During the Antebellum Era in the United States, it was constitutionally protected to own slaves as property. Slavery also made up a large sum of the American economy, especially in the Southern states. However, the act of slavery in America was much more than economic stimulation and constitutional interpretations. Slavery was cognitively oppressive and immortal as it dehumanized the white population and enslaved people. In the slave narratives of Harriet Jacobs and Fredrick Douglass, both authors write how their lived experiences embodies the dehumanization of African Americans in both physical and mental acts of violence. In addition, their narratives render examples of how mistresses and masters did not acknowledge the problems of slavery …show more content…
and shows they are active victims of the slave structure as well. The dehumanization of the white and black populations in the Antebellum Era creates a society that is built on the lack of humanity and constituted oppression. Considering the slave narratives of Jacobs and Douglass, it can be argued that the American establishment of slavery destroys black humanity through perpetuated mental and physical violence, but it also dehumanized masters and mistresses that engaged in the atrocity of slavery as well as it stripped them of their own humanity. According to the Miriam-Webster dictionary, Dehumanization is the act of treating “(someone) as though he or she is not a human being”, by depriving them of their human qualities, personality, and spirit” (2015).
This defitnitio explains why many of the dehumanization methods attempted to ruin the internal space of consciousness for enslaved people. It is revealed in both narratives that the consciousness of slavery is made apparent to Jacobs and Douglass at early ages. Douglass writes how from the womb the mental violence is inflicted upon an enslaved baby ( 338). It is not offered the natural quality to bond with its mother or connect with another being. This separation was done to ensure the hindrance of “development for the child's affection towards its mother” (Douglass 338). This immediately and directly destroys the enslaved people’s chance for nurturing or affection upon arrival into the world. This has a lasting impact on the child even as an …show more content…
adult. This mental dehumanization’s effect is shown in Douglass’ relationship with his mother, Harriet. They are separated from the day that he was born until her death, not considering the small elapses of time and days where she visits him ( Douglass 338). So, when she dies there is no natural connection or emotional attachment for Douglass to his mother (338). He even describes how his emotions about her death is like one for a stranger who dies ( Douglass 338). The separation of mother and child is a mental violence used upon the slaves because it eliminates the innate, usually guaranteed love and support that comes from the bond of mother and child. It deems the enslaved people unworthy of affection, even from their mother, from an early age. Another mental dehumanization also shown in Douglas and Jacobs’ narratives is when the enslaved population is viewed and treated as livestock. In Jacob’s narrative she writes how Dr. Flint, her master, coerced an enslaved person to eat dog’s food, as if her stomach “were stronger than the dog’s (229). Douglass also depicts in his narrative the dehumanizing parallels of the enslaved people and livestock. He describes how they would eat their mush out of a wooden tray on the ground without utensils like pigs ( Douglass 348). To them, the enslaved people are merely equated and “ranked with horses, sheep, and sine” (Douglass 356). This is shown as true, even as the enslaved people are sold and bought like animals as well. Jacobs’ writes how shameful it is to witness her grandmother standing on an auction- block beside livestock at an auction (228) This is mentally demeaning because the enslaved people are consistently being considered less than human, although they know that they are internally more than that. This is mental struggle for both Douglass and Jacobs throughout their individual narratives. These examples of mental dehumanization in the narratives show that the enslaved beings mentally indeed being mentally degraded throughout their lives from areas of affection to even devaluing their worth and treatment to that of an animal. Mentally demeaning the slaves enables them to also dehumanize them physically as well. Jacobs and Douglass experience and witness great physical violence throughout their durations in slavery. Douglass explains the violence that he endures an witnesses “required extraordinary barbarity on the part of an overseer” ( 339). He describes a horrific seen where he is awakened at the shrieks of his aunt’s voice, whom the overseer whips until blood covers her entire naked body (339). On the contrary, Jacobs never experiences intense beatings, overworking, being chained to a log, or being torn by flesh by dogs while in slavery like some of the experiences of Douglas.
