The Interesting Narrative and Plato.

I would like to address the idea of “improvement” as it applies to Olaudah Equiano’s work and as it applies to his focus on religion at the end of Interesting Narrative. It was pretty apparent to me that this entire narrative was focused on the path to self-betterment. His narrative structure reminded me of the structure of Plato’s Symposium in that it was a ladder towards the higher ways of thought, giving importance to faith and the belief in a higher purpose to life. We can see how he traces each chapter from enslaved person to preferred and highly valued slave to overseer and then to a struggling freeman.

              I would argue, however, that his path is following the prescribed path given by the convention of the time i.e. the structure that was already in place, rather than a personal journey away from societal obligations. Nussbaum focuses on this Dubois’ concept of the double consciousness ("merge his double self into a better and truer self”), and I would argue that we can see evidence in this narrative that Equiano struggles with this within himself and trying to better himself as a person. Who is this “better person”? What standards are we using to decide what is improvement and what is not? The most valuable part of this work is his admittance to the feeling he was experiencing each step of the way: we as readers can see first hand that he did struggle with his position even as he rose further towards gaining some traction. He was asked to whip the slaves as overseer. He was asked to hold a position of authority many times and what this could mean not only by what actions he needed to take, but whether these actions were in fact justified or simply a product of the flawed system. We can see what he is feeling, but where does he derive his standard of comparison? Would he take the lives of the slaves as the standards by which he should strive? No, they are underprivileged. So, he derives his standards by observing the successful white men. Did he have a choice though? Probably not, but it is important to address this first off before we can trace and understand why this is a narrative of improvement and the implications. The idea of a double consciousness is the problem that Equiano struggles with and it is a problem throughout the narrative. Could his own improvement narrative and movement towards faith and religion have been his way out of the double bind and into reconciling the two sides of his consciousness?

              If we step off the path of empirical knowledge (i.e. observation and experiment in the world around us) in order to escape the prevailing standards and societal narrative, the world of ideas and higher knowledge would be a place to turn, just as Plato traces love to the platonic ideal, away from the physical and away from possession and romantic love/lust. Would this be the ideal way to “improve” when other methods fail? If Equiano could not get out from his position of the ever guilty, ever black freeman, improvement could be undertaken through his thoughts, philosophy, and mind. No one could control that for him. He can escape the double bind. Question is: does he? If he is taking on the Protestant faith, isn’t he being plunged right back into the life he is attempting to escape from? Same standards, but the only difference being he is choosing to do it. Can we say confidently that this choice was through his own free will? Apparently not, but there is an escape hatch, I think.

              In the end, this idea of improvement was present in this text, and it most certainly aligned with the concept of improvement in England at the time, but, can we not see it as a form of recycling old ideas and not really escaping the mold? Not if we take Plato as an example of how the ladder of thought could hold as truth in Equiano’s life. Religion or spirituality, in general, could then be seen as the ultimate form of improvement and the true goal of Enlightenment values. And, really, when we truly understand that no person can truly escape from his circumstances, shouldn’t he have embraced the truth of his life regardless? It was his life, and he lived it, after all.