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In the book written by Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Douglass takes on a form of bullying. In his writing, Douglass takes us along a path that took him from slavery to freedom. During this journey from slave to freedom, he starts off born into slavery. With him growing up in slavery, it is what he is used to. He doesn’t see slavery as something different to what he is accustomed to. Although when he is seven years old, he is sent to Baltimore to work for a new master. Here is an example along Douglass’s journey that shows encountering different conditions can change a person’s way they perceive and live throughout life. Douglass being sent to his new master not only affected himself, but …show more content…
it also affected his master’s wife. His master’s wife was Mrs. Sophia Auld. Douglass’s transition was also a change to Mrs. Auld because she had never experienced being in a situation of having what Douglass referred to as, an irresponsible power. Mrs. Auld had never had a slave, and time showed how being put in a situation of such change could poison one. Not long after Douglass’s arrival, Mrs. Auld began to teach Douglass how to read. This backfired for Mrs. Auld as she got into a lot of trouble by her husband, Mr. Auld which resulted in a statement towards his wife that, “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master -- to do as he is told to do. Learning would SPOIL the best nigger in the world” (Douglass 39). After this occurs, Douglass expresses how one could see a significant change in Mrs. Auld as she began to adapt the irresponsible power and the slave master behaviors that her husband had. Although, while it is changing Mrs. Auld it changes Douglass as well as he realizes that the key to freedom of this bullying is education. Douglass then decides to continue down the path of learning education to one day break free of his bully, slavery. As time went on, Douglass fought of slavery in many ways. He tried fighting it off with manipulation, as well as he physically fought back at times. After many encounters of trying to find a way out of slavery, he finally achieves his goal, but that was not where he stopped. Douglass decided to write his narrative to teach whites, blacks, and other races to follow his path in overcoming. From this, there are many connections that could help show examples of how irresponsible power could have a poisoning effect, how the victim of bullying can be inspired to become great leaders due to bullying experiences, and how victims of bullying can overcome that difficulty in their life and conquer a successful life. Coming from experience of being bullied, combined with the examples I see not only from Douglass’s narrative, but also from the life of others in our country that it is possible of one can get out of a stage of being the victim of bullying. Someone or a group of people having irresponsible power can have a huge poisoning effect. Just something as simple as being surrounded by someone with irresponsible power can begin to change a person. I have experienced this at one point in my life. I was what one might say, “popular”. I at first saw this merely as something positive. I did not look at all the negative things that I was surrounded by. As a kid in middle school, it had seemed as just the cool thing to be popular. With the popularity also came being included into different friend groups. Although I was known as one of the nicest kids in school, I began to adapt the behaviors of my friends. I watched my friends bully kids and make fun of the way they looked or dressed. Standing by and watching this all take place was a terrible feeling because I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. Although, as time passed I noticed myself joining in making comments and laughing at these things. Luckily for me I had close friends who saw me changing and helped me get out of that stage. Living through this myself made it so much easier to see a resemblance and understand why some of the things that occurred in Douglass’s narrative. Such as, when Mrs. Auld first encountered Douglass, he viewed her as a kind hearted woman (Douglass 35). Then as Douglass expressed, began to watch as she changed from the woman with much goodness to a woman with much rage (Douglass 35). This transition to what slavery did to Mrs. Auld, showed just how much irresponsible power could poison a person and change who they are. Being bullied can sometimes do great things for a person.
Here is another area that once in my life I experienced. There have been multiple instances. One example is as a kid before I was known as being part of the popular kids, I was constantly bullied by many of the other African American kids. I had some many people who I was friends with that were white that it heavily outweighed the number of black friends that I had. I remember many instances where people would tell me, “you are not black” or “you are the whitest black guy I know”. At those where just the least harsh comments. At first that began to constantly tear we apart. It made me reconsider being friends with all the white friends I was friends with. It was hard going through all those times of being picked on, but eventually I saw that I could turn the situation that I once saw as a negative thing into something positive for myself. I began to continue the friendships I had with the white people and if ever bullied or asked why I had so many white friends I replied with statements explaining how color doesn’t matter and slowly began to transition those same people who once bullied me. It was a matter of time before the same people who were once bullying me became friends with many more white friends. Another occasion that I experienced a form of bullying or irresponsible power was my basketball coach in middle school. He knew how much the players wanted to play basketball, and he knew that some players would do anything to get to play. Coach began to make us pay him one dollar for every minute we were late to practice, and if we did not pay we weren’t allowed to play. This was wrong for him to take money from kids who weren’t even teenagers yet, but he had the power over us that is like what Douglass refers to as, irresponsible power. Although, with these cases of bullying there are those who continue to strive through the difficulty. For example, Barack Obama. Obama shared how he was bullied when he
