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The narrative of the life of frederick douglass analysis
The narrative of the life of frederick douglass analysis
Slavery during the 19th century
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Frederick Douglass and American Realism
Frederick Douglass was a strong man who taught himself how to read and write. He learned the life of a slave at a very young age. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a better example of American Realism because the narrative talks about the suffering that slaves had to endure, the misuse of Scripture against slaves, and Douglass' vision for the future.
Douglass does not understand what slavery really is while he's a young boy until the day he saw his aunt get whipped by his master. Douglass really starts to suffer and see what slavery is when he starts to work for Covey. When Douglass says to die rather than let himself be whipped again, he gains the strength that he will need for his
Douglass was not aware of what slaves were and why they were treated in a bad condition before he learns how to read. He was deeply saddened upon discovering the fact that slaves were not given the rights every human being should have. In an effort to clarify Douglass’s feelings of anguish, he states: “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow slaves for their stupidity” (Douglass 146). The fact that other slaves are content with their lives is what brings awareness to him because he knows that he is stripped of basic human rights. He envies his fellow slaves due to the reason that they are pleased with the life he cannot live to like anymore. Also, he is often wishing he never learned how to read because he doesn’t want to burden about his life. Douglass knows more about the disturbing conditions than most of the slaves around him, but he greatly regrets it. Before he started reading, he lived very much in contentment and now he cannot stand the fact of being
Frederick Douglass, an African American social reformer who escaped from slavery, in his autobiography “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself,” denotes the perilous life of a slave in the South. Through syntax, Douglass is able to persuade his readers to support the abolitionist movement as his writing transitions from shifting sentence lengths to parallel structure and finally to varying uses of punctuation. Douglass begins his memoir with a combination of long and short sentences that serve to effectively depict life his life as a slave. This depiction is significant because it illustrates the treatment of slaves in the south allows his audience to despise the horrors of slavery. In addition, this
Different types of literature have been part of America since the 1630’s and the varieties of literature still exist to this day. Frederick Douglass’s work and speeches during his lifetime caught the attention of many people in the United States, including slave owners themselves. Douglass has not only changed American literature, he has also inspired many other writers and speakers to seek freedom of expression for themselves. Even though he had a rough childhood because he was a slave, Douglass found ways to make the most of it. Fortunately it was because he had a nice and caring owner who taught him to read and write. Furthermore, because he had a warmhearted owner, he was able to express himself through his work to many different people of his time. Douglass’s works and speeches remain of great impact, and continue to influence and inspire many people in literature to this day. He influenced many people during his travels to Northern free states and overseas to England and Ireland where he explained and changed their mindset of the cruelty of slavery, which ultimately lead to the adjustment by the people to understand the reality of slavery.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by Frederick Douglass himself, is a brutally honest portrayal of slavery's dehumanizing capabilities. The style of this famous autobiography can be best described as personal, emotional, and compelling. By writing this narrative, Douglass wants his audience to understand him. He does this by speaking informally, like a person would when writing a letter or telling a story to a friend. By clearly establishing his credibility and connecting with his audience, Douglass uses numerous rhetorical devices to argue for the immorality of slavery.
One of the amazing things about the story is the level of description and imagery that Douglass uses to describe the suffering around him. The excerpt spans a mere three days, but most of the text focuses on his abuse and battle with Mr. Covey. Douglass skips over the common parts of his life to further his case against slavery. By doing this, the Northerners rea...
Frederick Douglass emphasizes the dehumanization aspect of slavery throughout his narrative. As is the general custom in slavery, Douglass is separated from his mother early in infancy and put under the care of his grandmother. He recalls having met his mother several times, but only during the night. She would make the trip from her farm twelve miles away just to spend a little time with her child. She dies when Douglass is about seven years old. He is withheld from seeing her in her illness, death, and burial. Having limited contact with her, the news of her death, at the time, is like a death of a stranger. Douglass also never really knew the identity of his father and conveys a feeling of emptiness and disgust when he writes, "the whisper that my master was my father, may or may not be true; and, true or false, it is of but little consequence to my purpose" (Douglass, 40). Douglass points out that many slave children have their masters as their father. In these times, frequently the master would take advantage of female slaves and the children born to the slave w...
