“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 agree that this quote greatly illustrates the fear of the narrator of this whites who captured him .I feel that it also demonstrates how the white men thought of these newly captured people. Treating them as nothing more than objects throwing their dead bodies over the sides of the ship and flogging them I also feel that the narrator is in the right to be scared being ripped from their homes forced onto a boat in which people like him are being treated like livestock animals. Another part that is related is that the narrator thought it was worthless to try to escape from these humans since they weren’t like animals in which he could escape easily.
I agree with your observation of Equiano’s experience from the mental aspect. He is clearly traumatized by the mistreatment of other Africans around him in barbaric manner. I think it is also worth pointing out that there are two other significant factors worth consideration. Early on, Equiano admits to having been exposed to a culture that differed heavily from the one he had previously known; as should be expected. However, it is also worth including that the only parallel from his previous environment to now are his fellow slaves; African as himself. Being forced to witness the disregard, mistreatment and murder of those sharing a similar ethnicity as his own would have only likely served to convince Equiano that a similar fate awaited him.