Sample short essay response

The Short Essay Sample

Sample question
Compare and contrast the passage of settlers in Bradford’s On Plymouth Plantation and of slaves in Equiano’s An Interesting Narrative.

1. Turn the question into an answer.
The passage of settlers in Bradford’s On Plymouth Plantation and of slaves in Equiano’s An Interesting Narrative share many similarities, but for the most part, are quite different.

2. Set up your argument to support this answer.
Similarities
Differences

3. Go into more depth.
Similarities – physical difficulties
Differences—forced vs. choice

4. Find quotes and citations. This is what you write on your card.
Similarities - physical difficulties
Bradford: A young man “condemning the poor people in their sickness and cursing them daily with grievous execrations”
Equiano: Stinky, “The stench of the hold, while we were on the coast, was so intolerably loathsome that it was dangerous to remain there for any time.”
Differences - forced vs. choice
Bradford: “So they committed themselves to the will of God and resolved to proceed.”
Equiano: “That if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would’ve freely parted with them all to have exchanged my condition with the meanest slave in my own country.”

5. Write your answer on the test. You don’t have to use all your quotes.
The passage of settlers in Bradford’s On Plymouth Plantation and of slaves in Equiano’s An Interesting Narrative share many similarities, but for the most part, are quite different. One similarity that they share is the physical discomfort of making a long ocean voyage over the Atlantic. On Bradford’s journey, a young seaman spends time abusing the settlers by “condemning the poor people in their sickness and cursing them daily with grievous execrations.” Similarly, Equiano describes the unpleasantness of the ship’s hold: “The stench of the hold, while we were on the coast, was so intolerably loathsome that it was dangerous to remain there for any time.” Physically, both the settlers and the slaves faced a difficult passage to the New World. However, one major difference between the two experiences is that the settlers made the voyage by choice, whereas the slaves were forced. Bradford writes that the settlers “committed themselves to the will of God and resolved to proceed,” demonstrating that the settlers had the freedom to choose what to do next. On the other hand, when Equiano finds out he is to be a slave in America, writes, “if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would’ve freely parted with them all to have exchanged my condition with the meanest slave in my own country.” In Bradford’s On Plymouth Plantation, and in Equiano’s An Interesting Narrative, settlers and slaves share the difficulty of a perilous ocean voyage, but they do not share the ability to choose their own destinies.