After reading the autobiography of Venture Smith and then comparing it with the biography written by Farrow, it's clear that Farrow’s biography attempts to emphasize the trauma experienced by Smith, and in doing so fails to acknowledge key moments, and relationships in Smith’s life. The first and most obvious aspect of SMith’s life that Farrow fails to acknowledge is his Smith’s home life in Africa. While Farrow states that Smith was born son to a wealthy man, it's clear that this categorization of Smith’s father is an understatement. Smith was actually born to a prince who was so wealthy that he was permitted to have three wives . However, for a period in his childhood SMith still experienced hardship when his mother left his father and took him with her. Smith explains that after his mother left he was …show more content…
Furthermore when looking at the story of how Smith was captured Farrow fails to acknowledge the way in which it happened. In his autobiography Smith states that the tribe that came to capture his home were equipped with weapons that were provided by white nations. It's important to note that these weapons were provided by white individuals because it further explains why Africans would capture tribes and not keep them for themselves. Arguably this is because either they were forced on these endeavors or they were paid for it. Nevertheless Smith makes it clear that capturing every single individual wasn't this tribes goal because they would at times give prisoners clemency: something that would not happen if they were collecting prisoners for their own benefit. Therefore I have to question exactly what led this tribes to capture other Africans. Was there fair trade going on between these African tribes, or were these tribes being forced to do so white slave traders? Farrow also fails to explore or even mention some of the interesting relationships that took place between Smith and his masters. For example the dichotomy between he and Mumford.