Author: c.li12

“… at that time slavery was as essential to the continuation of work as it was to keeping the colonists faithful to France. A group of ferocious tyrants still ruled Saint- Domingue men who publicly preached that one’s skin color should be a sign of power or condemnation” (p121)

In the above quote it states that the kings of Saint Domingue or rulers at the time believed that power was determined by skin color. The kings thought that people with lighter or white skin were superior, while those with darker skin were below them and should be but to death or be punished for their skin color. Therefore those with lighter skin started enslaving Africans and forcing them to do harsh labor and stripping them of their natural human rights. The whites have this mind set that people with darker skin should be punished. However, as stated in the quote, “slavery was as essential to the continuation of work as it was to keeping the colonists faithful to France”, meaning that slaves were actually really important to the society as a whole. Its interesting how the whites thought they were above everyone and that everyone should respect them, but in reality they couldn’t even plant crops to feed themselves without the help of slaves. Without slaves no work will be done. There won’t be any one working on plantations or doing household chores for the Whites. No products will be produced without the help from slaves.So the fact that those “ferocious tyrants” thought those who had darker skin color were useless and should be condemn is ironic, because the whites actually depended the blacks for their source of income and their source of food.

“One white man in particular I saw when we were permitted to be deck flogged so unmercifully with a  large rope near the foremast that he died in consequence of it ; and they tossed him over the side as they would have done a brute. This made me fear these people the more; and I expected nothing less than to be treated in the same manner.” (page 57) 

The line above written by Olaudah Equiano shows the disbelief and fear the narrator felt when being captured by the whites. The narrator stated that the whites “flogged so unmercifully” and “tossed his over the side as they would have done a brute” show that the Whites were cruel as they tortured the other slave, and the Whites were inhumane as they just tossed the dead slave overboard as if he was some useless object now that the slave was dead. In the line before this the narrator even said ” i should be put to death, the white people looked and acted… in so savage manner; for i had never seen among any people such instances of brutal cruelty”(Page). The narrator was so afraid of the whites that just by judging the way they looked and acted, he knew they were savages. He would rather die they be with the whites in the same ship.

“I must now speak of the skilled workmen whom Montezuma employed in all the crafts they practices beginning with the jewellers and workers in silver and gold and various kinds of hollowed objects which excited the admiration of our great silversmiths at home” (pg 230). 

This sentence stood out to me because it shows the authors credibility. On the page before this sentence, the author describe the ways the Indians made human sacrifices and also describes how they kept meat eating animals and fed them with the human sacrifice’s meat.  The author uses the words like “horrible”, “monstrous” to show her/his disgust towards the customs. The author even wrote “…when the lions and tigers roared…and the serpents hissed, it was so appalling that one seemed to be in hell.” Using the world hell to describe a place shows how the author had a strong dislike of the Indian’s customs and ‘pets’.

But even thought the author didn’t like their customs, the author didn’t show any bias towards them and still talked about the good things about the Indians. In the sentence above the author is basically admiring the craftsmanship and skills the Indians had. The author wrote “… hollowed objects which excited the admiration of out great silversmiths at home.” The author believes that the Indian’s skills were so amazing and beautiful that their work will make the Europeans workers jealous.

The fact that the author is able to explain both the negatives and positives of a culture without showing any bias towards that culture, makes the writing more reliable and real.

Hello! My name is Carmen Li.

My favorite color is blue and my favorite food is sushi! I attended high school at Bronx High School of Science. I began learning how to play the piano when I was around 4 years old, but have no talent to show for it. Currently, I’m working part time at a Korean Skin care store in Queens called Nature Republic.

I haven’t decided on my major yet, but I am interested in management. By studying history, I learn about the different strategies past managers have used to keep the business running smoothly and fairly. I will find out which strategy work and what didn’t. I will also learn about how to start my own business and build my business into something more than a random office on the street.