Frederick Douglass Argumentative Essay

A slave acquaintance of Douglass. Is highly superstitious and stands in the Narrative as a representative of all uneducated, superstitious slaves. She is kind to Douglass when Douglass runs away from Covey's, but the Narrative also implies that she may have informed William Freeland about Douglass's plans to escape; gives Douglass a root to keep him safe from harm.
Douglass doubts the power of this root, but it does encourage his resistance. The root instills the thought of defiance, and persuades Douglass’s attack on Mr. Covey. This shows the courage that slaves have and the determination it took to survive as a slave
Mr. Freeland is a decent slaveholder, who is one of the kindest that Douglass has ever had. He serves him after leaving Mr. Covey. It would be an exaggeration to say that Douglass admires him, but Douglass doesn´t feel too much hatred towards him. Freeland doesný force anyone to abide his religon.

Douglass tries to escape here again, twice. He fails, both times. Freeland´s mother blames Douglass for instilling his beliefs in other slaves’ minds.

These reverends are greatly hated by Douglass and others in the farm.

He claim that he is a huge hypocrite who doesn´t practice what he preaches to any extent. They are known to beat their slaves at any given chance and claims that religon allows him to do so. Everybody is outraged by his behavior.

Douglass is a great friend to Henry Harris, and admires him. Harris is a friend of Freeland, who Douglass is also fond of. He believes that he is noble and wise. They try to escape, and Henry is extremely resistant when they are caught. Others members who try to escape with them are John Harris, Henry Bailey, and Charles Roberts. Henry Bailey is related to Douglass, who is his nephew. Charles is also related to Douglass; he is his uncle-in-law. They are friends who have similar beliefs.

Gardner is the shipbuilder to whom Douglass is appointed to the first time. The shipyard is stuffy and crowded and busy, and Douglass is unable to actually learn anything from him. They barely have any encounters with each other, but Douglass is already not fond of

him.

When Douglass goes to New York, he is one of the first people he meets. He is an abolitionist who Douglass is grateful for. He even offers to help Douglass by helping him move to Massachusetts (New Bedford) to better his career.

Anna is his wife. Towards the end of the novel, Douglass informs readers that he writes to “Anna, [his] intended wife...informing her of [his] successful flight, and wishing her to come” (Douglass 94). His brief inclusion of an event as significant as his marriage proves that his purpose is not for writing about himself.
Although the story is a narrative, Douglass only utilizes first-hand accounts to further persuade his readers, and expose them to the atrocious system of slavery. By exposing the horrors of slavery, in a first-hand account, he persuades his many readers into supporting the abolitionist movement. He states that there are many stories that he could tell, but he believes that the ones he shares are sufficient. This indicates that his purpose is persuasion, he intends to educate the reader on the evils of slavery and urge them to oppose it.
Douglass was previously known as Frederick Johnson, but Nathan Johnson, who he is grateful for, gives him the last name Douglass. He and his wife Anna are abolitionists who are aided by Nathan in going to New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Bailey is the mother of Douglass. Although she is shortly separated from him after his birth into slavery, she attempting to mend relations by walking twelve miles to see him at night. She dies early in the life of Douglass.
He knows his mother must care about him because in his youth, she would make the long journey at night to come see him and still get back in time to work in the morning. Despite their separation, she still finds a way to be a small part of his childhood, and it has a big effect on his future. This shows the hardships that slaves often had to endure, and the lengths that they would often go to in order to ensure the safety of others. It is meant to seem appalling that Bailey would even have to walk so many miles just to see Douglass’ face.
Douglass suspects that Anthony is his father, and he is his first master. He is also the clerk for Colonel Lloyd, and he manages all of his plantations and nearby plantations. He takes pleasure in hurting his slaves, and is hated by all. Since he once was a captain at Chesapeake Bay, he is referred to as a captain.
This shows the brutality of slavery, but also the overpowering influence of slavery; even between a father (maybe) and a son, slavery is there to tear apart their relationship and expose the unforgivingness of slaveholders.
He is a drunk and a cruel man who carries a whip and cudgel with him and often uses them on slaves. In Chapter 1, Douglass says “he always went armed with a cow skin and a heavy cudgel” in reference to Plummer.
A cudgel is a thick stick that is used as a weapon, and therefore demonstrates the horror of slavery. Later, in Chapter 2, he uses the words anguish, pathetic and privation, all of which demonstrate the horrors of slavery through their meanings. Each refers to a different aspect of slavery that is unpleasant and horrific. Throughout the novel, he also uses words that do not show the horror of slavery, like barouche and homage.

