In Chapter XII, Equiano chose to include several letters on why slavery should be abolished. One in which he wrote to the Queen. In this letter, he chose to take on a more emotional perspective of the negatives of the slave trade. In others, he instead appealed to the economic interest of ceasing the slave trade.
In relation to the entire book, Equiano made far more emotional appeals to the abolishing of the slave trade than ones of logic. I think this was by good design. To connect with his readers personally seemed like a central goal of his, especially in his letter to the Queen.
I think Equiano chose to include these letters to provide outside perspectives. He wanted to show the readers that he is not the only voice in support of what he desired. This also falls in line with how careful he is to point out the people in his life who helped him against adversity (especially when dealing with corrupt captains at sea). I do also struggle with why he did this. I found some of the letters to be confusing to read. Some were petitions, and some did not seem to relate to pushing the abolishment of the slave trade.
I think the last one is especially interesting since it heavily appeals to logic more so than any previous moment in the narrative. It seems like Equiano wanted to leave his readers thinking about the practical disadvantages of the slave trade. But why did he only include it at the very end? Was he concerned his readers would get uninterested if he made appeals to logic earlier on?
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