Mary Prince and Equiano graphically describe the sadistic and brutal nature of the punishments inflicted on slaves and emphasise the fact that slavery was an institution based on and maintained by violence. Mary Prince describes the beating she received and the depravity of her male owners. Although she does not openly mention rape and sexual abuse, she constantly alludes to it. She also makes it clear that although she had several different owners, all of them treated her brutally. Equiano refers to the fact that one of the consequences of rape was that slave owners would own, abuse and sell their own offspring and on occasions boast that reproduction by such means was the best way of maintaining their stocks of slaves.

The life experience of slaves is described by both Equiano and Mary Prince as brutally violent but their accounts also show that experiences could vary. Enslaves Africans were employed in various occupations, Mary Prince was both a domestic servant and salt miner for example and Equiano was a sailor and petty trader and hired out to work for others by his owner. Enslaved people might undertake a variety of occupations in addition to agricultural work, such as the growing of sugar, coffee and cotton, or household duties. Some enslaved people were involved in ranching and logging, or were mechanics, carpenters and smiths and some women were hired out as sex workers. Life expectancy could be as low as five years in some areas and infant mortality rates were often as high as 75%. So it is sometimes difficult to speak of a typical slave experience other than the fact that a slave was considered to be property owned by another person, with few if any rights.