show directly the irony that those naming others "barbarians" were the barbaric ones themselves. His intensely personal story, with detailed descriptions of what he saw - cruel or ordinary - and of how one African dealt with forced encounters with different lands and cultures, was what it would take for Englishmen to relate and thus to understand.A number of themes pervade Equiano's narrative. Editor Robert Allison says the text revolves around "freedom and salvation." Adam Potkay in Forum: Teaching Equiano’s Interesting Narrative, claims that Equiano’s narrative had a number of persuasive modes, modes such as “apologia, allegory, sermon, exhortation...” and [criticism] directed to abolishing the slave trade (604). Power and identity struggles are also important problems Equiano faces. Some of the most telling passages involve Equiano's discussion of his various names. In his Ibo native land, he was named "Olaudah," which signified "one favored, and having a loud voice and well spoken." His name was thus symbolic of his strong anti-slavery voice. His name testified to his extraordinary life and also suggests his relative fortune, or perhaps God's Providence. Luck and grace would play a large role in his life and narrative. Yet in Virginia Equiano was called Jacob and then Michael - he no longer had control over his own identity. The passage where he is given the name Gustavus Vassa describes clearly the struggle for self-empowerment versus outside control: "While I was on board this ship, my captain and master named me Gustavus Vassa. I at that time began to understand him a little, and refused to be called so, and told him as well as I could that I would be called Jacob; but he said I should not, and still called me Gustavus: and when I refused to answer to my new name, which I at first did, it gained me many a cuff; so at length I submitted, and by which I have been known ever since." (61)That Equia...
