Contradicting Statements
Slavery has always been an extremely controversial topic. As in any other cases, there are always multiple point of views. In slavery the most prominent ones being abolition and pro-slavery. Unlike other differences that could be resolved easily, the issue of slavery took many decades and lives to eventually become resolved. Yet, even to this day, there are multiple opinions surrounding slavery.
The narrative of Frederick Douglass clearly refutes the quote from “Blessings of Slavery” by George Fitzhugh. Douglass shows how he is openly discriminated, how his subordinating working conditions are inhumane, and overall the terrible and brutal living conditions of slaves. Frederick Douglass's story impacted the American
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society deeply; he managed to convince many Americans who had not taken sides before to become abolitionists and even made pro-slavery advocates rethink their side by showing them the horrors of slavery.
Frederick and his slave companions faced an immense amount of discrimination, involving not just physical discrimination but also verbal. The physical discrimination in some events even lead up to death, but consequences did not exist for the murder of a colored person. “The wife of Mr. Giles…murdered…a young girl…the offence for which this girl was thus murdered was this…during the night she fell asleep and the baby cried” this reason for the murder is seen as valid because the victim is black. Yet, if it had been a white person, Mr. Giless wife would've gone to jail to face the consequences of murder. Although, Fitzhugh claims slaves are safe “The negro slaves...are protected...by their master” Douglass shows the reader that they are not. Verbal discrimination may seem insignificant but it has the importance of clarifying any doubts containing the position between a slave and it's owner. Many pro-slavery advocates including Fitzhugh believed it “...natural, normal, and …show more content…
necessary status, under the ordinary circumstances”. The owner had the right to yell and accuse their property as much as they wished even when wrong. The slaves had no power at all. “To all these complaints, no matter how unjust, the slave must answer never a word...a slave must stand, listen, and tremble…”.Another identification of discrimination is the format that slaves and animals had the same treatment. “We were all ranked together at the evaluation men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses sheep and swine…”, the owners evaluating the slaves along with the farm animals made the slave's position very clear. Letting them know their place: low status and uncivilized as the farm animals. This made it easier to control the slaves because after time of being told their worth they themselves, came to believe and even became accustomed with the idea that they belong with animals and thus could be treated said way. The working conditions that slaves got submerged into, proved slavery could not be compared to any other type of labor.
Douglass describes the working conditions chained to slaves as irrational and inhumane. They didn't have sufficient equipment or even proper equipment to work with. Apart from that they had to work from sunrise to sunset, in all weather, and when it came to eating, they had just enough time to gulp down their food. They then had to immediately return to work. anyone in their position could see how they had no blessings at all. Even after Douglass gave us his testimony, Mr. Fitzhugh still had the guts to claim that “...negro slaves of the south are the happiest, and in some cases the freest people in the world…little hard work…on the average in good weather, no more than nine hours a day” without doubt a Frederick’s statement is more reliable because he lived as a slave, experienced the hardships, and not an owner who did little to no work at all. At this moment it is obvious and even acceptable that slaves despise their masters. There is no backbone to support the absurd statement that “Virginian negroes… they love their masters and his family, and the attachment is reciprocated”, it’d be absurd for a slave to love someone who gave such
treatment. Yet, the most impacting reality about slavery is shown in the living conditions. Apart from being discriminated and having horrid working conditions the slaves still had to deal with depressing living conditions. “The...slaves received, as their monthly allowance of food, eight pounds of pork...one bushel of corn meal. Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one pair of linen trousers...one jacket, one pair of trousers...one pair of stockings, and one pair shoes;…when these failed them, they went naked until the next allowance day” surprisingly enough the owners showed shock when they had runaways. Claiming their slaves had “all the comforts and necessaries of life provided for them” , but if they had put themselves in their slave's position they wouldn’t of have lasted a fraction of the time that the slaves had to. Frankly, Frederick Douglass shows us that slavery is inhumane and is in no manner a blessing. The overall conditions that slaves are subordinated into convince any who had a doubt about the reality of slavery to become an abolitionist. In the same manner that Douglass opened people's eyes to slavery during the 1800’s, he to this day still touches the beliefs about slavery. Many who read his story come to realize that paternalism did not exist as well as the statement that “They love their masters and his family…”. Douglass brashly stood up for what he believed, similar to how during the 1800’s groups of people advocating anti- alcohol lifestyles setup temperance movements. The temperance movement, although only around for a short amount time changed thousands of people's lives by leading them to consume less alcohol or even as far as to lead an alcohol free life. In the same manner that Douglass had opponents these groups did too, many of the Catholic religion, who believed that the idea of being able to rid “evil,” alcohol, absurd. Yet, America’s rival religion wasn't the only one against the temperance movement. Many Americans themselves became offended by the notation of some stranger trying to take away their alcohol. During this time alcohol was quite prominent.
