Slave Narrative

From The life of gustavus vassa:
"I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country, or even the least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I now considered as friendly; and I even wished for my former slavery in preference to my present situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind, still heightened by my ignorance of what I was to undergo. I was not long suffered to indulge my grief; I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste any thing. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me..."

This passage seemed important to me because it really describes the horror the slaves went through to just become slaves in the new world. The promise of the new world was completely not given to slaves because most of the were perfecttly content in thier own homelands, but were dragged away because the white men had more power. Unknowingly, the americans were doing just what britain would do to them later on because they abused thier power over people when it was unnecessary.

EQ- The africans brought to the US do not represent the american dream, but rather the flaw in the american dream. They were forced out of their beloved homelands into abusive situations. However, from the white man's perspective, slavery was needed to acheive thier own american success. The first pilgrims had no problem running the indians out of thier land, like the new commers had no problem trading an african for 15 shells.