Her readers, however, are still able to visualize the physical abuse that the enslaved are subject too. She offers a voice and brings life to those experiences. Jacobs also works through the physical dehumanization of black women as sexual assault and rape victims. She depicts to readers how she does not have power over her own body in the tyranny of Dr. Flint (Jacobs 231). Moreover, Jacobs also shares how there is not a “shadow of a law to protect her from insult, from violence, or even from death” (231). This is a pivotal moment in her writing because it alludes to that even in death, the dehumanization of the enslaved do not cease. It is preserved through each person continuously because the dehumanization of the enslaved is instituted in the structure of slavery. This is how the mental oppressiveness and lack of humanity through dehumanization continues to perpetuate. Subsequently, the institution of slavery also became more immortal because it dehumanized the mistresses and masters as well. Jacobs confirms this notion by stating from her own experiences that “slavery is a curse to the whites as well as to the blacks” (233). This applies a to the detriment of slavery in regards how it creates the worst within the enslaved people and brings out the worst of the white people as well. This
is the result of masters and mistresses allowing the structural concept of slavery and power to obliterate their emotions of compassion for the enslaved people. To illustrate the notions of white people being dehumanized during the slavery, it is exemplified in Jacobs’ experience with her mistress and Douglass’ encounters with Mrs. Sophia Auld. Jacobs’, who was being sexually assaulted by her master, appeals “futilely to Dr. Flint’s jealous wife for protection” against his assaults (232). Jacobs states that “the mistress, who ought to protect the helpless victim, has no feelings towards her but those of jealousy and rage” (231). At 15 years of age and being consistently sexually degraded and victimized by her master, why did Jacobs’ mistress not help her against the assaults? Some could argue that her mistress did not get involved because she believes in the notions that the enslaved girl’s innocence did not matter or even that Jacobs is the blame for the assaults. With either of these arguments, nevertheless, it can still be said the wife had no compassion for Jacobs. This is a dehumanizing moment for the mistress because she is unable to sympathize or connect with Jacobs to even try to protect her as another human or even woman. Additionally, Douglass also exemplifies how slavery dehumanizes everyone in society in some degree. In his narrative, he describes his new owner, Mrs. Sophia Auld, as a “woman of kindest hearts and finest feeling” (Douglass 351). According to Douglass, Mrs. Auld has never owned a slave before, and it seems like he had been preserved from the dehumanizing effects of slavery because of her goodness( Douglass 351) He continues; however, and reveals that Mrs. Auld’s kindness is short-lived. Douglass blames her switch from goodness as the “fatal poison of irresponsible power… under the influence of slavery”(351). Mrs. Auld is a great example of the dehumanization of white people during slavery because it shows that even the good people is changed by the institution of slavery. It is easy for the mistresses and masters to become dehumanized through the acts of slavery because it is normalized during that time in society and it gives an affirmation of supremacy and power. Consequently, the black population was stripped of any human forms of dignity, knowledge, or power leaving most of them rendered as hopeless, destitute, and completely dependent. In the same correlation, the structure of slavery also created an inheritance for the white population to feel more superior to blacks, and almost forced them to be stripped of compassion or sympathy for the enslaved people. With whites and blacks being dehumanized through the atrocity of slavery, America lost some of its morality as well as its respect and value of all humanity. This is how slavery became immortal and oppressive as it in a way permanently dehumanized all people involved.
The book The Classic Slave Narratives is a collection of narratives that includes the historical enslavement experiences in the lives of the former slaves Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, and Olaudah Equiano. They all find ways to advocate for themselves to protect them from some of the horrors of slavery, such as sexual abuse, verbal abuse, imprisonment, beatings, torturing, killings and the nonexistence of civil rights as Americans or rights as human beings. Also, their keen wit and intelligence leads them to their freedom from slavery, and their fight for freedom and justice for all oppressed people.
This day in age, everything is always compared whether it is social status, racial problems, etc. A popular topic tends to be gender equality and different things both male and females endure, such as the fact that it is a lot easier for men to get a high paying job compared to women. Along the same lines, their suffering is also compared. In Harriet Jacobs, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” Jacob’s shares her experiences as a slave including the most traumatizing moments she went through. Although there is no doubt that every slave suffered greatly, women suffered the most during this time period; women went through sexual exploitation, psychological damage, and shame.
Slavery is a term that can create a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. During the hardships faced by the African Americans, hundreds of accounts were documented. Harriet Jacobs, Charles Ball and Kate Drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery. There were reoccurring themes throughout the books as well as varying angles that each author either left out or never experienced. Taking two women’s views as well as a man’s, we can begin to delve deeper into what their everyday lives would have been like.
