After reading this passage over in Lit. class, the first thing I noticed was how dark and depressing it was. In comparison to Equiano, which isn't extremely dark in the first place, it uses more imagery to paint a picture. For example, the section where the author (who is unknown to me at this time) describes the disease Ophthalmia discusses blindness, getting rid of the blind, and the fear that came with the disease. This is a darker point of view for a slave ship than we have seen before, and it is from a person who was not there as a slave. To me, this was very odd. It seems like those who are not in chains, packed in tightly, not fed, and not beaten would be happier. He also refers to a fire that is somehow started, and vividly describes the effects of it. That section posed another couple of questions for me, such as how did the fire start in the first place? Did the slaves start it to escape the misery of a slave ship? Was it one person's carelessness? Overall, the plot of this poem so far has quite a few things that don't seem to add up, and I am wondering what the author will chose to include details-wise later on in the text. Darkness aside, this document is essentially a counterpart to Equiano, as they sort of fill in the limitations for each other. We see a separate mindset in this person's view, and it helps us to understand life on a slave ship even better.
Chavez Rodriguez 1B
I think i Know why this fire was started. First off, there was a disease going around making the crew and slaves blind. I think it could have easily been on accident due to so many people being blinded. Also There was definitely a lot of darkness and gloom in the story and I think it is a great counterpart to Equiano.
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