Equiano and Smith

Odaulah Equiano and Venture Smith are both native Africans who were born within their tribes in different parts of Africa. Both of these men were the sons of chiefs or important elders in their tribe. Smith does not go into much detail about his tribe, yet Equiano gives much detail about the culture and beliefs of his tribe. Smith explains the polygamy in his tribe, but that’s about it. He also talks about what happens with his mother when she takes him away. Equiano on the other hand, gives a lot of detail about his native tribe. Equiano is eager to talk about his tribes’ rituals, like the different sections for dancing. He also explained in detail the role of the elders and how they punished people. A difference in Smith and Equiano is that just by reading the beginning of both stories, Equiano values his tribal life much more than Smith did. I thought it was interesting how they kept the same values when they were captured and thrown into slavery. They kept the values they learned from their tribe, like their honesty and optimism. Equiano gave much more detail about his life and little things, like the long ship ride to America. He explained everything, like a commentary. All Venture Smith said was it was long, a lot of people died, and he was bought. They differ because in the end, it seemed to be that Smith was mostly worried about his monetary achievements. He was so excited for the price in which he bought his sons, and the two for one deal he got on his pregnant wife. When he recounted everything he had done, he explained how he had been taken advantage of and lost this much money, how his chest had burned and he lost this much, how his son died and his “investment” of buying his freedom was wasted, and so on. At the end of Equiano’s story, he learned about the religion and the traditions of the new people he came into contact with.