Compare and Contrast Essay: “Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” and “General History of Virginia.”

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Compare and Contrast Essay: “Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” and “General History of Virginia.”
Introduction
“The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” is an autobiography that became influential during the Abolitionist movement. The story recounts Equiano’s childhood life when he was kidnapped into slavery and sold to the slave traders (Lovejoy 317). His tales of the horrors he experienced on his journey to America became a great inspiration for many to get involved in antislavery movement. In his narration, the author employs varying tones, including apologetic and honesty to win the audiences’ attention. His main audience includes the government of Britain and the queen as well as the abolitionists who were ready to have their voices heard and end slavery. Equiano’s purpose to write his memoir was to make an appeal to the British government and the Queen of England to take action and have the slaves freed. John Smith, the author of “The General History of Virginia” is one of the greatest writers in the history of American literature (Stratman 12). His work has continued to inspire varying reactions among readers and historians. While he is known as one of the earliest American heroes and a boastful bully at the same time, he is remembered for his struggle to create a legend around his life. Unlike Equiano, Smith uses rather abusive tones although he shifts his expressions throughout the book. His main audience was the rich investors, although they failed to discover gold in the new land. This paper examines the tone, audience, and purpose of the two texts: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Equiano and “The General History of Virginia” by John Smith.
Equiano employs a number of tones in his narrative, including the apologetic tone portrayed in the second chapter of the autobiography. In the beginning of the chapter, Equiano takes an apologetic tone by narrate how he feels a trespass on the readers’ patient to introduce the basic background information regarding the writer. He says, “I hope the reader will not think I have trespassed on his patience in introducing myself to him, with some account of the manners and customs of my country…” (Equiano 357). Instead of being sentimental, Equiano maintains a tone of honesty. In his memoir, Equiano makes an application to the British government to consider his plea and free the slaves. Since this is a challenging subject to be heard by the Queen of England, he dedicates his book to the Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal (Equiano 1). His intentions are thus clear that he intends to convince the Queen of England to show kindness for his millions of Africans suffering in slavery. The author also seeks to depict to the British government and the Queen the kind of cruelty and oppression subjected against the unhappy Negroes. By portraying the lives of the Negroes, he is hopeful that slavery would be ba...