The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano · Chapter
Chapter VI explained
Equiano reflects on the precarious state of free Black people in the West Indies, where even nominal freedom offers no protection from insult and plunder.
What happens
Equiano reflects on the precarious state of free Black people in the West Indies, where even nominal freedom offers no protection from insult and plunder. He resolves to obtain his freedom and return to England, learning navigation from the mate and later from Captain Farmer. He recounts his growing usefulness to his master, his purchase of a Bible, a curious interracial marriage performed at sea, and the constant dangers of the surf. Despite his fears, he remains honest and faithful, trusting in Providence and the principle that honesty is the best policy.
Themes in this chapter
Freedom and Liberty
Equiano contrasts the horrors of slavery with the mockery of freedom for free Black people, and resolves to obtain his liberty through honest means.
Hypocrisy of Civilization
The chapter exposes the hypocrisy of colonial society, where laws and customs deny justice to free Black people and forbid interracial marriage in church, yet permit it on the water.
Economic Enterprise and Self-Reliance
Equiano engages in petty trading, saves money, and uses his earnings to buy a Bible, demonstrating his entrepreneurial spirit and self-reliance.
Characters to notice
- Olaudah Equiano
Describes his disgust with the West Indies, his determination to gain freedom, his study of navigation, his fidelity to his master, and his growing success as a petty trader.
- Captain Thomas Farmer
Commands a Bermudas sloop for Equiano's master, repeatedly requests Equiano as a sailor, and eventually becomes a mentor, teaching him navigation and lending him money to buy a Bible.
- Robert King
Equiano's master, who reluctantly allows Equiano to sail with Captain Farmer after persistent entreaties, and later leaves Equiano entirely to the captain's command.
Key passages
“Hitherto I had thought only slavery dreadful; but the state of a free negro appeared to me now equally so at least, and in some respects even worse, for they live in constant alarm for their liberty; and even this is but nominal, for they are universally insulted and plundered without the possibility of redress; for such is the equity of the West Indian laws, that no free negro’s evidence will be admitted in their courts of justice.”
Equiano realizes that being a free Black person in the West Indies is almost as terrible as being enslaved, because they live in constant fear of losing their freedom and are routinely abused and robbed with no legal recourse, since their testimony is not accepted in court.
Equiano's critique of the legal and social condition of free Black people in the West Indies.
“I determined to make every exertion to obtain my freedom, and to return to Old England. For this purpose I thought a knowledge of navigation might be of use to me; for, though I did not intend to run away unless I should be ill used, yet, in such a case, if I understood navigation, I might attempt my escape in our sloop, which was one of the swiftest sailing vessels in the West Indies, and I could be at no loss for hands to join me.”
Equiano resolves to do everything possible to gain his freedom and go back to England, and decides that learning navigation could help him escape in their fast sloop if he were ever mistreated.
Equiano's strategic thinking about using navigation skills for a potential escape.
“A white man wanted to marry in the church a free black woman that had land and slaves in Montserrat: but the clergyman told him it was against the law of the place to marry a white and a black in the church. The man then asked to be married on the water, to which the parson consented, and the two lovers went in one boat, and the parson and clerk in another, and thus the ceremony was performed.”
A white man and a free Black woman were forbidden to marry in church due to local law, so they were married on the water in separate boats, with the clergyman officiating from another vessel.
A curious example of racial discrimination and legal evasion in colonial Montserrat.
