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The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave
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Part 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3 Summary: “Narrative of Louis Asa-Asa, A Captured African”
The “Narrative of Louis Asa-Asa, A Captured African” is a very brief narrative of enslavement sent to Pringle by George Stephen. In the Preface, Pringle explains that Asa-Asa is “under [Stephen’s] protection” (1). This narrative begins with a third-person narrator explaining that, as with The History of Mary Prince, the editor of Asa-Asa’s account made sure to remain faithful to his style of speech as much as possible. The difference between these two narratives, however, is that Asa-Asa’s story reflects on the violent impact of the transatlantic slave trade on the African continent.
Asa-Asa and four other Africans were brought on a French ship to London five years prior to the publication of this text. Claiming habeas corpus, Stephen managed to challenge the ship’s captain and free them. Two of Asa-Asa’s companions died from measles in Hampstead, but the other two made the journey back home to Sierra Leone. However, Asa-Asa chose to stay in England with Stephen, as his parents were no longer alive. The narrator remarks that he is good-natured, exceptionally intelligent, and impressively literate in English. He quotes Asa-Asa’s comment that he is glad he came to England because he has God and the Bible there, which he did not have back home. However, the narrator then denounces the injustice of enslavement, the depravity of those who defend it, and the need for those in power to end it.
Next, there is a break in the text followed by the subheading “The Negro Boy’s Narrative,” which shifts the narration to the first-person perspective of Asa-Asa. He explains that his father, Clashoquin, lived near Egie, a large town in Africa that is somewhat far inland. Clashoquin and Asa-Asa’s mother had five children and lived together. Clashoquin was respectable but did not have land and cattle like Asa-Asa’s uncle, Otou. One day, people called the Adinyés came and burned down Egie, murdering people and carrying away captives. They returned repeatedly afterward to capture more people. Asa-Asa lost many friends at Egie who were sold in exchange for such goods as cloth, gunpowder, salt, or English guns. The people of Egie were not the only victims of the Adinyés.
Once, when the Adinyés came to Egie, Asa-Asa and his family managed to escape into the woods. They returned to find destroyed homes and corpses. When the Adinyés returned the following week, Asa-Asa and his family escaped again, but they were found several days later. Otou was shot in the process. When Asa-Asa was captured, the rest of his family had run ahead; he never saw them again. The Adinyés made the captives carry a load of food and took them by the sea to be sold. At the time, he was about 13 years old. Captives were taken on a boat and sold at various stops. All but five of them were bought by white Frenchmen; the remaining five, including Asa-Asa, were shipped to England. On the ship, they were chained below deck, packed tightly, and often flogged. The conditions were hot and dirty, and many of the captives were ill.
The narrative shifts to a section of direct quotes, still from the perspective of Asa-Asa, that express his gladness to be in England, where he came to know God. He misses his friends, but he prefers to stay in England where he is free. Finally, he wishes that the king of England knew his story and of the cruelty of slavery so that he could put an end to it. Asa-Asa says that he is comfortable now, but he wishes the same for his people. The narrative ends with Asa-Asa signing off with his name and the date, January 31, 1831.
Part 3 Analysis
The “Narrative of Louis Asa-Asa” and The History of Mary Prince complement each other and together form one coherent publication. The two autobiographies illustrate multiple stages of the transatlantic slave trade: capture in Africa; sale; the Middle Passage; and enslavement in the Americas, and—in better cases—escape. While the two texts are complementary, they bear similarities and differences when read as two distinct works. Asa-Asa’s story mimics the structure of Prince’s History, though in a significantly condensed form. Like the portion of the book concerning Prince, it is divided into three parts. The first is written in the third person by an unspecified narrator—likely a white male abolitionist—who knows Asa-Asa personally. Stephen sent the narrative to Pringle, but it is unclear whether Stephen is the narrator of this segment, as he is also referred to here in the third person. Given that Pringle authored the rest of the paratextual material in the book—the Preface, footnotes, and “Supplement”—it is possible that he is the narrator of this narrative. Indeed, there is no third-person reference to Pringle here. This first section of “Narrative of Louis Asa-Asa” is functionally similar to Pringle’s Preface to Prince’s autobiography. Like the Preface, this section describes the editing process. It also offers some contextual information about how Asa-Asa ended up in England. Like the Preface, this section also enables the narrator to vouch for and legitimate Asa-Asa in the eyes of the reader. The presence of this speaker, in addition to Asa-Asa, signals the precarious social position of Black people in England, who could not be heard without the amplifying voices and platforms of white abolitionists. Such prefatory sections in narratives of enslavement demonstrate the challenges Black 19th-century testimonies faced: White abolitionist allies leveraged their positions to support Black narratives, but the abolitionist’s voice often surrounded and at times overwhelmed the text, contesting the Black narrator’s status as author.
The second section of the narrative is Asa-Asa’s autobiography, written in the first-person perspective. It focuses primarily on his experience with enslavement, though it also offers pleasant memories of his family before they were attacked. This section, the longest in the “Narrative,” constitutes the main material; it is comparable in structure to Prince’s History. While both texts convey difficult, traumatic experiences of death and familial separation, Prince’s and Asa-Asa’s narratives differ in tone. Prince emphasizes her grief, taking the space to dwell on the emotional effect of her experiences. Her narrative includes exclamation points and many heartfelt expressions of sorrow. On the other hand, Asa-Asa relays only the facts as he describes the attack by the Adinyés and his capture.
The third part breaks from the model of Prince and Pringle’s main text. The first narrative’s third part was Pringle’s “Supplement,” but the third section of Asa-Asa’s narrative remains in his perspective. It is not demarcated by a section division; rather, the shift into direct quotes, rather than first-person narration, signals the new section. It is unclear why the narrative takes this formal turn. Instead of continuing to relate his autobiography in a past tense, Asa-Asa speaks in the present tense, reflecting on his feelings and calling on the king of England for reform. The direct quotes imply the presence of some type of external narrator, though there are no lines of narration in this section. Therefore, the three sections of “Narrative of Asa-Asa” reflect three different narrative modes partnered with their respective functions: authentication, autobiographical narration, and admonition.
Another notable similarity between Asa-Asa’s narrative and Prince’s is the importance of religion. Both Prince and Asa-Asa find God either during or because of their enslavement. Their religious conviction is reflected in their language. Asa-Asa says, “I have no friend belonging to me, but God, who will take care of me as he has done already” (43). As with Prince, the inclusion of Asa-Asa’s religious commitments works to endear him to the British reader, who is likely also Christian. Likewise, this creates a positive image of his moral character for his target audience, making him a more trustworthy narrator and a sympathetic figure.
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