Frederick Douglass Heroism Essay

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Frederick Douglass was born into slavery sometime between 1817 or 1818. Like many slaves he was unsure of his birthday; it was one of the many things that he was deprived of. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a memoir written by former slave himself, Frederick Douglass. The book explains his hardships ranging from losing family members, being moved from owner to owner, and being whipped at least once a week. One of Frederick's many owners, Auld, considered him unmanageable. Auld rented Frederick to Mr. Covey for a year, also known as the slave breaker (pg 34). Mr. Covey was one of the most cruel slave owners Frederick had. Mr. Covey treated him with barbarity. Throughout Douglass’ stay with Mr. Covey he grew as a person. …show more content…

As time went on Frederick stood up to his master after being infuriated by the way he was treated. While the confrontation with Mr. Covey can be seen as physical heroism on Douglass’s part, his heroism developed from not only a physical state but also a mental state. His efforts to overthrow his slave status began with the drive to become a free man. 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 …show more content…

Frederick Douglass quickly noticed if he wanted a chance of being free he needed to do something about it. He took action and began to fight back against his master. When Mr. Covey tried to whip him, Douglass refused to let him. Mr. Covey wouldn’t tolerate this kind of behavior. This resulted in a fight between the two. This confrontation concluded with Frederick winning.. Mr. Covey wanted to keep his reputation of being a slave breaker so he let Douglass go and never said a word about it again. Frederick was also never whipped again after the fight “it rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood” (pg 43). The use of metaphors comparing the feelings of freedom to embers rekindling deepens the reader's understanding and creates a feeling of sensory to help the reader experience the words better. This small feeling of freedom and manhood only made him want it more. After Douglass was accused of trying to run away, he was sent to jail. In this prison, his thoughts were overwhelming. He was alone and thought the possibility of freedom was gone. Yet being the mental hero he was he still desired freedom “it was now left to my fate. I was all alone, and within the walls of a stone prison” (pg 55). Being imprisoned did not stop him at all. It took Douglass mental and physical heroism to overcome all of the obstacles in his life. Without his courage and

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