LITT 14310G: Analyzing Cultural Contexts in Equiano, Staples, Satrapi

This essay provides a literary analysis of Olaudah Equiano’s "Journey into Slavery", Brent Staples’ “Black Men and Public Space,” and Marjane Satrapi’s “The Veil,” focusing on how cultural, social, political, and historical contexts inform these memoirs. The central theme revolves around racial and ethnic identity, exploring the protagonists' experiences with slavery, racism, and the struggle for self-expression. Equiano's narrative depicts the horrors of slavery and his fight against it, Staples' essay highlights the racial stereotypes faced by black men, and Satrapi's graphic novel illustrates the impact of political and religious policies on personal freedom in Iran. The analysis also delves into the authors' narrative techniques, such as Equiano's use of epistolary form and second-person address, Staples' use of metaphor, and Satrapi's blend of words and images, to convey their experiences and challenge societal norms. The essay concludes that these autobiographical stories are powerful testaments to the fight against oppression and the pursuit of equality.

Running head: literary analysis 0
Literary Analysis
Essay
Student name:
12/20/2018

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Introduction:
This thesis focuses on the cultural, social, political, and historical contexts from three classic
books. That is Equiano’s “Journey into Slavery”, Staples’ “Black Men and Public Space,”
and Satrapi’s “The Veil”. These books central theme is racial and ethnic identity. In this
essay, we are going to discuss in details based on memoir as cultural, social and historical
context.
Part A:
The story “Journey into slavery” written by Olaudah Equiano this is a narrative story about
his life. The story started with the year 1745, in the kingdom of Eboe, Eastern Nigeria,
Equiano was born. He was eleven years old when he was kidnapped by two men and sold to
white people (Equiano, 2002). In addition, he was sold many times during this time. The
culture at that period indicated slavery as black skinned men were considered as slaves and
they were sold forcefully and were tortured and abused by the white men. Equiano also
fought for anti-slavery in the white country after his freedom from slavery. This book also
historicizes Equiano as a subject of desire at a particular moment in the history from British
imperialism to circum-Atlantic movement.
The short essay written by Staples “Black Men and Public Space” is a stereotypical
misconception of race. People judge other people by appearance and treat them differently
(Staples', 1986). Staples show how racism affects black men in spite of achieving everything
in the in life. Staples use rhetorical devices to get on the same side as the reader while still
managing to get his point. He narrates his own story of how a woman reacted to his
appearance and reacted towards him. He also uses rhetorical devices, pathos, ethos and logos
to provide the readers the experience of the black men in the society facing racism. The

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author also accomplishes his goal of making his viewers recognize the society culture, racial
stereotype and discrimination.
Satrapi’s “Persepolis the veil” is a graphic novel. This book opens at the time when the
implementation of government policy of wearing the veil was must. In this, the political level
captures the representation of Islamic republic. For Marjane, the woman protagonist has to
fight for her desires, freedom and self-expression (Satrapi, 2000). Marjane explains the
difference between Iran and her own pre and post revolution in 1979. Co-education and
foreign influences were not allowed and was considered against the Islamic religion. From
the start of the memoir, Marjane expresses about her family beliefs is religious where
wearing a veil is compatible whereas the government is opposite to what the family believe.
She imagines of making this world better but she fails. Marjane illustrate and wants to
implement a different version of religiosity that treats people equally and accepts women as
equal as men.
Part B:
The story by Equiano is a self-narration, autobiography. In the book the story is told in a
epistolary form (narration through letters) the narration begins with original letters about
Equiano speaking to his characters. Once the memoir begins, he uses the third person
perspective with contrast to first person in the letters. He narrates the travel journey and
slavery that is said as travel narrative and slave narrative in the book. In his travel narrative is
describes about the various cultures during his travel journey. In slave narrative, Equiano
used second person to engage the readers. He appeals the readers by describing the
autobiography with the horrific abuse against slaves (Equiano, 2002).
Black men and public space by Brent staples is an autobiography where he is dealing with
racism issues and discrimination in United States. Staples use metaphor to describe the

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confusing and painful effect which he experienced by his own perception. Using an auditory
image, he highlights the fact that he discovers the reality of prejudgment when the woman
was trying to escape him without any deceptive reasons. Staples further uses, metaphor
describing the distance between black and white people. In the end, the author takes
unnecessary efforts to make his presence in the street less conspicuous for the white people
(Staples', 1986).
The veil by satrapi is a “drawing style” or a graphic novel. Satrapi illustrate the image of Iran
as a black and white country and the strict rules and regulations in the country. She uses the
collocation of words and images for dramatic effects (Satrapi, 2000).
Conclusion:
This essay concludes that Equiano’s “Journey into Slavery”, Staples’ “Black Men and Public
Space,” and Satrapi’s “The Veil” they are all based on racism and ethnic issues faced by the
protagonists. These are all autobiographical stories fighting their own war against slavery,
racism, and women liberation in a country.
References:
Equiano, O. (2002). The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Canada:
Broadview Press.
Satrapi, M. (2000). The Veil. In Persepolis (pp. 276-278). Pantheon Books.
Staples', B. (1986, december). Harper's magazine. Retrieved december 20, 2018, from Black
men and public space: https://harpers.org/archive/1986/12/black-men-and-public-
space/

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