Question

Read the passage from Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography.

The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. The air soon became unfit for respiration from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died . . . The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable.

What is described in the text?

Answer 1

Answer: The existence of human suffering.

Explanation: Got it right on edg2020

Answer 2

Answer: It is describing the dreadful voyage of a group of enslaved Africans on a slave ship—more specifically the so-called middle passage voyage.

Explanation: Just to elaborate a little on the answer, it can be added that this is an excerpt from Olaudah Equiano's bestseller autobiography (1789). He was a former enslaved African who was eventually able to buy his freedom and become a seaman and a merchant. In this passage he is relating the horrors he experienced and witnessed during the so-called middle passage voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World. He describes the unbereable voyage aboard an overcrowded ship, the unhealthy conditions, the diseases and the deaths, as well as the screams and the groans of those that, like him, were obliged to leave their homes and work as slaves.