After reading an excerpt about Fredrick Douglas, I learned why Douglas hated slavery so much. The reason why Douglas hate slavery was because when a women named Auld taught him how to read he figured that slavery was cruelty and that slavery was nothing fun. Douglas also didn’t like slavery after he recalled reading about immorality of slavery. Slavery is a very dreadful and detrimental feeling and thats why Douglas wanted to be an animal.
Douglas loathed slavery so much that he wanted to be an animal. The reason why was because he wanted to get rid of all the dreadful thoughts in his head about slavery. Also because he wanted to be the meanest out of all. What led Douglas to thinking that he wanted to be an animal was his condition as a
slave. His condition was so bad as a slave that he wanted to become an animal so he wouldn’t have to be in that condition. When Douglas said that he wanted to be the meanest out of all of them he meant that because when he read The Columbian Orator because the book had said so many dreadful things about slavery which made him provoked. Ever since Douglas became a slave he made enslavers sound like criminals because he had considered them as successful robbers who had left their homes. The reason why Douglas thought that was because he considered enslavers the ones that came to Africa and the ones that stole them from their homes and the ones that strangled them to land and reduced them to slavery. The most important thing to Douglas was that he was taught how to read and write by a women named Auld. The reason why was because if he was never taught how to read then he would never know what was written in The Columbian Orator. If he never knew what was written in The Columbian Orator then he would never know what people would have said about slavery. So Douglas was thankful of Auld that she taught him how to read. In conclusion, Fredrick Douglas was a man who escaped slavery, but at the time of slavery he was not pleasant with what it felt to be a slave. He was thankful to Auld who taught him how to read. If it wasn’t for her then he would have never escaped slavery. To Douglas being an animal was better than being a slave. Douglas also felt unpleasant being able to read the immorality about a slave. Being a slave is not fun, it is a detrimental feeling.
Fredrick Douglas uses his life as a slave to compose a narrative of involvement regarding slavery, in order to interpret the distorted philosophy behind slavery that would bring people to want to abolish the practice of harming men. Douglass has a purpose in writing about his life and that is end slavery and Douglass leaves out anything that does not help him do that.
The issue of slavery in antebellum America was not black and white. Generally people in the North opposed slavery, while inhabitants of the South promoted it. However, many people were indifferent. Citizens in the North may have seen slavery as neither good nor bad, but just a fact of Southern life. Frederick Douglass, knowing the North was home to many abolitionists, wrote his narrative in order to persuade these indifferent Northern residents to see slavery as a degrading practice. Douglass focuses on dehumanization and freedom in order to get his point across.
The Life of Fredrick Douglass shows how slavery could of not only affected the slaves but the owners as well. Thomas Auld was overall a cowardly owner and quite tough compared to other slaveholders. Douglass believed that since Auld obtained slave owning from marriage, it made him more of an unpleasant master because he wasn’t used to being around slavery and having so much power. Fredrick Douglass also was convinced that religious slaveholders were false Christians because they became more self-righteous and thought that God gave them the power to hold slaves. By telling stories to the reader, Douglass hoped to bring awareness to the harsh subject of slavery and show how the slaves kept hope during these miserable times.
He strongly expresses that a “slave is a man!” (990) and not an animal. Douglass lists similar characteristics that all humans share. He feels that religion is the strongest similarity between the two races. All races of the nation should share this idea of true freedom and liberty. Douglass used words like “bloody,” “shocking,” “shameless,” “revolting” (991) to describe the act of slavery in America. Speaking in front of all races, Douglass has truly discovered his identity not as a slave nor a respected literate scholar, but as a human being who is a powerful voice for those who seek equality for all.
Throughout the first half of the book I continuously noticed that the slaveholders were power hungry. Now this may be a very obvious observation, but it has major psychological implications about how the slaveholders may have thought. In the book it seems as though the slaveholders attempted optimize their superiority over their slaves. They wanted the slaves to be able function well enough for them to be able to work, but not as well as white people. This is evident when Douglas’s Baltimore master stated on page 29 that learning to read and write would ruin slave. The Baltimore master essentially saying that a slave who did learn to read and write would become less of a beast. Douglas states on page 33 that after he learned to read he wished he could return to the simplicity of his former life and even states he wished he could be a beast again.
