Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The life of a slave
While overcoming the life that he was destined for, Fredrick Douglass didn’t start his journey off easily. A slave for life is how Fredrick thought of himself in the beginning. Doing things that were against the rules of being a slave-learning how to read and write- that helped Douglass understand his circumstances and how the world really works against his kind. Gaining more knowledge of what is really happening around him made it even more difficult for Douglass to have to the way he was. This belief in him of becoming something other than a slave made Douglass an extraordinary, optimistic, and sensational man to the public- mainly to the blacks and anti-slavery abolitionist. This autobiography helped people understand how blacks were treated and also the challenges he had to go through just to get out of that pit. No mother, no “real” father, no aunts, no uncles and no grandmother; Douglass had no family to turn to for support or just to love. The loss of family made Douglass weak at times but helps him gain the strength that he needs just to escape this reality of him being a slave for the rest of his life. Since he has no family support he takes matters in his own hands now. He begins to talk to his poor white friends-this was when Douglass was known as being a “city slave” which somehow has more freedom than a field slave- that helped Douglass in his writing portion of getting an education. “This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge. Douglass would work his way into getting what he want- more like what he thought he needed- and even in the sneakiest way just to show that he doesn’t give up easily and wont take no for an answer. Douglass... ... middle of paper ... ...ive. “Besides the pain of separation, the dread and apprehension of a failure exceeded what I had experienced at my first attempt. This feeling was holding him back but knew that if he didn’t make this move he would be stuck as a slave for life. Douglass was able to overcome his destiny of being a slave for life; believing that if a white man can achieve something great, why cant a slave. He showed the world how even a slave can talk intellectually and can comprehend everything they know. Even when Douglass felt his soul desolating his body he was able to keep just a little faith that there is still a light at the end of the tunnel for him to reach and that if he strive for what he though was right he to can become extraordinary and sensational; which is what he did. Believing you are just as equal as the person beside you, you will be able to live more freely.
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
Let us begin with what is, perhaps, the most famous Douglass quotation: "You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man" (64). This sentence serves as the turning point, the climax, of both Douglass' narrative and his life. Up until that point, throughout his entire life, the world had been busy making him a slave. From the moment he was born to a slave mother (even though his father was white), the forces of slavery had been suffocating his humanity. When he was forcibly separated from his mother, he lost the human closeness of family. When he helplessly witnessed his aunt being brutally beaten and was subjected to repeated beatings himself, he lost the human sense of pride. And, when he was denied education and literacy, he lost the human ability to obtain knowledge. In all of these ways, society turned Frederick Douglass, a man, int...
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.
To conclude, Frederick Douglass’s determination is admirable because he never ceased to defend the rights, freedom and equality of himself and others. He fought throughout his entire life, and in the end he was able to see the results of his life’s work. Through his effort, he was able to change the lives of the American people and history. Revolutionaries like Frederick Douglass who did not conform to are the kind of people that this world needs more of today. who create an impact and change in the world because they fight for what really matters, rather than settling and waiting for others to do the
In order for Douglass to reach his goal of becoming a free man he thought the only way out was education. He needed to learn how to read, write, and think for himself about what slavery was. Since literacy and education were so powerful to Frederick he persevered to get himself the education he wanted. …. Douglass knew it wouldn’t be easy, but that didn’t stop him. Douglass realized the “ conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with a high hope, and
Many people take for grant of the freedom we have, but Douglass shows that having freedom means having the ability to control one’s own destiny. Douglass was a slave who like any other slaves cannot be educated. Douglass finds this out by accident when he overhears the reasons why it was illegal for them to get education- it because the white slave owners did not want slaves to gain knowledge as it will bring disorder and rebel against slavery. As a result of this finding, Douglass seeks out his own education. One of his methods of learning how to read is by exchanging foods for learning to read. During the slavery, poverty also affected all different people, so Douglass would give breads to poor children and for exchange teach Douglass some words. For Douglass learning meant punishments or even death, but he takes the risk and did all he can to gain knowledge because this is the only way he can be free. He demonstrates to people that education is powerful and the way one can truly be self-governed. Douglass story is a reminder to always appreciate education and to take the most out of learning because in the end no one can take away what’s in our
One question I asked myself while reading his autobiography is how can these ideas relate to all people? For example, in this piece Douglass told us that “Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, hired out on a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an old woman, too old for field work.” This quote shows that the slave owners did not care for the people they were hurting. Everyone knows what it’s like to care for someone very much, it’s in our blood. Now imagine having them ripped away from you, living a separate life forgetting your existence. That is exactly what slave owners did to people. Do we think that’s okay? No we don’t that’s why the readings apply to everyone because we all know what it’s like to love someone. Douglass also said that “There were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket is considered such, and one about the men and women had these.” Most people have gone camping, or have slept on the hard floor before, and it’s not ...
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.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass gives a first person perspective on the life of a slave laborer in both the rural south and the city. Frederick Douglass gave himself an education against horrible odds, and was able to read and think forever about the evils of slavery and good reasons for its abolishment. The primary reason for his disgust with slavery was its effect of dehumanizing not only the slaves, but their masters too. His main goal: to abolish slavery.
As a relatively young man, Frederick Douglass discovers, in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, that learning to read and write can be his path to freedom. Upon discovering that...
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
...edge. In his narrative, Douglass layers the many brutal, cruel, inhumane, and true components of slavery in his life, underlying each story with a political motive and relation. This method of writing was for his audience removed from slavery, those ignorant of slavery, uninformed, misunderstood, and those who were fortunate to have freedom. Douglass illustrates living conditions, experiences, tragedies, and struggles to great depths. Everywhere, African Americans escaped the binds of slavery due to Frederick Douglass' determination. He revolutionized America, being one of the greatest leaders of the abolition, being the reason for so many freed lives, and leading to the complete abolition and illegality of slavery in America.
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 the middle of chapter seven, Douglass portrayed his adolescent self as a resourceful boy with a strong desire to learn how to write. His previously kind mistress, Mrs. Auld, no longer supported furthering his education and for this, Douglass had to sneak around in order to become literate. The little, hungry, white boys on the streets of Baltimore served as Douglass’ main source of education at the time. Douglass would carry bread on him while he ran errands for the Aulds and when he encountered possible teachers, he would “bestow [it] upon the hungry litter urchins, who, in return, would give [him] that more valuable bread of knowledge” (Chap. 7; 53). The.
As both the narrator and author of “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by Himself” Frederick Douglass writes about his transition from a slave to a well educated and empowered colored young man. As a skilled and spirited man, he served as both an orator and writer for the abolitionist movement, which was a movement to the abolishment of slavery. At the time of his narrative’s publication, Douglass’s sole goal of his writings was to essentially prove to those in disbelief that an articulate and intelligent man, such as himself, could have,in fact, been enslaved at one point in time. While, Douglass’ narrative was and arguably still is very influential, there are some controversial aspects of of this piece, of which Deborah McDowell mentions in her criticism.