was a kid. He stated in 2011, “I have to say with big ears and the name that I have, I wasn't immune. I didn't emerge unscathed” (Obama). Obama expresses how bullying has a huge effect and he opened a summit on the White House that was to prevent bullying. This shows how someone can overcome bullying, and later make it a goal to try to aid the problem, which is like Douglass overcoming slavery, and in result writing a book that had a purpose to aid the problem of slavery. As bullying, can affect people for a lifetime, there are many people in the United States that have overcame bullying. There are numerous celebrities. Celebrities that the youth of our generation look up to. Within those celebrities, they some let it tear them apart and some had ways to get through the hard time. For example, actress Megan Fox. As Debra Heather wrote an article published on, The Richest, “She was bullied and teased so badly that she would spend her lunch hours eating in the bathroom to avoid being “pelted with ketchup” (Heather). As well as the celebrity, Chris Rock. Rock took his bullying experience to a level further than just a book or novel. He took it to television. In the television show, Everybody Hates Chris, there is a bullying situation. Andrew Wallenstein while speaking about an article speaking of Rock and his sitcom television show states, “He hands over his persona to 12-year-old actor Tyler James Williams, but Rock is featured as the narrator, as in this scene in which his pint-sized self confronts a junior high school bully” (Wallenstein). This was another act of a person who encountered bullying throughout life, but instead of just getting through it, decided to present their experience in hope to show the world the negativity bullying brings. Also, a third example of a celebrity is actress Demi Lovato. Debra Heather also wrote about Lovato explaining how she was bullied in middle-school to the point where she developed disorders. Heather expresses an example of how Lovato overcame her bullying by her statement, “She has come a long way, having received help with her conditions and is now an ambassador for Secret’s “Mean Stinks” Campaign, which encourages girls to rally together and put an end to bullying in schools” (Heather). This is just another example of how one has overcame bullying and shared their method or thought about bullying. These are just a selection of examples that show bullying can be a huge factor in one’s lives. Expressing how irresponsible power could have a poisoning effect, how the one victim of bullying can be inspired to become great leaders due to bullying experiences, and how victims of bullying can overcome that difficulty in their life and conquer a successful life. Bullying is a negative part of life and is something that many people across the world would like the get past and prevent it from occurring.
In The book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass writes about how a slavemaster Mr.Covey attacks one of his slaves with a long rope catching him by his legs for no reason. This shows unpredictable his slave master is when he decided to try and punish him for whatever reason he think is a good one. Because of this, slaves were held back and lived in fear all the time. We see, though, that Douglass decides to take control of his life. Douglass want the reader to understand the control that fear had and admire the willingness of slaves to take chances for their freedom.
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
In Frederick Douglass's memoir, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass descriptly describes his life growing up as a slave and how he escaped slavery. The quote, “the fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became angry with rage; that voice made of all sweet accord; changed to one harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon” is very important part of the memoir (Douglass 19). He is describing the time in his life when his master’s wife stopped teaching and him and became mean. Sophia Adul became a slave to her own husband, Hugh Adul.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, depicts a vivid reality of the hardships endured by the African American culture in the period of slavery. One of the many things shown in Frederick's narrative is how slaves, in their own personal way, resisted their masters authority. Another is how slaves were able to create their own autonomous culture within the brutal system in which they were bound. There are many examples in the narrative where Frederick tries to show the resistance of the slaves. The resistors did not go unpunished though, they were punished to the severity of death. Fredrick tells of these instances with a startling sense of casualness, which seems rather odd when comprehending the content of them. He does this though, not out of desensitization, but to show that these were very commonplace things that happened all over the South at the time.
Within the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave” Douglass discusses the deplorable conditions in which he and his fellow slaves suffered from. While on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation, slaves were given a “monthly allowance of eight pounds of pork and one bushel of corn” (Douglass 224). Their annual clothing rations weren’t any better; considering the type of field work they did, what little clothing they were given quickly deteriorated. The lack of food and clothing matched the terrible living conditions. After working on the field all day, with very little rest the night before, they must sleep on the hard uncomfortably cramped floor with only a single blanket as protection from the cold. Coupled with the overseer’s irresponsible and abusive use of power, it is astonishing how three to four hundred slaves did not rebel. Slave-owners recognized that in able to restrict and control slaves more than physical violence was needed. Therefore in able to mold slaves into the submissive and subservient property they desired, slave-owners manipulated them by twisting religion, instilling fear, breaking familial ties, making them dependent, providing them with an incorrect view of freedom, as well as refusing them education.
When somebody abuses a great amount of power, that individual can lose all their power. The struggle against someone who abuses power is perfectly depicted in the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey. When someone abuses their power, they can impose certain feelings and actions onto others. If someone tries to conceal their personality, . Finally, if someone abuses power and is constantly challenged by another individual who is trying to take the power abuser’s power away from them, the power abuser will always be frightened of his or her challenger. When someone abuses power and takes full control, they can lose all their power and respect quickly.