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
Slavery existed in North America for 245 years, 245 years long and hard years in which slaves were treated with disrespect, put to shame, and abused. Some slaves have written about their hardships. One of these slaves was Frederick Douglass and in “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave,” Douglass maintains that slavery dehumanized the slave. Dehumanization is the psychological process of demonizing the enemy, making them seem less than human and hence not worthy of humane treatment. This can lead to increased violence, human rights violations, war crimes, and genocide. Fredrick Douglas was born in february of 1818 and died on February 20, 1895, he's an american social reformer, abolitionist, writer, and statesmen.
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’ source, “The Desire for Freedom” was written in 1845. He was born into slavery in 1818 and became an important figure in the fight for abolition. Douglass was also involved in other reform movements such as the women’s rights movement. He “experienced slavery in all its variety, from work as a house servant and as a skilled craftsman in Baltimore shipyard to labor as a plantation field hand” (Pg.207¬). “The Desire for Freedom” was meant to document how his life was within slavery and how his education could someday help him escape it. Douglass meant to speak to American slaves and those who did not really understand slavery in order to help persuade everyone that life was meant to be lived freely. In order to obtain this future, Douglass wrote about his own personal experience and how he believed that enslavers were “in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery” (Pg. 208). This source brings on the idea that slaves were willing to fight back, wanted to be educated, and, most importantly, wanted the chance to live life freely.
Abraham Lincoln and Slavery Many Americans believe that Abraham Lincoln was the “Great Emancipator,” the sole individual who ended slavery, and the man who epitomizes freedom. In his brief presidential term, Lincoln dealt with an unstable nation, with the South seceding from the country and in brink of leaving permanently.
“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe”( Douglass). This famous quote epitomizes the philosophies of Frederick Douglass, in which he wanted everyone to be treated with dignity; if everyone was not treated with equality, no one person or property would be safe harm. His experience as a house slave, field slave and ship builder gave him the knowledge to develop into a persuasive speaker and abolitionist. In his narrative, he makes key arguments to white abolitionist and Christians on why slavery should be abolished. The key arguments that Frederick Douglass tries to vindicate are that slavery denies slaves of their identity, slavery is also detrimental for the slave owner, and slavery is ungodly.
Douglass was not aware of what slaves were and why they were treated in a bad condition before he learns how to read. He was deeply saddened upon discovering the fact that slaves were not given the rights every human being should have. In an effort to clarify Douglass’s feelings of anguish, he states: “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow slaves for their stupidity” (Douglass 146). The fact that other slaves are content with their lives is what brings awareness to him because he knows that he is stripped of basic human rights. He envies his fellow slaves due to the reason that they are pleased with the life he cannot live to like anymore. Also, he is often wishing he never learned how to read because he doesn’t want to burden about his life. Douglass knows more about the disturbing conditions than most of the slaves around him, but he greatly regrets it. Before he started reading, he lived very much in contentment and now he cannot stand the fact of being
Throughout the entirety of the book, Douglass presents himself as a neutral figure who can see both the negative and positive side of any issue, even slavery. He presents a rational account of why slavery exists and does so without attempting to discuss the morality of the topic at hand. Despite spending a lot of time discussing the cruel masters and supervisors he encountered in life , his anger is not towards those who support slavery, but the institution of slavery as a whole.“Nature has done almost nothing to prepare me...
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
The imagery in Douglas’s speech affects the listener’s heart. “… See, too that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! Weeping, as she thinks of the mother from who she has been torn! ...” (Douglas 383). Mothers will be affect by the consequences of slavery because to them their child is a precious treasure. A Mom would be torn apart if something were to happen to her little baby girl or boy. “There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven that does not know that slavery is wrong (Douglas 380).” Douglas speaks out to the Christians who believe in sins, heaven, and hell. Douglas is constantly stated “God did not establish [slavery] (381)” because he knows that the white men believe in the bible, and worships it. He wants to makes sure that the white