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Fredrick Douglass: An American slave
Fredrick douglass the narrative of the life
Fredrick douglass the narrative of the life
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In his narrative, Frederick Douglass shows how Christianity was used as a major justification for slavery and for the actions of slave masters, but he also shows how the religion provided hope for slaves themselves. In an appendix added at the end of the narrative, he draws a distinction between “the Christianity of this land” and “the Christianity of Christ,” saying that there is the “widest possible difference” between them. As he puts it, “I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.” In other words, Douglass thinks that Christianity has been corrupted in America, where people hypocritically use it to justify their injustices. …show more content…
Many instances in the narrative support Douglass’ idea.
One of the best examples is when his master Auld attends a Methodist camp meeting and converts (Chapter 9). Douglass hopes that becoming religious will make his master kinder or even make him want to free his slaves. The result is the opposite: “It neither made him to be humane to his slaves, nor to emancipate them. If it had any effect on his character, it made him more cruel and hateful in all his ways; for I believe him to have been a much worse man after his conversion than before…he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty.” He later cites an incident when his master whipped a young woman and justified it by quoting Scripture. This story directly shows how becoming
religious made his master worse. The “Christianity of this land” had a negative effect. In another instance, the slaves of St. Michael’s organized a Sunday School where they were teaching themselves how to read in order to be able to read the Bible. Douglass says they had to do this in secret because their masters would prefer that they spent their time “wrestling, boxing, and drinking whisky” instead of “trying to learn how to read the will of God; for they had much rather see us engaged in those degrading sports, than to see us behaving like intellectual, moral, and accountable beings.” He says that his “blood boils” to remember the “bloody manner” in which the Sunday school was broken up, while those masters were “all calling themselves Christians.” Here is another example of hypocrisy. In the name of “Christianity,” these masters deny their slaves a chance to learn how to read, even though the slaves were doing so out of a desire to learn the Bible and follow the “Christianity of Chirst.” In other places, Douglass makes offhand comments that remind us of this hypocricsy. When he remembers the children who helped him, he says that he wants to name them, but he won’t because it would embarrass them since “it is almost an unpardonable offence to teach slaves to read in this Christian country.” His comment here sarcastically indicates the difference between the “Christianity of this land” and the “Christianity of Christ” that he and his fellow slaves follow. Voltaire would have an entirely different take on Christianity than Frederick Douglass. While Douglass thinks that there is a “real” Christianity that is good and that is corrupted by the slave masters, Voltaire denounces Christianity entirely as false and dangerous.
Douglass moves to attack the Christian beliefs of the American people, showing the great discrepancies between the ideals held in the Christian faith and the ideals held by slaveowners. Christians avoidance of abolishing slavery, yet worshipping a loving and peaceful God, may be the worse crime of them all. Douglass explains the hypocrisy of the American people by choosing to continue slavery while claiming the benevolent principles embedded in the Bible. At the moment he gives this speech, “they are thanking God for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, yet they are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs religion of its chief significance” (Douglass 12). The American people acknowledge and thank God for their freedoms, yet purposefully
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.
It has played a major role in history, persecution, church, wars and most importantly in slavery. in this essay i have focus in how hypocrisy was use in race relations using the slave narrative Equiano. In Equiano 's slave narrative examines Christianity and how it allows hypocrisy in slavery. As Equiano travels he sees and learns how whites use religion as a pocketbook, whites pretended to be holy and virtue by attending church and being thrilled of their practice when in reality they were unjustly treating African slaves and not living up to the tenets outlined in the bible. Equiano studies the bible carefully; despite of the hypocrisy Equianos faces he remains loyal to god and always kept his faith in god. Once his convince of the authenticity of his spiritual transformation and studies of the bible then Equiano convert to Methodist
Slave-owners forced a perverse form of Christianity, one that condoned slavery, upon slaves. According to this false Christianity the enslavement of “black Africans is justified because they are the descendants of Ham, one of Noah's sons; in one Biblical story, Noah cursed Ham's descendants to be slaves” (Tolson 272). Slavery was further validated by the numerous examples of it within the bible. It was reasoned that these examples were confirmation that God condoned slavery. Douglass’s master...
Douglass’ explains his view of religion as “When I think that these precious souls are to-day shut up in the prison-house of slavery, my feelings overcome me, and I am almost ready to ask, “Does a righteous God govern the universe? And for what does he hold the thunders in his right hand, if not to smite the oppressor, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the spoiler? (p.48).” He wonders how a righteous God can rule the universe, and yet still allow cruel things like slavery to exist. One of the ways Douglass shows himself to be a Christian, is by quoting the Bible, “Dark and terrible as is this picture, I hold it to be s...
In the appendix of the narrative Douglass starts off by talking about the difference between real Christianity and the Christianity of the land. “I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land (Douglass 71).” He hates the Christianity of this land because it wasn't real, it was a lie given the name Christianity.