The Narrative of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass is written to have people place their feet in the shoes of Frederick Douglass and try to understand the experience he went through as a slave. Douglass writes this piece of literature with strong wording to get his point across. He is not trying to point out the unpleasant parts of history, but to make people face the truth. He wants readers to realize that slavery is brutalizing and dehumanizing, that a slave is able to become a man, and that some slaves, like himself, have intellectual ability. These points are commonly presented through the words of Douglass because of his diction.
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...
Slave narratives were one of the first forms of African- American literature. The narratives were written with the intent to inform those who weren’t aware of the hardships of slavery about how badly slaves were being treated. The people who wrote these narratives experienced slavery first hand, and wanted to elicit the help of abolitionists to bring an end to it. Most slave narratives were not widely publicized and often got overlooked as the years went by; however, some were highly regarded and paved the way for many writers of African descent today.
Slavery consisted of numerous inhumane horrors completed to make its victims feel desolated and helpless. Many of these horrors of slavery are conveyed in the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”. The entire prospect of the duration of the story is to plan an escape from the excruciating conditions awaiting Douglass as a slave. When his escape is finally executed, unpredictable emotions and thoughts overwhelm him. Within the conclusion of his narrative (shown in the given passage), Frederick Douglass uses figurative language, diction, and syntax to portray such states of mind he felt after escaping slavery: relief, loneliness, and paranoia.
In the passage of the Narrative of Fredrick Douglass, the author masterfully conveys two complimentary tones of liberation and fear. The tones transition by the use of diction and detail. The passage is written entirely in first person, since we are witnessing the struggles of Fredrick Douglass through his eyes. Through his diction, we are able to feel the triumph that comes with freedom along with the hardships. Similarly, detail brings a picturesque view of his adversities. 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 with his new freedom. Fredrick Douglass calls being enslaved an act of “wretchedness,” yet he was able to remain “firm” and eventually left the “chains” of slavery. Fredrick Douglass expresses that being enslaved is a wretched act and that no man should ever deserve such treatment. Despite being a slave, he kept strong and eventually broke the chain of society. However, Fredrick Douglass experienced great “insecurity” and “loneliness” with his new freedom, and was upon a new “hunting-ground.” His new freedom brought other devastating factors, being a new state without any friends, which caused his loneliness. In this new state, he grew insecure for he was in a new danger zone where at any time his freedom could be rejected. With new freedom come new obstacles, which are described in the diction of Fredrick Douglass.
When first introduced to Douglass and his story, we find him to be a young slave boy filled with information about those around him. Not only does he speak from the view point of an observer, but he speaks of many typical stereotypes in the slave life. At this point in his life, Frederick is inexperienced and knows nothing of the pleasures of things such as reading, writing, or even the rights everyone should be entitled to. Douglass knowing hardly anything of his family, their whereabouts, or his background, seems to be equivalent to the many other slaves at the time. As a child Frederick Douglass sees the injustices around him and observes them, yet as the story continues we begin to see a change.
In Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, one of the major themes is how the institution of slavery has an effect on the moral health of the slaveholder. The power slaveholders have over their slaves is great, as well as corrupting. Douglass uses this theme to point out that the institution of slavery is bad for everyone involved, not just the slaves. Throughout the narrative, Douglass uses several of his former slaveholders as examples. Sophia Auld, once such a kind and caring woman, is transformed into a cruel and oppressive slave owner over the course of the narrative. Thomas Auld, also. Douglass ties this theme back to the main concern of authorial control. Although this is a personal account, it is also a tool of propaganda, and is used as such. Douglass’s intent is to convince readers that the system of slavery is horrible and damaging to all included, and thus should be abolished completely. Douglass makes it very clear in his examples how exactly the transformation occurs and how kind and moral people can become those who beat their slaves and pervert Christianity in an attempt to justify it.
I believe the best place to start this essay would be with an explanation of Black Power. Black Power according to James H. Cone “is an emotionally charged term that can evoke either angry rejection or passionate acceptance.” Critics see it as blacks hating whites, while advocates see Black Power as the only viable option for black people. Advocates see Black Power meaning black people are taking a dominate role in deciding what the black-white relationship should be in American Society. Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. is preaching this right now. He sees that blacks need to go back to their blackness and no longer live their lives as the white society wants them to.
Douglass's narrative is, on one surface, intended to show the barbarity and injustice of slavery. However, the underlying argument is that freedom is not simply attained through a physical escape from forced labor, but through a mental liberation from the attitude created by Southern slavery. The slaves of the South were psychologically oppressed by the slaveholders' disrespect for a slave’s family and for their education, as well as by the slaves' acceptance of their own subordination. Additionally, the slaveholders were trapped by a mentality that allowed them to justify behavior towards human beings that would normally not be acceptable. In this manner, both slaveholder and slave are corrupted by slavery.