"Two Flights to Freedom: Equiano and Douglass' Common Narrative Elements While Escaping Sla
- by Michael Rickard II
- Jun 13, 2017
- 4 min read

Slave narratives contain several common elements. One of the common elements is that the narratives record a long and complicated journey from (and within) bondage to freedom. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (“Equiano”) and A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (“Narrative”) each contain elaborate stories of both men experiencing incredible advances and reversals. The wheel of fortune is constantly spinning in both men’s stories, with them experiencing reversals of fortune that Charles Dickens could not have conceived. Equiano and Douglass’ journeys to freedom are similar in that they both experience ups and downs but they differ in their sufferings as well as the geographical differences of their journeys.
Equiano and Douglas both experience changes in their environment. Equiano is bounced all over the Western Hemisphere, being enslaved in his homeland of Africa, then being taken to the Caribbean, Europe, and North America before achieving freedom. Douglass is born in North America and is sent to various areas of the American South before he escapes north. Both men experience adversity, made all the worse by racism. Both men manage to achieve freedom through dedication and intelligence.
Equiano and Douglass experience different pathways to slavery but they are both unpleasant. While Equiano lives free with his family until his capture at age eleven, he suffers the brutal journey from Africa to the Americas known as the Middle Passage. Equiano survives the physical and mental torment of the trip but it is clear from his writings that the horrors of the trip are burnt into his memory. Douglass is born into slavery and with the exception of his grandmother, he has limited contact with his family. Douglass has few memories of his mother and disturbing suspicions that his father may be a white slaveholder. Douglass has the trauma of witnessing his Aunt Hester being whipped by jealous white overseer for her having a liaison with another slave.
