Rachel Lee Professor Williams HSS2: Final Paper April 30th, 2012

Marks of Identity

In Olaudah Equiano’s self­entitled narrative, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, there is a correlation between appearances, be it within the context of clothing or bodily markings, and Equiano’s perception of his own identity. As we, the readers, go along his journey with him, there are points in his narrative that involve appearances by other people and some kind of change in aesthetic that provides insight into how he’s changing as a character. More specifically, how Equiano’s understanding of himself changes as he moves from place to place and fulfills different roles from slave to freeman.

At the end of the narrative, Equiano makes an important and seemingly cryptic statement about how “if any incident in this little work should appear uninteresting and trifling to most raders, I can only say as my excuse for mentioning it, that almost every event of my life made an impression on my mind and influenced my conduct.” (214) which infers that the ostensibly “uninteresting” and “trifling” observations he

has made within the duration of his narrative have the potential of holding significance and meaning of some sort that isn’t readily apparent. This could be applied to certain instances of when he describes people of other nations and how his aesthetic for beauty, or perhaps attractiveness seems to shift just as his persona does.

The first occasion in which another person or group of people’s appearance had held some sort of meaning was when he was discussing how his father “was one of those elders or chiefs I have spoken of, and was styled Embrenche; a term, as I remember, importing the highest distinction, and signifiying in our language a mark of grandeur.” (44) Equiano continues on to describe the mark and how it is acquired by the person who receives it as he says, “This mark is conferred on the person entitled to it by cutting the skin across at the top of forehead, and drawing it down to the eye­brows; and while it is in this situation applying a warm hand, and rubbing it until it shrinks up into a thick weal across the lower part of the forehead.” (44) But what’s even more interesting is that Equiano speaks of how one day, he, like his father, was supposedly going to inherit that mark­ he even goes as far as to say “I was also destined to receive it...” (44) which is odd since as the narrative progresses, his perspective on these weal­like scars or other, similar types of self­mutilation as a representation of grandeur is one that lauds it and finds it aesthetically unappealing.

Upon his kidnapping, Equiano passes through many different nations in Africa

and along the way witnesses other people and tribes that “ornamented themselves with scars, and likewise filed their teeth very sharp. They wanted sometimes to ornament me in the same manner, but I would not suffer them; hoping that I might sometime be among a people who did not thus disfigure themselves, as I thought they did.” (63) It’s odd to see how a similar scar­like mark that’s attributed to another tribe is seen as a disfiguration by Equiano, who prior to that when retelling his people’s traditions and such, there was a sense of pride that was inherent in that mark that Equiano seemed to respect, or at the very least not label “disfiguration.”

Functioning in a similar manner, there’s an interesting perspective that is explored through clothing as a means of establishing or identifying one’s own persona. More specifically, in the case of blue clothing, Equiano begins his narrative recounting and also calling upon research about Africa and about where he had initially come from before he was enslaved and then “freed” once again. Equiano describes the basic customs and culture of his tribe from anywhere between marriage rights to the architecture of the buildings. He mentions how people of his tribe wore “a long piece of calico, or muslin, wrapped loosely round the body... This is usually dyed blue, which is our favourite colour. It is extracted from a berry, and is brighter and richer than any I have seen in Europe” (46) Although it’s important to realize that a great amount of the information that Equiano uses in this chapter (and other points in the text) could have been or rather was acquired from other educational sources

rather than from a primary experience, it’s interesting to see how at the end of this description of the blue dyed clothing, he is able to recount the fact that it “is brighter and richer than any I have seen in Europe” (46) It validates the fact that he can remember this small detail of when he was technically “free” or ignorant or exempt from the slave system. Moreover, it could potentially be seen as a symbol of true, genuine freedom, or what he perceives to be genuine freedom as he describes a different piece of blue clothing prior to his status as a “freeman.”

The latter of the two occasions of blue clothing takes place towards the middle of the narrative as Equiano is recounting his emancipation while standing in a “superfine blue [suit]” (136) at the dance celebrating his freedom. But, as mentioned before, this piece of blue clothing somehow pales in comparison to the one that he had described when he was initially free. The blue clothing in comparison to the tribal blue clothing he mentions earlier mirrors a certain kind of lackluster reaction of Equiano’s freedom, which is further underscored by the difference as to what Equiano was referred to by. Robert King, Equiano’s master, anti­climactically declares not Olaudah Equiano a free man, but instead Gustavus Vassa a free man in his manumission.

It becomes important to discern between Olaudah Equiano and Gustavus Vassa because it does begin to address identity issues and beg the question of how although

Equiano was a “freeman” it isn’t necessarily delineated, and he doesn’t seem to acknowledge his emancipation with a certain zeal. Gustavus Vassa is a name that Equiano was immediately labeled with by his master. Although Equiano clearly did not want to be addressed by that name when he “began to understand [his master and captain] a little, and refused to be called so” (72) and when he did not answer to that name during his slavery, “it gained [him] many a cuff” (72) There’s an immediate negative association to that name, Gustavus Vassa, especially because not only is it forced on him, the fact that it is forced on him is indicative of how powerless he is when he’s within the role of a sale. By using this name on the official manumission is a complete shift in Equiano’s understanding of himself and who he is, for he is no longer a slave but it begs the question as to whether or not he is truly free.

Both the scars and the blue colored clothing are reflective of Equiano’s changing values and his changing nature. As readers, we notice while at the same time these observations are occurring, Equiano’s status as a freeman or his perception of himself slowly begins to shift.

Works Cited

Equiano, Olaudah, and Robert J. Allison. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1995. Print.