feeling of suffocation and panic.
3. "This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated."
Descriptive words such as "wretched" and "filth," along with the children falling in the tubs and almost being "suffocated," bring emotions of fear and panic.
Go to question 2.
Question 2
What physical hardships did the captives endure on the ship during the Middle Passage? Why does Equiano blame this illness and strife on the “improvident avarice” of the slave traders?
Answer:The captives were living in a circumstance of stench, overcrowding and suffocation, which led to illness and death. Equiano says the air was "unfit" for breathing and the environment so unhealthy because of the slave traders' greed and need to make as much money as possible by providing the captives with inhumane living conditions that often led to death. The lives of the captives did not really matter to the slave traders—the captives were packed in so closely that there were still others to sell.
Go to question 3.
Go to question 3.
Question 3
What treatment by the slave traders was especially and unnecessarily cruel to the captives?
Answer:After the slave traders caught and ate a huge catch of fish, instead of giving what was left to the captives, they tossed the remaining fish back into the sea. The captives were starving and desperate and it was really cruel to waste this food when it could have been given to them.
Go to question 4
Go to question 4
Question 4
How do we know that the captives suffered emotionally as well as physically?
Answer:At the beginning of the passage Equiano talks about the "fearful noises" made by the captives and later on he mentions "the shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying" as they suffer and grow more sick and disheartened. This demonstrates physical suffering. Great emotional suffering is shown when two captives jump overboard, choosing death instead of continuing in the situation he is in, being treated in such inhumane conditions.