The Slave Ship By Marcus Rediker - 1415 Words

The Slave Ship was written by Marcus Rediker and it tells several accounts of the African slave trade as well as the world of the middle passage. The author discusses the nature of the slave ship and the African paths to the middle passage. Rediker also mentions the lives of historical figures (Olaudah Equiano, James Field Stanfield, and John Newton) and the roles that they had during the Atlantic slave trade. For the African captives, the sailors, and captains, the slave ship was seen as a wooden, floating, traveling dungeon and a place of terror and survival, which are also the overall main themes of the book. In the book, Rediker states â€Å"A captain, a sailor, an African captive†¦found in the slave ship†¦a strange and potent combination of†¦show more content†¦Once the slave ship reached its destination, it would become a factory that would trade and sell living cargo. Therefore, the slave ship was a war machine, a mobile prison, and a factory. The theme of terror reoccurs throughout Rediker’s book. The slave ship was a symbol of terror to the Africans that were kidnapped and sold into slavery. For example, Chapter 4 of The Slave Ship discusses the life of Olaudah Equiano. Equiano was filled â€Å"with astonishment which was soon converted into terror† (Rediker 108) when he was first laid eyes on the ship where he would spend the next few weeks of his life. These emotions that Equiano experience when he first laid eyes on the slave ship may have been the same emotions that many of the other African captives felt when first saw the slave ship. James Field Stanfield even witnessed the terror that was caused when captives were boarding the slave ship. Both Equiano and Stanfield wrote about the astonishment turned into terror when reaching the slave ship. Africans also viewed the slave ship as a bringer terror in the form of war. Wars in Africa â€Å"often commenced when a slave ship appeared on the coast† (Rediker 98). The slave ship would provide the local African traders the tools (weapons) that they needed to bring them their captives. These wars that broke out created terror in Africa and were seen as a â€Å"euphemism for the organized theft of human beings† (Rediker 99), which were ultimately caused byShow MoreRelatedâ€Å"The Slave Ship: A Human History† Written By Marcus Rediker1903 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"The Slave Ship: A Human History† written by Marcus Rediker describes the horrifying experiences of Africans, and captains, and ship crewmen on their journey through the Middle Passage, the water way in the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas. The use of slaves to cultivate crops in the Caribbean and America offered a great economy for the European countries by providing â€Å"free† labor and provided immense wealth for the Europeans. 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Africans were exported from their homeland to the New World under the most miserable conditions imaginable. Prof. Marcus Rediker, author of The Slave Ship, A Human History says, â€Å"We’re fascinated by all the tall ships except th e most important one, and that’s the slave ship. And