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Narrative of the life of frederick douglass essays
Narrative of the life of frederick douglass essays
Narrative of the life of frederick douglass essays
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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 …show more content…
was the most dominant method of enslavement. Though, as described throughout the narrative, the most effective method of keeping slaves oppressed was by means of mental abuse. Readers are first introduced to the concept of mental abuse when Douglass recalls the instance in which his mother died.
Due to their separation soon after his birth, Douglass realized that he was unable to properly mourn her death. He goes as far as to describe his emotional response as parallel to experiencing “the death of a stranger” (3). The role of a nurturing mother is essential to a child’s emotional development. Therefore, by establishing physical and emotional distance between mother and child, the slave masters were forcing the children into a deeper level of vulnerability that allowed them to be manipulated. Additionally, sometimes both parents were absent in the child’s life thus leaving them to fend for themselves in an environment created against them. In Douglass’ case, he had no knowledge of who his father was although it was suspected to be his slave master. This could have also been a determining factor towards why his mother was sent away as to not serve as another reminder to the …show more content…
wife. The levels of physical abuse which took place to maintain obedience and instill fear among the slaves would cause one to question the presence of humanity during that time. When one person would receive punishment, the entire community of slaves was affected—especially when forced to witness the consequences. For example, in the merciless scene of Captain Auld tirelessly whipping Aunt Hester, Douglass explains how he felt so “terrified and horror-stricken” that even he felt helpless and had to flee into a closet (6). Since they were forced into assuming the role of a bystander out of fear of being reprimanded as well, slaves would endure an internal conflict nearly equal to the effects of physical control. Additionally, as presented through the cruel actions of Colonel Lloyd, inconsistent and often undeserving abuse also contributed to many the slaves’ apprehensiveness. During his life, Douglass experienced cruel and relatively lenient masters.
The behaviors of his masters display the effect that slavery had on the oppressors as well. In a psychoanalysis of mental slavery, author Barbara Fletchman Smith proclaims that “slavery was damaging for everyone concerned with it” (7). This message is revealed in the narrative after Douglass explains the effect that slavery had on his master’s wife who had not previously owned any slaves prior to his arrival. He stresses how initially she treated him like a human rather than as the animal he had been groomed into becoming or the property that he had been established as since birth. She even went as far as to begin teaching him how to read, a skill which was forbidden among slaves. It was not until her husband’s interference that she assumed the traditional role of a slaveholder’s wife. He had explained to her that “[reading] would forever unfit him to be a slave” (29). She became considerably fierce toward Douglass, stopped giving him lessons, and ensured that he would not have any access to anything he could try reading with. Her gradual change in character is evidence that no one person is naturally malicious towards another. Slavery perpetuated an uncompromising mindset of superiority and entitlement in order for those in power to remain in
power. After witnessing the drastic change in his mistress’s behavior towards him, Douglass made the realization that his literacy would be the key to his mental liberation—and eventually his physical freedom. Despite no longer being taught, he sought other outlets for obtaining knowledge and with persistence he ultimately became literate. However, with a newfound understanding of the breath of his captivity also came an overwhelming feeling of depression. Ignorance proved itself as blissful because those who were not aware of their ability to overcome their circumstance had already accepted the lifestyle they were forced to live. Subsequently,
In sum, all of these key arguments exist in “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” because of the institution of slavery and its resulting lack of freedom that was used to defend it. This text’s arguments could all be gathered together under the common element of inequality and how it affected the practical, social, and even spiritual lives of the slaves.
The narrative enables Douglass to flaunt his hard-earned education. As stated before, his diction brings pathos to his work. He describes his experiences in a way that lets his audience feel the indignity of being owned by another person. For example, D...
Within the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave” Douglass discusses the deplorable conditions in which he and his fellow slaves suffered from. While on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation, slaves were given a “monthly allowance of eight pounds of pork and one bushel of corn” (Douglass 224). Their annual clothing rations weren’t any better; considering the type of field work they did, what little clothing they were given quickly deteriorated. The lack of food and clothing matched the terrible living conditions. After working on the field all day, with very little rest the night before, they must sleep on the hard uncomfortably cramped floor with only a single blanket as protection from the cold. Coupled with the overseer’s irresponsible and abusive use of power, it is astonishing how three to four hundred slaves did not rebel. Slave-owners recognized that in able to restrict and control slaves more than physical violence was needed. Therefore in able to mold slaves into the submissive and subservient property they desired, slave-owners manipulated them by twisting religion, instilling fear, breaking familial ties, making them dependent, providing them with an incorrect view of freedom, as well as refusing them education.
Frederick Douglass emphasizes the dehumanization aspect of slavery throughout his narrative. As is the general custom in slavery, Douglass is separated from his mother early in infancy and put under the care of his grandmother. He recalls having met his mother several times, but only during the night. She would make the trip from her farm twelve miles away just to spend a little time with her child. She dies when Douglass is about seven years old. He is withheld from seeing her in her illness, death, and burial. Having limited contact with her, the news of her death, at the time, is like a death of a stranger. Douglass also never really knew the identity of his father and conveys a feeling of emptiness and disgust when he writes, "the whisper that my master was my father, may or may not be true; and, true or false, it is of but little consequence to my purpose" (Douglass, 40). Douglass points out that many slave children have their masters as their father. In these times, frequently the master would take advantage of female slaves and the children born to the slave w...
