During slavery, many slaves did not have the opportunity to have a sense of identity for themselves. Their entire life was devoted only to working and obeying their masters as a property or an animal would do. For this reason, many black writers, during the era of slavery, wrote autobiographical narratives about their experiences and the lack of identity as a human being in an enslaved world. In the stories of Frederick Douglass and Olaudah Equiano, we see how slave ownership affects slaves' sense of identity and how each person can create their own identity through education. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayAs an African and a slave, Equiano had no identity. Equiano's story of loss of identity began at a young age when he was kidnapped from his home in the Ibo tribe at the age of eleven. Children around eleven years old begin to learn their identity as a person. So when Equiano was kidnapped, he lost a lot of himself and what he knew. When he became a slave, he had no control over his own movements, even his own name. His name changes several times from Jacob, Michael and finally Gustavus Vassa. The name Gustavus Vassa comes from one of the captains on board a ship in 1754, since then he has retained this name and uses it in his writings. Equiano sought to discover who he was early on, but slavery controlled his chances of discovery. After purchasing his freedom, Equiano was finally able to form a true identity and discover a true sense of self. He made his own decisions about where he went and what type of job he did. Equiano reclaimed a new identity through his Christian faith and with his new self-discovery, he lost his African roots. He writes: “I no longer consider Europeans as spirits, but as men superior to us; and that is why I had the strongest desire to be like them; to imbibe their spirit and imitate their manners…” Equiano (136). This shows that in trying to understand himself, he loses his African heritage by stating that white men are superior to Africans. He does this to better integrate into English culture and assimilate to the English. This assimilation can be seen as a means of self-preservation for him, so he could use his autobiography as a playbook for other Africans and perhaps write in code for other African American writers. Frederick Douglass also had little to know about his identity, as did Equiano. He only knew himself as a slave who did not know his age, like most slaves, and that his father was the master and the white man. He was taken away from his mother at a very young age and never had the chance to form a mother-son bond. This can affect a child's identity because they don't know where they come from or where they come from. With all of this, Douglass begins a lifelong journey toward self-discovery, the slave identity imposed on him. His first step towards claiming an identity was through education. Thanks to his teachers' teacher, Sophia Auld, he learned the ABCs and learned to spell little words. This was soon forbidden by his master, saying: "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take a yard." Learning will spoil the best Negro in the world” Douglass (351). This news did not end Douglass's desire for an educated and free life, he wrote: "Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the thumbs up and no precaution could prevent me from taking the 'alder' Douglass (353). He continued to learn to read and write with the help of.