Olaudah Equiano, in his interesting story, is taken from his African home and thrown into a Western world that is completely foreign to him. Equiano has been a slave for a total of ten years and strives to adopt certain traits and customs of Western thought. He strives to improve himself, learn religion and adopt Western commercialism. However, Equiano retains much of its African heritage. Throughout the story, the author maintains his African innocence and the purity of his intentions; two qualities that he is sorely lacking among Europeans. This compromise places him in an unstable middle ground between his adapted West and his native Africa. Olaudah Equiano appropriates Western ideals while retaining many of her African values; this makes him a man associated with two cultures but a member of neither. Olaudah Equiano, during his long journey, is exposed to Western ideas and customs. Although he was initially frightened by them, writing "and I was now convinced that I had entered a world of evil spirits, and that they were going to kill me" (755), he eventually began to see the Europeans as “men superior to us” (762). In this change in perception, Equiano begins to strive to imitate his paler counterparts. To further this cause, he begins to improve himself through education. He embarked on a quest to read and write having already partially learned his adopted language about two to three years after his arrival in England. He is put to school by Miss Guerins while his master's ship is in port and while in her service Equiano learns Western Christianity and is baptized. He thus began to adopt the European religious character as well as the new Enlightenment ideal of personal development. During Equiano's service...... middle of paper ...... other leaving him somewhere in between. Olaudah Equiano's interesting account provides insight into cultural assimilation and the difficulties of such assimilation. The writer embraces several Western traits and ideals while jealously guarding his African virtues. In doing so, however, he finds himself somewhere between a full-fledged European and a displaced African. This issue of cultural identity that Equiano struggled with is still present in modern American society. Today's African American also seems to be choosing between two competing cultures and often finds himself somewhere in between, becoming a victim of cultural identity, much like Olaudah Equiano some 250 years ago. Works Cited Olaudah, Equiano. The interesting account of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Yassa, written by himself. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.