Douglass's aunt. She is a very beautiful and well-meaning woman with many noble qualities. Her wonder qualities make her superior to most white and black women. However, she suffers countless abuses from Captain Anthony, since he is probably attracted to her, thus becomes angry.
Aunt Hester shows the exceptions in the very racist and unacceptable stereotypes that controlled black men and women in this time period, and even today. She is pretty, wise, and generally better than several others in the novel. Here, Douglass breaks the stereotype and shows the magnificence of many black people.
Betsey Bailey had been a slave of Captain Anthony for her entire life, and most of her relatives also ended up serving him as well. She was extremely loyal and caring and looked over not only Douglass, but also several of Captain Anthony’s children, for which Anthony shows no appreciation. Even when she is too old to work, she is not allowed to be freed; she is instead abandoned in the woods.
His grandmother is a great example of the many harsh realities and endings for even the most dedicated slaves, that may even embody the stereotype of the “content slave”. She served Anthony so well, yet was born and died in slavery, and did not experience slavery once in her life.
Thomas Auld is the husband of Mrs. Lucretia, and Douglass is sent to live with him in Baltimore, along with his brother Hugh Auld. Auld is, for the most part, incompetent and unable to look over his plantation or his slaves. He’s mostly scared of everything. He soons “find religion”, but no drastic change is seen in his behavior towards the slaves, and is seen as a hypocrite. Douglass is sent to Thomas’ brother Hugh after he attempts to escape.
This shows the appalling nature of slavery, especially when taken into consideration that Douglass was probably 10 times smarter than Thomas Auld, but Auld probably had 10 times more power than Douglass just because he was a white man. He is incompetent but still earns more respect than an intelligent man.
He is a lavishly rich landowner who owns upwards of twenty farms in Talbot County. He lives in the Great House Farm, which is one of the main slave farms. Slaves want to serve here more than any other. Lloyd own so many slaves, and is unaware of any of their conditions or names. They barely know him, either. Douglass is often at this house, and does work for Mrs. Lucretia Auld and Master Daniel Lloyd.
Similar to all the other slaveholders in the book, the reader comes to hate Lloyd and his way of life. He is rude and rightfully disliked by every slave. The reader will hate everything that he does and has, after seeing how much Douglass hates him.
He is an overseer at the Great House Farm, and he does not conduct many affairs there. Douglass barely knows him, and Severe dies shortly. The slaves are overjoyed by his death, and are happy that they don’t have to deal with his moodiness.
Severe is yet another example of a horrible white man who really is probably inferior to men like Douglass, if it hadnt been for his skin color. The slaves are justly happy because of his death, so the readers are too.
After Severe dies, Hopkins joins the Great House Farm as a replacement. The slaves actually like him, he is fair and doesn’t do anything bad that isn’t necessary. However, Lloyd is disappointed by his lack of severity, and Mr. Gore replaces him.
Hopkins is an example of how white slaveholders would purposely be as cruel as possible to their black slaves, often for no reason. He was fired only because he wasn’t being cruel enough, which is outrageous.
They are a pair of father and son who are slaves to Lloyd. The are given the prized task of maintaining the stable horses, and they aren’t too awful at their job, but are often beat without any reason. This unfairness is observed by everyone in the house, but no one is able to anything about it.

Lloyd likes Gore very much, for all the same reasons that the slaves do not. He is ambitious and extremely strict, and treats the slaves badly. He kills a slave for not listening, and decides that the shooting was completely justified because he think that if slaves are not punished severely, there is no point to slavery. Lloyd agrees with this explanation, and thinks that he is a great overseer who is fit for discipline.

Demby is the slave that was shot to death but Mr. Gore when he had a fit of rage when Demby didn’t listen to his commands. There is sympathy among the slaves, but the overseers think nothing of it. No penalty is given.

Hugh Auld is the brother of Thomas Auld, whom Douglass is sent to live with after he attempts to escape. However, he is soon sent back because of a fight between Hugh and Thomas. He attempts to escape in St. Michael´s,and is then taught how to read by a kinder slave holder, the wife of thomas. She is then scolded for doing so, and Mr. Auld then trains him in his new job. He is forced to pay his owner weekly even though eh is the one doing the job.

Sophia Auld is married to Mr. Hugh Auld, and she treats Douglass with respect and more kindness than everyone else there. She even teaches him how to read and write, which is a huge part of his life. But, her characteristics soon change when Auld scolds her for treating Douglass like a person. She turns cruel like everyone else in the farm.
Douglass uses her case to point out that slavery has a menacing effect on both the slaves and the slaveholders.

Mr. Hamilton is the father in law of Captain Thomas Auld, and he is semi-respectful to Douglass. When looking over the horses, Douglass purposely allows them to run away so that he can go to Hamilton´s house to have a meal.

Mr. Covey is known for breaking the spirits of slaves. His continuous abuse dehumanizes the slaves. Like many others, Douglass is sent to Mr. Covey to have his spirits diminished. Douglass often endures abuse from Mr. Covey, “during [his] first six months, of that year, scarce a week [passes] that [he is not whipped]...[he is] seldom free from a sore back” (Douglass 52). Douglass becomes overworked and at one point he can no longer gain the strength to work, and this enrages Mr. Covey.
Covey shows the abuse and hardships that slaves often suffered through, and he helps to strengthen the message in Douglass’ novel that slavery is to be taken seriously, especially in the face of people such as Mr. Covey.