In the well-written narrative The Life of Fredrick Douglass, the author, and former slave known as Fredrick Douglass, uses multiple examples of brutal whippings and severe punishments to describe the terrible conditions that African American slaves faced in the south. Douglass’s purpose for writing this narrative was to show the physical and emotional pain that slaves had to endure from their owners. According to Fredrick Douglass, “adopted slaveholders are the worst” and he proves his point with his anecdotes from when he was a slave; moreover, slave owners through marriage weren’t used to the rules of slaveholding so they acted tougher. He also proves that Christian slave owners weren’t always holier, they too showed no mercy towards their slaves and Douglass considered them religious hypocrites.
Douglass is telling us that until we go out and get our own understanding, we will always be blind to what’s right in front of us. He is saying we can do all the praying we want for change, but until you help ourselves God won’t help you. I don’t think he found a new faith, but I do know he did find knowledge. What the slave masters were telling the slaves wasn’t a lie, but it was written for different time, the bible was always meant to be transcribed and interpreted.
His main argument in the speech is that it 's unjust and hypocritical for a country to celebrate its freedom while it still has slaves. Now that in itself is a morally viable argument, and it has never been more relevant than today in our racially hate fueled world where every situation is turned into a hate crime. However, back in those days majority of slaves were sold into slavery by their own people. Most slaves were sold by rival tribes as prisoners of war, or trouble makers of the tribe, thus giving us the “bottom of the barrel” of the groups. Another counter to Douglass was that even though slaves were people, they were still considered property. A hard working farmer could have used his last penny in order to purchase that slave because he was unable to tend his farm and provide for his family. One common misconception was that all slaves were beaten and treated lower than swine, while to the contrary some were treated well being given a bed and meals every day in exchange for their hard work. While Douglass may have had a bad time under the ownership of Auld, most northern states did not treat their slaves in this manner. This is one of the main reasons Douglass learned how to read, yet no credit is given to his former owner. Most slaves developed a relationship with their owners, in which their owners taught them useful skills such as reading, writing, simple math and farming skills. Another argument brought into Douglass’ speech was that most churches were segregated, and in turn perpetuated the racism that helped keep slavery alive in well. He proposed that a God that wouldn’t allow such evil and disservice in this world would contradict everything the bible proposes and teaches. He praises the writers of the constitution, considering them his equal and thanking the signers of the Declaration of Independence, calling
Douglass makes the distinction between the true and false forms of Christianity clear in the Appendix of his Narrative. He first characterizes the Christianity of Christ, practiced by himself, his fellow slaves, and non-slave owners in general, as genuine and peaceable. This sort of ideology is true to what Douglass interprets as the actual teachings of the Bible, and adherents are humble, kind, impartial, and nondiscriminatory. Douglass then distinguishes this proper ideology from the “corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial, and hypocritical Christianity of this land” (430). Douglass believes that slavery and Christianity are opposing forces. The teachings of C...
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.
Frederick Douglass said, “Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave”. Frederick Douglass could not be farther from the truth. Frederick Douglass was a slave, and he saw knowledge as a passage to freedom. Slavery was the primary cause of many events from 1800-1861. The issue was not slavery itself necessarily, but the different views and controversy towards it. Slavery was dehumanization; making black people less human. Black people were treated unjustifiably wrong since they were treated like property during this time period. Some events that impacted slavery the most were the Industrial Revolution, Westward expansion,Abolitionist movement, publication of A Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave Written By Himself, Dred Scott Decision, John Brown raid, Election of Abraham Lincoln and many more. A group formed known as the Abolitionists, and they opposed the idea of slavery. This group of people brought into light a new thought process of looking at slavery. The idea of slavery justice began to be questioned, and Frederick Douglass and his narrative played a big role.
Frederick Douglass’ landmark narrative describes the dehumanization of African-American slaves, while simultaneously humanizing them through his moving prose. Douglass shows the dehumanization of slaves through depictions of violence, deindividuation, and the broken justice system. However, Douglass’ pursuit of an education, moving rhetoric, and critique of his own masters demonstrates to the reader that African-Americans are just as intelligent as white people, thus proving their humanity.
... “Prior to [Captain Auld’s] conversion, he relied upon his own depravity to shield and sustain him in his savage barbarity; but after his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for the slaveholding cruelty” (Douglass 883). This means that slaveholders use Christianity as a tool to show that they are good at heart and are doing God’s work, but they use it as a divine right to brutally beat slaves. This is what Frederick wants other abolitionists to recognize, especially the abolitionist women.
Throughout the being of the book, Douglass gives a vivid description of the living conditions in which he lived. The state of living was complicated, and food not adequate for the workload given by the Slaveholders. They believed slaves were given enough to keep them healthy enough to work. Slaves worked long hours in the field and were often sleep deprived. Ordinarily, this would be untrue; slaves encounter disease, injuries major illness that usually cost them their lives. Slaveholders often hired doctors to treat the injured and sick. Giving limited medical knowledge to the doctor, which did little to improve the health of the slave. They lived crowded in cabins were not given beds, and only some were given blankets. Douglass mention “In a single room were huddled, like cattle, ten or a dozen persons, men, women,