Kathya Delgado
Spring 2013
2649908
Equiano’s Battle: Faith and Perseverance It was no secret the sufferings and renderings many slaves had came across during “The Middle Passage”; it wasn’t just torture and pain but most of all self discovery of their new reality. Despite from Equiano has known from his childhood in his homeland, it was a constant battle of the acceptance, exploration, and assessment new ideas or concepts into his new destined reality. In this passage, the floods of new traditions, cultures, languages, beliefs, and customs was permeating the through the soul of Equiano. However, through the good and the bad, Equiano even at his lowest never gave up on faith. Olaudan Equiano has always made faith the foundation of his acceptance of European religion/customs while also getting maintaining self righteous individuality. To truly understand the battle of individuality and beliefs Equiano felt during his lifetime, one must be familiar with his childhood. Equiano explained that the natives in his tribe already believe in one Creator and have accepted the fact the he governs events and also the concept of eternity or “afterlife” reflect upon his actions. The idea of faith and destiny was greatly rooted in Equiano, that the minute they captured Equiano and his sister away from his family he already knew this was his destiny for he mentioned “ but alas! Ere long it was my fate to be thus attacked, to be carried off” (Equiano, 1999). Equiano depended much on his faith for God even surrounded by different customs and overbearing of sadness because that’s all he had to reflect on. For instance, even when the Europeans stripped away the closest thing he had from home, his sister when they were finally separated, he called upon God and the heavens to protect her from such misery. He also mentioned that if God created us all equally, didn’t understand the