Previous
Setting
Definition of Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like" or "as," but can also... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often... read full definition
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Sheep in a Fold:
In Chapter 2, Equiano finds himself on a terrifying voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in the company of other Africans who have been kidnapped and enslaved. When they arrive in Barbados, he uses a smile comparing himself and the others to sheep:
We were conducted immediately to the merchant’s yard, where we were all pent up together like so many sheep in a fold, without regard to sex or age.
Equiano's simile emphasizes the dehumanizing treatment he and the other enslaved Africans endure. They are treated as though they are livestock imported from across the ocean. There is also another layer of meaning to this simile. A fold, or sheepfold, is an enclosure used to contain and protect sheep. On the one hand, it can keep them safe from predators or from their own inattentive wandering away from the flock. On the other hand, it traps all the sheep in one place and can make them easy prey if a predator does manage to get into the fold. According to Equiano, he and the other enslaved Africans on the way to Barbados have been worrying that they are going to be eaten when they reach the island. This worry itself comes from colonial propaganda demonizing Indigenous peoples. The worry creates the opportunity for the enslavers to comfort the people they have enslaved and act as if they are "protecting" them from such an awful fate when they usher them into the merchant's yard. Ultimately, though, the enslavers pen Equiano and the others up like livestock, taking away their autonomy. The "protectors" are actually predators.
It seems likely that Equiano is thinking of the sheepfold parables in the Bible. These parables use the idea of a sheepfold to express the dangers of letting the wrong "shepherd," or spiritual leader, into a community. Equiano repeatedly critiques the hypocritical version of Christianity many enslavers practice. Here, he hints that they may look like spiritual leaders but that they are not the right people to follow. The simile thus highlights a feeling of paranoia and distrust toward white people that Equiano increasingly finds necessary to his survival.
Related Themes:
