The Life of Olaudah Equiano
by Olaudah Equiano

The Life of Olaudah Equiano: Situational Irony 1 key example

Key Examples in The Life of Olaudah Equiano

Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Disgraced Grandeur:

In Chapter 9, Equiano points out the situational irony of the poor living and working conditions enslaved people endure in Genoa, a city that prides itself on its riches. He uses logos to gesture toward the implications of this situational irony:

This is one of the finest cities I ever saw; some of the edifices were of beautiful marble, and made a most notable appearance; and many had very curious fountains before them. The churches were rich and magnificent, and curiously adorned both in the inside and out. But all this grandeur was, in my eyes, disgraced by the galley-slaves, whose condition, both there and in other parts of Italy, is truly piteous and wretched.