Question

Read the following excerpt about the sailors' actions. Why does Equiano most likely include this passage in his slave narrative?". . . to our astonishment who were on deck, rather than give any of them to us to eat, as we expected, they tossed the remaining fish into the sea again.. . ."

Answer 1

Equiano includes the passage about the sailors to illustrate the cruelty enslaved individuals endured, emphasizing the harsh conditions of the Middle Passage and the inhumanity of the slave trade.

Step-by-step explanation:

Olaudah Equiano likely includes the passage about the sailors throwing fish back into the sea in his slave narrative to highlight the utter disregard for the enslaved individuals' well-being and the cruelty they faced during the Middle Passage. Equiano's narrative is a powerful account aimed at informing readers about the inhumane conditions aboard the slave ships and the dehumanizing treatment of the enslaved people by their captors. The act of wasting food in front of starving individuals would have been an incomprehensible cruelty to Equiano's contemporaries, thereby emphasizing the inhumanity of the slave trade to his audience.