A Trader's Tale by Emily
A Slave's Journey by Ilyas
Eventually, we were forced onto the majestic galleon. Fear flooded my veins. I wanted to cry and felt sick. I was chained tightly in thick, iron fetters, with my fellow slaves we tried to escape, but could not. The crew stared at us with disgust, looking ready to whip us if we didn’t follow orders. I could see the younger slaves crying after being separated from their parents. We were ordered to stand in the midday heat for what seemed like a year. After what seemed like the worst day of my life, we were ordered to go into the hull. As we opened the dirty, hatch and went down the rotten steps, it smelt revolting. The first thing to hit me was the smell of human skin. I was physically sick due to the unbearable heat and truly awful conditions. My heart sank. Once we were chained, the hard metal chains fetters rubbed my skin raw as younger slaves were crying because they have been separated from their parents. Tiredly, I closed my eyes slightly relived that it was th...
This is very interesting. You, and your classmates writing on the same theme, present a very good account of the voyage from the perspective of the slave traders, who believed that they are acting humanely and treating the slaves well. This is in sharp contrast to the accounts of the slaves themselves. The language used by slave and trader in describing the same event tell us very different stories. Thank you for this insight.
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