Descriptive Essay (Equiano Book Review)

H 114, sections 22872 and 23764                                                               Dr. Thomas A. Mason

Fall 2015

Descriptive Essay: review of Equiano, The Interesting Narrative

Date due: Section 22872: September 28; Section 23764: September 23

Assignment: Write a descriptive essay of 500 to 750 words (2–3 typewritten pages), on white paper, 8 ½ x 11 inches, double spaced, in 12-point type, with a one-inch margin on all sides. A descriptive essay represents or gives an account in words of, in this case, Equiano’s book.

Please note:

• Please turn in book reviews / essays electronically through the “Assignments” link on Canvas, and bring a hard copy / printout with you to class on the due date, when we will have a class discussion of the book.
• You are welcome to turn in book reviews / essays early (before the due date) through the “Assignments” link on Canvas.
• If a book review / essay is transmitted electronically through the “Assignments” link on Canvas on the due date, and the student is absent from class, it will be considered late.
• The “Assignments” link on Canvas will automatically check your book review / essay for originality through Turnitin. The Turnitin Originality Report will be accessible to you and me.
• No more than one late assignment (book review / essay) or makeup quiz / examination will be allowed to any student.
• After the due date, you may turn in a book review / essay for full credit but subject to the abovementioned limit of one late assignment (book review / essay) or makeup quiz / examination per student.

Structure: At the head of the review, give the review your own original title, and your name, followed by the bibliographical information on the book as follows:

Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. Edited by Vincent Carretta. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.

Style: Brevity and conciseness are harder to achieve than verbosity and vagueness. Do not just turn in a first draft. Proofread your writing. Do not just rely on spell check, which will not alert you when you are using a real word that is the wrong word in the context. Write in complete sentences. A complete sentence has a subject and a verb. Style and accuracy are important and integral parts of content and will count heavily in or against your favor in the determination of your grade on this essay.

Purpose: The essential purpose of writing a book review is to enable the reviewer to summarize, evaluate, and communicate to the reader of the review the book that the reviewer has read. You should not only summarize the contents of the book, but also critically evaluate the book. For general guidelines, from Writing Tutorial Services at Indiana University–Bloomington, on how to write a book review, see: www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/book_reviews.shtml. A review of any book (or any historical document) should address / answer the following questions:

• What was the author’s (Equiano’s) purpose in writing the book? To put it another way: Where is the author coming from? Where is he going with this book?
• How well did the author achieve that purpose?
• What are the book’s strengths and weaknesses?
• Within the general reading audience that any author of a commercially published book intends to reach, what specific core audience did the author hope to reach with this book?
• To what extent did the author set standards for accuracy in writing history? Please do not refer to this book as a “novel.” A novel is fiction; this is supposed to be nonfiction. You may if you wish address the issue of the extent to which the author blurs the distinction between fiction and nonfiction.
• To what extent are the author’s expectations and standards of accuracy similar to or different from our own?
• To what extent have our expectations and standards of accuracy changed since the author’s time?
• How did the author deal with the challenges and dilemmas that he encountered?

Olaudah Equiano was born in Nigeria in 1745 (some records indicate that he may have been born in South Carolina in 1747), enslaved, and brought to Virginia and later to England. By means of careful saving and business practice he was able to purchase his freedom in 1766. The Interesting Narrative was first published in 1789 and went through nine editions during his lifetime. It was translated into Dutch (Merkwaardige levensgevallen, Rotterdam, 1790) and German (Merkwürdige Lebensgeschichte, Göttingen, 1792). Vincent Carretta’s introduction to the assigned edition provides the historical background. As you read the book be alert to, and in your descriptive essay address / answer the following questions that are specific to this book (your essay does not have to address all of them):

• What devices did Equiano use to establish the credibility of his Interesting Narrative?
• What evidence does the book provide about Equiano’s role in the antislavery movement?
• Equiano served in the Royal Navy during the Seven Years’ War (called the French and Indian War in America) under Admiral Edward Boscawen. He saw action including the siege of Louisbourg (1758) in Canada and the battle of Lagos Bay (1759) off the coast of Portugal. In 1773 as a civilian mariner he embarked on an Arctic voyage in search of a Northeast Passage to India. What insights does Equiano provide from his years at sea?
• Equiano witnessed the early industrialization of England. What conclusions did he draw about the impact of the Industrial Revolution?
• What evidence does the book provide about Equiano’s religion?
• How did Equiano’s religion affect his actions, and his account of those actions, as he recorded them in his book?

Academic honesty: We all know that there are reviews and summaries of books, in the library, on the Web, and elsewhere. I want to know your ideas about the book, not somebody else’s. When you use someone else’s ideas, they must be acknowledged in a footnote (see hypothetical example below).¹ When you use someone else’s words, those words must be enclosed within quotation marks, and acknowledged in a footnote. If from a website, it is insufficient just to cite the “Web”; rather, you should cite the full URL (uniform resource locator) and the date that you accessed it: “accessed mm/dd/yyyy.” When you are quoting from the book you are reviewing, you may simply enclose the quote within quotation marks and cite the page number in parentheses, immediately after the quotation. Example: (p. 202). The “Assignments” link on Canvas will automatically check your book review / essay for originality through Turnitin, which will create an originality report that will be accessible to you and me. Using someone else’s words or ideas without giving credit is called plagiarism, which is an offense under the university-wide Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct at Indiana University (www.iu.edu/~code/code/index.shtml). Plagiarism is a big word for stealing, passing off another’s work as your own, or cheating. When plagiarism is detected in this class, the student will receive an automatic F (zero points) on the assignment.

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1. John H. Smith, A History of the Ancient World, 4th ed. (New York: Jones Publishing Company, 2004), p. 202.