1."Josiah Squibb, I learned, had signed on as a cook aboard the Republic, a ninety-ton square-rigger that would up-anchor and sail eastward against the prevailing winds to the barracoon, or slave factory, at Bangalang on the Guinea coast, take on a cargo of Africans, and then, God willing, return in three months" (Johnson 20).
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4.There are many drawn comparisons between the slave ship and Plato's greatest work. Johnson's choice of the ship's title, The Republic, links both identity and background. Plato's book discusses the ideal society and the pursuit of happiness while the slave ship represents an amalgam of society's flaws.Metaphorically, the ship serves as an example of humanity's different traits. The ship connects with an ideal society in the characteristics of its passengers. All of the shipmates and slaves imitate the conditions of real life. Enslavement, pride, survival, pity represent different character traits shared by the society as a whole.