To What extent does the Slave define his/her identity through that of the master?
...m to death. For instance, even though from different eras, both become writers following the end of their ‘enslavement’. Levi writes of the Holocaust, Equiano uses his experiences to contribute to the abolition movement. The cause of their writing and thus being ‘identified’ as authors is because they are living into a future that has been defined by their Masters. Both Primo Levi and Olaudah Equiano had identities before and will keep on having them. The first is a Jew, Italian and a Chemist, the second is an African who belongs to the Igbo village in the Kingdom of Benin, and he retains all his memories about the liev within his people. As soon as they become part of the world of slavery they construct an identity that will permit them survival. Levi is a chemist and survives because of that. He also developed his amazing brand of humanity, his existence is built on the Lager, and he has no other choice a Chemist to survive in there and a writer to attempt to ‘get complete’ with it. Equiano saved money at every opportunity to purchase his freedom. At first he imitates his masters, when free he worked for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. He spoke at many public meetings describing the horrors of the Slave Trade. He is a Slave and I would suggest that his identity is constructed more strongly by his masters than Levi. What both writers become is a response to something that happened to them; Levi would have had a notion what might happen to him as a consequence of being a Jew and a Partisan. The horror of Monowitz would have excelled any preconceptions. With a certain measure of success Equiano has his identity built for him by his masters. He is in awe of his Masters from early on, despite the cruelty he experiences he is still driven to imitate those that decide his future. He perceives, ‘and in seeing these white people did not sell one another, as we did, I was much pleased; and in this I thought they were much happier than we Africans’ (p.68). Equiano returns to England where his has ‘the stronger desire to resemble them (white men)’(p.78) and he ‘therefore embraces every occasion of improvement’ (p.78). To become a Christian and be baptized enables Equiano additional advancement in the formation of his identity and further imitation of his owners. Later in the book when his Master suddenly sells him to Capt. Doran he is articulate in protesting he is due his freedom. Here he brings to the attention of his Master and the Captain that ‘besides this I have been baptized; and by the laws of the land no man has a right to sell me: (p94). Though in spite of developing the identity of his Masters he is still powerless, even though he is respected, what ever his attempts at conforming he still remains a slave. These are both works of autobiography, while Equiano is writing about all of his life, Levi’s ‘If this is a man’ starts from his arrest in Italy in 1943 by Fascists to the Liberation of Auschwitz by the Russians. ‘Master’ is also defined as ‘a person with exceptional skill at a certain thing’ and ‘a person who has complete control of a situation’. This would define the Nazi camp structure. The lethal and devasting efficiency with which Auschwitz functioned is a grave legend. The Monowitz Lager where Levi was kept was intended for unskilled labour, however the Nazis sourced skilled labour from here and the identity of Levi as a Jew changed to him being a Chemist; his camp was the construction site for a chemical factory. In the camp those that adapted survived, especially those that were specialists. Levi talks of the resignation he has that everyone knows their fate is in the selections. He writes ‘I know I am not made of the stuff of those who resist, I am too civilised, I still think too much, I use myself up at work. And now I also know that I can save myself if I become a Specialist.’ (p109). We know this brought Levi his survival; he spent the last two months working in a lab and was in Ka-Be or sick bay when the camp fell. In contrast Elias another character in the Buna has the admiration of everyone. ‘A sense of bestial vigour emanates from his body.’ (p101). Elias is a power house, Levi suggests Elias is insane and speculates whether Elias arrived at camp ‘Or perhaps he is...