Some of Fredrick Douglass’ experiences differed from Harriet Jacobs. Unlike Jacobs, Douglass never met his father and only meets his mother a handful of times. When he was seven he was sent to a new master who then sends his to a “slave breaker”. The “slave breaker” breaks his sense of
Frederick Douglass was brought from Africa as a baby to the U.S. to become a slave during the 17th century. In his narrative book “Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass,” he used rhetoric to provoke reader’s emotions, and inspiration of hope when everything isn’t good. Douglass used the rhetoric appeal pathos to show people how horrible he was treated as a slave, and how he kept up his motivation about becoming free from slavery. In addition, he also used pathos so effective that readers can see his experiences in front of themselves.
The book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass can be interpreted in many ways. It is an autobiography that details Douglass’s experiences while he was enslaved. However, it is evident that he has been forced to censor the content of his narrative. Douglass mentions more than once that he is not able to say everything he desires. Moreover, on the surface the book is about the harshness of his life as a slave, but on a deeper level Douglass uses irony to give a compelling criticism of the institution of slavery. In his account he gives sarcastic descriptions of the privileges the slaves receive and what it looks like for slaves to be treated well. Nevertheless, both techniques of writing are effective
When reading about the institution of slavery in the United States, it is easy to focus on life for the slaves on the plantations—the places where the millions of people purchased to serve as slaves in the United States lived, made families, and eventually died. Most of the information we seek is about what daily life was like for these people, and what went “wrong” in our country’s collective psyche that allowed us to normalize the practice of keeping human beings as property, no more or less valuable than the machines in the factories which bolstered industrialized economies at the time. Many of us want to find information that assuages our own personal feelings of discomfort or even guilt over the practice which kept Southern life moving
America in the mid to early nineteenth century saw the torture of many African Americans in slavery. Plantation owners did not care whether they were young or old, girl or boy, to them all slaves were there to work. One slave in particular, Frederick Douglass, documented his journey through slavery in his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Through the use of various rhetorical devices and strategies, Douglass conveys the dehumanizing and corrupting effect of slavery, in order to show the overall need for American abolition. His use of devices such as parallelism, asyndeton, simile, antithesis, juxtaposition and use of irony, not only establish ethos but also show the negative effects of slavery on slaves, masters and
To understand the desperation of wanting to obtain freedom at any cost, it is necessary to take a look into what the conditions and lives were like of slaves. It is no secret that African-American slaves received cruel and inhumane treatment. Although she wrote of the horrific afflictions experienced by slaves, Linda Brent said, “No pen can give adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery." The life of a slave was never a satisfactory one, but it all depended on the plantation that one lived on and the mast...
Frederick Douglass had moved into a new mistresses home who had never known of slavery. While she had initially taught him to read, fed him well, and looked upon him like an equal human being, she eventually forbade him from reading and whipped him at her husband’s request. The kind woman he had known became inhumane and degrading because that was required to maintain the unwarranted power over slaves.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.
In Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the author subjects the reader to a dystopian slave narrative based on a true story of a woman’s struggle for self-identity, self-preservation and freedom. This non-fictional personal account chronicles the journey of Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) life of servitude and degradation in the state of North Carolina to the shackle-free promise land of liberty in the North. The reoccurring theme throughout that I strive to exploit is how the women’s sphere, known as the Cult of True Womanhood (Domesticity), is a corrupt concept that is full of white bias and privilege that has been compromised by the harsh oppression of slavery’s racial barrier. Women and the female race are falling for man’s
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.
When discussing the topic of slavery oftentimes the reality of the trauma which took place is not fully understood due to the audience’s inability to relate. However, the most effectual means for one to convey the true extent of oppression is through accurate and compelling firsthand descriptions. Frederick Douglass thoroughly accomplishes this by transparently exposing his personal experience as a slave in his book titled “Narrative.” From being separated from his mother at birth to outsmarting his slave master into allowing him to teach fellow slaves to read, Douglass’ perspective provides an in depth look into life as a slave. Certainly, anyone with any knowledge of American slavery is familiar with the aspect of physical abuse because it
Slavery has been a part of human practices for centuries and dates back to the world’s ancient civilizations. In order for us to recognize modern day slavery we must take a look and understand slavery in the American south before the 1860’s, also known as antebellum slavery. Bouvier’s Law Dictionary defines a slave as, “a man who is by law deprived of his liberty for life, and becomes the property of another” (B.J.R, pg. 479). In the period of antebellum slavery, African Americans were enslaved on small farms, large plantations, in cities and towns, homes, out on fields, industries and transportation. By law, slaves were the perso...