Frederick Douglass Reaction

Reaction Paper: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave I both read and listened to Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Written by Himself Frederick Douglass, I reacted passionately to his tale, I expected the work to be as dry as many historical retellings can be; however Douglass’ graphic depiction of the horrors he and those around him faced for me were visceral. I was surprised that Douglass viewed slavery as not just harmful to African Americans, he wrote often of its’ damaging the slaveholders as well. Another shocking theme was Douglass’ take on Christianity, I never expect to encounter anything where someone does anything but sing its praises. Overall this book helped me reanalyze the

I hope to elaborate more on these points, his depictions of physical abuse, his care for the slaveholder’s humanity and the blame laid at altar of the Christian faith. One theme I hope to discuss along with both the abuse and the effect of slavery on the slaveholders, that theme is the use of females to portray slavery as morally corrupt. Mr. Douglass wrote of the trials of slavery in such a personal way that he made you feel as close as you can come to understanding the wretchedness people suffered. The brutal and graphic descriptions of physical abuse along with the mental and emotional anguish while not being wholly relatable for myself

Douglass used the horror these women suffered to help the reader grasp how unnatural the brutality of slavery was. The first physical abuse he recounts is the whipping of his aunt Hester, the way he describes the acts committed by Master Anthony at the beginning of the scene were meant to make the good men and women that read it in the 1800s to feel uncomfortable hearing of a member of the fairer sex’s clothes ripped from their body, he even describes her naked flesh. He was a master of imagery as you read the book or listen to the audiobook you can see Aunt Hester hanging their toes barely grazing the floor as blood oozes out of her wounds. “Before he commenced whipping Aunt Hester, he took her into the kitchen, and stripped her from neck to waist, leaving her neck, shoulders, and back, entirely naked. He then told her to cross her hands, calling her at the same time a d——d b—-h. After crossing her hands, he tied them with a strong rope, and led her to a stool under a large hook in the joist, put in for the purpose. He made her get upon the stool, and tied her hands to the hook. She now stood fair for his infernal purpose. Her arms were stretched up at their full length, so that she stood upon the ends of her toes. He then said to her, "Now, you d——d b—-h, I'll learn you how to disobey my orders!" and after rolling up