Untitled-

Danisa Andrews 

After reviewing the two readings, “Equiano” and “The Hold,” I decided to point out comparisons in relation to our course of theme and how slaves were treated inhumanely! Starting with The Hold, “The Belly of the ships” description of the ship's bottom as a belly but not in a literal sense, it was pictured as being swallowed, trapped, and chained to others. The slaves were not considered men or women but as “differently weighted and sized property” with no gender differences. They went through dehumanization situations and were not shown any remorse; they had a hole cut in their walkway “through which prisoners were forced to urinate and defecate into a bucket placed on the ground below.” They were chained together so tightly that it was hard for them to sit up. In the middle of the passage, there was a picture showing how most slaves had to lay, mostly young kids who appear to be easily suffocated, and each one was body to body with no room to breathe, and if one was sick, it was bound that the disease spread across the ship! 

I used chapter two in the Equiano story to explore the ship experience. In the chapter, he mentioned how the “slave ship was waiting for its cargo” the cargo term was used for the slaves since they were looked at as property, and if they were lost at sea, the owner could be paid for any “items” lost. After boarding the ship, he looked around and “saw a large furnace or copper boiling, and saw a multitude of black people of every description chained together.” Even though there was no comparison to make with the thought of the shipholders, it still relates to the theme, so Equiano was also terrified of the ship owners and thought they were monsters who were going to eat him; he was eased by the slaves he was chained to after they explained that he wasn't going to eaten. Soon after witnessing the deck him and other slaves were sent below to the bottom of the ship. The stench was so bad that it made him sick, aside from crying. The ship was later on accompanied by another, and from there the slaves were sent to “the hold’, which also had an intolerable smell that was “dangerous to remain there for any time”. The hold was so overcrowded that there was no room for any of the slaves to turn around, it was so bad to where some almost suffocated, mainly the little kids. The thick smell of perspiration from the slaves and the ship itself was so bad that it caused some of them to get sick from toxins and fumes and die. They were also chained up to those who died so the chains became insupportable, which caused even more discomfort. 

The points I used pointed out not only the similarities in the two stories but also the inhumane experience and horrors they endured while on the ships.

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