In, “The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass”, readers get a first person perspective on slavery in the South before the Civil War. The author, Frederick Douglass, taught himself how to read and write, and was able to share his story to show the evils of slavery, not only in regard to the slaves, but with regard to masters, as well. Throughout Douglass’ autobiography, he shares his disgust with how slavery would corrupt people and change their whole entire persona. He uses ethos, logos, and pathos to help establish his credibility, and enlighten his readers about what changes needed to be made.
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...
After reading Frederick Douglass’s narrative of slavery, I couldn’t help but stop and try to gather my thoughts in any way possible. It was not the first time I had read the narrative, but this time around Douglass’s words hit me much harder. Perhaps, it was that I read the narrative in a more critical lens, or possibly it was just that I am older and more mature now from the last time I read it, but whatever the reason, I can confidently say reading the narrative has changed my heart and opened my eyes in many ways. I have always been aware of the injustices that slavery encompassed and of course like many other people, I have been taught about slavery in a historical narrative my entire life. But, Frederick Douglass’s narrative does more than just provide a historical perspective in seeing the injustices in slavery. His narrative asks the reader to look directly into the eyes of actual slaves and realize their very heart beat and existence as humans. Douglass humanizes the people of whom the terrible acts we acted upon that we learn about as early as elementary school. It is because of this that I decided to write this poem. Reading the narrative made me really think about Douglass’s journey and the story he tells on his road to freedom. I felt as if he was really speaking to me and, and in turn I wanted to give Douglass a voice in my own writing.
When first introduced to Douglass and his story, we find him to be a young slave boy filled with information about those around him. Not only does he speak from the view point of an observer, but he speaks of many typical stereotypes in the slave life. At this point in his life, Frederick is inexperienced and knows nothing of the pleasures of things such as reading, writing, or even the rights everyone should be entitled to. Douglass knowing hardly anything of his family, their whereabouts, or his background, seems to be equivalent to the many other slaves at the time. As a child Frederick Douglass sees the injustices around him and observes them, yet as the story continues we begin to see a change.
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.
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.
Freedom is something many slaves never had the opportunity to witness. They were simply uneducated, illiterate machines who did whatever they were told. But few fortunate slaves were given the gift to be educated by someone. One of these fortunate persons was named Frederick Douglass. Douglass was born a slave. He never had the chance of knowing his mother. As mentioned before, slaves were stripped from their families, leaving them no sense of compassion. In the book, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass says, "Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of her death with much of the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger."(2) Douglass secretly met with his mother about 4 times during his whole life. He said he never really got to know her being he was only a child and the never had much of a conversation. These sorts of incidents happened to slaves throughout America and permanently scarred most slaves and their families.
As both the narrator and author of “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by Himself” Frederick Douglass writes about his transition from a slave to a well educated and empowered colored young man. As a skilled and spirited man, he served as both an orator and writer for the abolitionist movement, which was a movement to the abolishment of slavery. At the time of his narrative’s publication, Douglass’s sole goal of his writings was to essentially prove to those in disbelief that an articulate and intelligent man, such as himself, could have,in fact, been enslaved at one point in time. While, Douglass’ narrative was and arguably still is very influential, there are some controversial aspects of of this piece, of which Deborah McDowell mentions in her criticism.
At first glance, the book “my bondage and my freedom by Frederick Douglass appeared to be extremely dull and frustrating to read. After rereading the book for a second time and paying closer attention to the little details I have realized this is one of the most impressive autobiographies I have read recently. This book possesses one of the most touching stories that I have ever read, and what astonishes me the most about the whole subject is that it's a true story of Douglass' life. “ Douglass does a masterful job of using his own experience to expose the injustice of slavery to the world. As the protagonist he is able to keep the reader interested in himself, and tell the true story of his life. As a narrator he is able to link those experiences to the wider experiences of the nation and all society, exposing the corrupting nature of slavery to the entire nation.”[1] Although this book contributes a great amount of information on the subject of slavery and it is an extremely valuable book, its strengths are overpowered by its flaws. The book is loaded with unnecessary details, flowery metaphors and intense introductory information but this is what makes “My Bondage and My Freedom” unique.
In the Autobiography, “Narrative Life of Fredrick Douglas: An American Slave,” Fredrick Douglas writes to show what the life of a slave is like, because from personal experience, he knows. Fredrick Douglas not only shows how his life has been as a slave but shows what it is like to be on the bottom and be mistreated. Douglas shows that freedom isn’t free, and he took the initiative to become a free man. Not many African-Americans had the opportunity to make themselves free and were forced to live a life of disparity and torture. Through his experience Douglas shows us the psychological effects of slavery. Through Douglas’s memory we are able to relive the moments that continued to haunt his life. Douglas’s book showed the true
I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege. I was not allowed to make such inquires of my master concerning it” (2171). In the beginning Douglass makes it clear that the slaves were not to be considered on the same level as whites. When he discusses his childhood, he emphasizes how little he understands it. Douglass had not obtained enough knowledge in order to understand the use of power that the whites enforced over them. When slaves were born they were already at a disadvantage because they were separated from their mother in order to prevent attachment. So before slaves were old enough to even start retaining knowlegde they were split up to prevent and not cause problematic situations in the future. In Heather Williams introduction to Frederick Douglass's narrative in the essay How Slavery Affected African American Families, she explains that slavery not only inhibited family formation but made stable, secure family life difficult if not impossible. Belonging to another human being brought unique constrictions, disruptions, fustrations and pains. Frederick believed that this was done by stating, “For what the separation is done I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child’s affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child”