The Life of Olaudah Equiano Literary Devices

Explanation and Analysis:

Equiano's style draws heavily on debate and rhetorical principles. He uses compelling descriptions of his personal experiences as examples in a broader rhetorical appeal to end slavery and the slave trade. He uses a combination of pathos (emotional appeal) and logos (appeal on the basis of facts) to mount a case against slavery to white legislators. For instance, when he describes the ship on which he was first transported across the Atlantic Ocean, he whips his readers into a state of horror. He then tells them that his experience aboard this ship was nothing special: it was the standard experience enslaved Africans had when they were taken across the Middle Passage.

But Equiano's writing style is versatile: he has clearly read widely and is able to bring multiple styles together to support his argument. For instance, he draws on the style of religious writings to encourage his readers to search their own souls for their moral stance on slavery. One example occurs in Chapter 10, where he uses the style of a catechism:

I then asked my friend Mr. L—d, who was clerk in a chapel, why the commandments of God were given, if we could not be saved by them. To which he replied, ‘The law is a school-master to bring us to Christ,’ who alone could, and did keep the commandments, and fulfilled all their requirements for his elect people, even those to whom he had given a living faith, and the sins of those chosen vessels were already atoned for, and forgiven them whilst living[...]

In Christian traditions, a catechism is a formal series of questions and answers people are taught to recite as children. These questions and answers summarize the main principles of Christianity. Equiano uses the question and answer formula here, but he is not exactly asking questions he has been taught to ask. Rather, he is asking questions born out of his own curiosity and desire to understand the meaning of the Ten Commandments. By making the catechism his own, he demonstrates free thinking and encourages his readers to reflect on their beliefs regarding such institutions as slavery.

The Life of Olaudah Equiano: Style 1 key example