Since the point of view is first person, the reader is able to be a part of the Douglass’ struggles with his new freedom. With diction, detail, and point of view, the reader is able to get a rare glimpse into the past of Fredrick Douglass. Fredrick Douglass’ diction is powerful as he describes his life as a slave and his new freedom. Fredrick Douglass calls being enslaved an act of “wretchedness,” yet he was able to remain “firm” and eventually leave the “chains” of slavery. Fredrick Douglass expresses that being enslaved is a wretched act and that no man should ever deserve such treatment.
The tone established in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is unusual in that from the beginning to the end the focus has been shifted. In the beginning of the narrative Douglass seems to fulfill every stereotypical slavery theme. He is a young black slave who at first cannot read and is very naïve in understanding his situation. As a child put into slavery Douglass does not have the knowledge to know about his surroundings and the world outside of slavery. In Douglass’ narrative the tone is first set as that of an observer, however finishing with his own personal accounts.
Heroic, brave, and complex are adjectives that may fall short to describe the experiences of Frederick Douglass. In his narrative, he embodied every aspect of the unimaginable struggle and the adversities lived by the African American population of the United States throughout the 19th century. His memoirs are not only a mere narration about slavery, and what kind of place America was when "the land of the free" was almost exclusively for white people. They are also a strong call to society itself. He did not only want the reader to think about the legal, moral, historical, and political transcendence of slavery and freedom. He also wanted the reader to think about these two concepts as “philosophical”
Douglass' enslaved life was not an accurate representation of the common and assumed life of a slave. He, actually, often wished that he was not so different and had the same painful, but simpler ignorance that the other slaves had. It was his difference, his striving to learn and be free that made his life so complicated and made him struggle so indefinitely. Douglass expresses this in writing, "I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me" (Douglass, 53). In his narrative, Douglass does generalize to relate his experience to that of other slaves, creating a parallel between his life and the life of any other slave. He writes about the brutality, physi...
In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, a slave narrative published in 1845, Frederick Douglass divulged his past as a slave and presented a multifaceted argument against slavery in the United States. Douglass built his argument with endless anecdotes and colorful figurative language. He attempted to familiarize the naïve Northerners with the hardships of slavery and negate any misconstrued ideas that would prolong slavery’s existence in American homes. Particularly in chapter seven, Douglass both narrated his personal experience of learning to write and identified the benefits and consequences of being an educated slave.
Narrating these stories informs readers not familiar with slavery a clear idea on how slaves lived and were treated. The novel brings a strong political message to our society. If Douglass explains to people what slavery was about, they would be influenced to make a change. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the story of Frederick Douglass from the time he was born a slave to the time of his escape to freedom. Through years of physical abuse and assault, Douglass overcame these obstacles to become an advocate against
...y afraid at first but finds out that there are many ex-slaves willing to take a stand and risk their lives to help their own. Douglass realizes that with the help from the ex-slaves he could also help his fellow slaves.
In The Narrative of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, an African American male describes his day as a slave and what he has become from the experience. Douglass writes this story to make readers understand that slavery is brutalizing and dehumanizing, that a slave is able to become a man, and that he still has intellectual ability even though he is a slave. In the story, these messages are shown frequently through the diction of Frederick Douglass.
The confines of ignorance and both physical and mental abuse kept slaves from self discovery and rebellion. Frederick Douglass provides the journey of life as a brute to a free man. Frederick Douglass’s new identity included having a wife, a job of his own, a house, and the goal to reach out and help the people that were still stuck in slavery. From the rock bottom life of a slave he built himself up and became a successful