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This is understandable. However, the way the two writers tell their stories is quite different, somehow. Prince's is told from a woman's point-of-view that is more sensitive, more emotional, and "female." She worries more about others, and becomes very emotionally attached to some of her families. Equiano is emotional too, and not afraid to talk about his emotions, but many of his descriptions are less emotional and more full of facts and actual happenings. Equiano's writing is much more formal. For example, he writes, "During this time I was out of employ, nor was I likely to get a situation suitable for me, which obliged me to go once more to sea. I engaged as steward of a ship called the Hope, Capt. Richard Strange, bound from London to Cadiz in Spain" (Equiano 142). He states the facts, and often without emotion, while Prince's narrative is more like sitting down and listening to an old friend recollect her life. Both narratives are interesting, and full of detail and horror, but they are clearly written by two different people and two different genders. They style, the narration, and even the dialogue mark the different quite clearly.
Gender colored what duties these two slaves performed, and how they narrated their stories. Mary Prince had to dictate her story because of her lack of education, while Olaudah Equiano had the benefit of an education and wrote his own story. The color of their skin dictated their servitude, and their sex dictated much of how they served and how they survived in free society. Gender was an important issue even in the 18th century, and it is still important and complex today.
References
Prince, Mary. "The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave." Andrews, William L. And Henry Louis Gates, eds. The Civitas Anthology of African-American Slave Narratives. Washington, DC: Civitas Counterpoint, 1999. 23-81.
Equiano, Olaudah. " The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, the African." I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives, 1770-1849. Ed. Yuval Taylor. Vol. 1. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1999. 29-180.
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