Chapters 1-2 Annotations

1. One of the most striking features of the first chapter i find is on page 15 where the author talks about carrying this live cargo was so exciting. The way the author puts the text gives the reader the context that nothing could be better than shipping around these animals. It is striking the difference in perception of ones self in relationship to those around them.


2 Animals get treated with more respect. It is strange to think that in many instances animals have a better life than that of a slave crossing the ocean. A slave, in a ship's hold, awaiting punishment, death, disease is not really a slave, a person or an animal, merely the individual whom throughout the text is referred to as nothing more than a number stays a number. You would think that they were cattle. It is interesting how those around the narrator have names and are given life however these slaves only come to life when in fact they die. They are then disposed of.

3 The last line of the first chapter is definitely a cliffhanger to keep the reader interested. John Newton speaks of god frequently but it is true, never did God enlighten him that his ways were wrong according to John. It is an interesting twist to the religious being.