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
From before the country’s conception to the war that divided it and the fallout that abolished it, slavery has been heavily engrained in the American society. From poor white yeoman farmers, to Northern abolitionist, to Southern gentry, and apathetic northerners slavery transformed the way people viewed both their life and liberty. To truly understand the impact that slavery has had on American society one has to look no further than those who have experienced them firsthand. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and advocate for the abolitionist, is on such person. Douglass was a living contradiction to American society during his time. He was an African-American man, self-taught, knowledgeable, well-spoken, and a robust writer. Douglass displayed a level of skill that few of his people at the time could acquire. With his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Written by Himself, Douglass captivated the people of his time with his firsthand accounts into the horror and brutality that is the institution of slavery.
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.
“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves” Abraham Lincoln, unlike Lincoln, George Fitzhugh supported slavery and saw it as a beneficial thing for everyone. Fitzhugh became well known through his writings defending slavery. The autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, is written from the perspective of a slave, demonstrating the suffering slaves went through for generations. Fitzhugh is wrong for justifying slavery because slavery robbed slaves from their freedom and dehumanized them. Douglass’ autobiography serves as an example that contradicts Fitzhugh arguments in his essay. He argues that slaves are happy with the condition they live in, that slaves are fairly cared for by the masters, and that
Frederick Douglass, the author of the book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, said “I saw more clearly than ever the brutalizing effects of slavery upon both slave and slaveholder” (Douglass, p.71). Modern people can fairly and easily understand the negative effects of slavery upon slave. People have the idea of slaves that they are not allow to learn which makes them unable to read and write and also they don’t have enough time to take a rest and recover their injuries. However, the negative effects upon slaveholder are less obvious to modern people. People usually think about the positive effects of slavery upon slaveholder, such as getting inexpensive labor. In the book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass also shows modern readers some brutalizing impact upon the owner of the slaves. He talks about Thomas Auld and Edward Covey who are his masters and also talks about Sophia Auld who is his mistress. We will talk about those three characters in the book which will help us to find out if there were the negative influences upon the owner of the slaves or not. Also, we will talk about the power that the slaveholders got from controlling their slaves and the fear that the slaveholders maybe had to understand how they were changed.
In sum, all of these key arguments exist in “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” because of the institution of slavery and its resulting lack of freedom that was used to defend it. This text’s arguments could all be gathered together under the common element of inequality and how it affected the practical, social, and even spiritual lives of the slaves.
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.
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...
After reading Frederick Douglass’s narrative of slavery, I couldn’t help but stop and try to gather my thoughts in any way possible. It was not the first time I had read the narrative, but this time around Douglass’s words hit me much harder. Perhaps, it was that I read the narrative in a more critical lens, or possibly it was just that I am older and more mature now from the last time I read it, but whatever the reason, I can confidently say reading the narrative has changed my heart and opened my eyes in many ways. I have always been aware of the injustices that slavery encompassed and of course like many other people, I have been taught about slavery in a historical narrative my entire life. But, Frederick Douglass’s narrative does more than just provide a historical perspective in seeing the injustices in slavery. His narrative asks the reader to look directly into the eyes of actual slaves and realize their very heart beat and existence as humans. Douglass humanizes the people of whom the terrible acts we acted upon that we learn about as early as elementary school. It is because of this that I decided to write this poem. Reading the narrative made me really think about Douglass’s journey and the story he tells on his road to freedom. I felt as if he was really speaking to me and, and in turn I wanted to give Douglass a voice in my own writing.
Frederick Douglass's Narrative, first published in 1845, is an enlightening and incendiary text. Born into slavery, Douglass became the preeminent spokesman for his people during his life; his narrative is an unparalleled account of the inhumane effects of slavery and Douglass's own triumph over it. His use of vivid language depicts violence against slaves, his personal insights into the dynamics between slaves and slaveholders, and his naming of specific persons and places made his book an indictment against a society that continued to accept slavery as a social and economic institution. Like Douglass, Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery, and in 1853 she published Letter from a Fugitive Slave, now recognized as one of the most comprehensive antebellum slave narratives written by an African-American woman. Jacobs's account broke the silence on the exploitation of African American female slaves.
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.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.
“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe”( Douglass). This famous quote epitomizes the philosophies of Frederick Douglass, in which he wanted everyone to be treated with dignity; if everyone was not treated with equality, no one person or property would be safe harm. His experience as a house slave, field slave and ship builder gave him the knowledge to develop into a persuasive speaker and abolitionist. In his narrative, he makes key arguments to white abolitionist and Christians on why slavery should be abolished. The key arguments that Frederick Douglass
Throughout the entirety of the book, Douglass presents himself as a neutral figure who can see both the negative and positive side of any issue, even slavery. He presents a rational account of why slavery exists and does so without attempting to discuss the morality of the topic at hand. Despite spending a lot of time discussing the cruel masters and supervisors he encountered in life , his anger is not towards those who support slavery, but the institution of slavery as a whole.“Nature has done almost nothing to prepare me...