I. Introduction A. Freedom and slavery cannot coexist. B. After nine months under Thomas Auld, Frederick Douglass was lent to Edward Covey, a poor farmer who was sent slaves from slave owners who could not handle their slaves for training. Douglass spent a year with Covey, being brutally whipped because he was not familiar with farm instruments and techniques, due to his time spent in the city. Douglass even thought of killing him, then himself, because of his cruelty. After Douglass’ time with Covey ended in, he was sent to William Freeland, whom he called the best master he has ever had. Under Freeland, he had plans to escape, but were foiled by another slave, resulting in his arrest. Thomas Auld bailed him out and sent him to Hugh …show more content…
Douglass uses parallelism to emphasize his feelings of vulnerability in order to convey his state of helplessness as a fugitive slave in New York. A. In the first paragraph, he states his when he escaped but not how. 1. “what means I adopted, what direction I travelled, and by what mode of conveyance” 2. He leaves the method in which he escapes as a secret since it went smoothly and according to plan, suggesting that he is worried at the time of his arrival. He did not want to terminate the escaping of slaves into a chance of freedom, resulting in him not wanting to communicate with people, making him more vulnerable. B. Douglass states that in order for someone to fully comprehend the situation that he is in as a fugitive slave in New York, one must experience it. 1. “without home or friends--without money or credit--wanting shelter, and none to give it--wanting bread, and no money to buy it” 2. He explains what he had experienced after his arrival, saying that he had nothing and no one would give anything to him. This made him vulnerable in that he had literally nothing other than the clothes on his back. He had no help and did not seek help from others, making him powerless in his new …show more content…
He placed this statement in the beginning of the paragraph saying that he was happy to escape enslavement, physically and mentally. The reality of the situation has not yet settled due to him becoming overjoyed. B. Douglass, now that he is aware of the dangers of being in New York, has become defenseless and vulnerable. 1. “I was again seized by a feeling of great insecurity and loneliness” 2. By finally acknowledging why it is risky for him to even be in New York, he starts to isolate himself from other people, fearing that they would turn them in or are slave hunters themselves. This fear inhibits him from communicating to others, even those who actually want to help, making him helpless. C. At the end of the paragraph, Douglass explains what a person must experience in order to understand fully what he went through. 1. “fully appreciate the hardships of, and know how to sympathize with, the toil-worn and whipped-scarred slave” 2. He had no friends or family in New York, he had no money, he had no shelter, and he had no food. Simultaneously, he was trying to avoid the attention of slave hunters. By placing this at the end of the paragraph, he explains what one must experience in order to sympathize with him and emphasizes his helplessness as a fugitive slave in New
In addition, every single night when he would be in bed he would always sleep terrified due to the horrifying things he would witness. Most of his days as being a slave he would suffer of hunger or thirst. Or most of the nights he would sleep cold shivering floor with no food in his body system. Douglass was bailed at the plantation without even knowing. So now he had no one in his family near him. Frederick never recovered from betrayal, slavery, and racism. Also every ...
The first and second paragraphs evidently consist of sentences of some sort of length, the third paragraphs are shorter, but, portray more meaning. Although the whole passage depicts powerful speech, the difference of syntax is defined by his day-to-day life, which is seen in the first and second paragraph, and his dreams, which is seen in the third paragraph. Furthermore, Douglass use of exclamation points, as it exemplifies his desperation and his yearning for freedom, in contrast to the first two paragraphs. Additionally, the parallelism in the third paragraph is completely different from the first two, Douglass uniforms his all his sentences in the third paragraph in a very similar way such as “O that I were free!, O, that I were on one of your gallant decks" (38). In using shorter very unsimilar syntax between the first two paragraphs and the third, Douglass renders that the slave is not an animal or beast, but a human being, that longs for nothing but to become
In the Douglass essay, there were many sensory details in his writings that made his situation seem immediate to me. For instance, the entry starts off with Douglass introducing his mistress when he first went to live with her, as “a kind and tender- hearted woman,” who would “give bread to the hungry, clothes to the naked, and comfort for every mourner she encountered.” As I read these words, he has a way of planting visions in my mind, that I am the one on the street watching her perform these good deeds.
a skill that would provide him with his passport to freedom. The narrative itself acts as a form of protest literature against slavery and also persuades the reader that Douglass has been transformed and is no longer a slave, but a free man.
One of the amazing things about the story is the level of description and imagery that Douglass uses to describe the suffering around him. The excerpt spans a mere three days, but most of the text focuses on his abuse and battle with Mr. Covey. Douglass skips over the common parts of his life to further his case against slavery. By doing this, the Northerners rea...
Additionally, the person who was speaking in the passage below was Douglass. He was around 12 years old when he made this observation and was inspired by one of the books
Douglass's Narrative brings an ugly era of American history to life as it weaves through his personal experiences with slavery, brutality, and escape. Most importantly Douglass reveals the real problem in slavery, which is the destructive nature of intolerance and the need for change. Douglass refers many times to the dehumanizing effects sla...
Slavery consisted of numerous inhumane horrors completed to make its victims feel desolated and helpless. Many inescapable of these horrors of slavery are conveyed in the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”. The entire prospect of the duration of the story is to plan an escape from the excruciating conditions awaiting Douglass as a slave. When his escape is finally executed, unpredictable emotions and thoughts overwhelm him. Within the conclusion of his narrative (shown in the given passage), Frederick Douglass uses figurative language, diction, and syntax to portray such states of mind he felt after escaping slavery: relief, loneliness, and paranoia.
... with doing this would increase the owners number of slaves, and profits. As a result of this and many other reasons to prevent slaves from thinking of running away, Slaver Owners would tell lies to the slaves to prevent them from running away.28 They soon after relay on taking slaves to church, in hope to keep them from killing their masters like Nat Turner.29
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an autobiography of Frederick Douglass which depicts the hardships and abuse he witnessed and felt as a slave, gives the reader insight into what it was like to be a slave in America. The type of slavery Frederick Douglass endured as an in-house slave for many years in Maryland was not as harsh or difficult as being a slave in another state such as Tennessee which is farther away from the North, or on a different plantation being used as a field hand. Frederick Douglass had the luxury of living in the city for a while, where “a slave is almost a freeman, compared with those on a plantation” and where “there is a vestige of decency” and “a sense of shame” which makes the city slave owners kinder, since they do not want to seem like an unkind slave owner to their non-slave owner neighbors. Even with this fact in mind, the reader is still able to understand the types of punishments that occurred, how the slaves were treated, and what it was like to live life as a slave because of the detail that Frederick Douglass writes in his book about the experiences he went through all those years that he was a slave and what it was like to become a free man.
In relation to the novel, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass’s disobedience ultimately sparked his freedom. Being introduced to the “heart-rending shrieks” from his aunt at such a young age, slavery implanted a long-lasting effect on his life. Often times, when one experiences a painful memory in the manner such as watching a family member hit until they are covered with blood, sparks a fire to stand up for what is right in the back of their mind. Douglass carried those visions of his aunt along with him his whole life, as well as his own repulsive
...y afraid at first but finds out that there are many ex-slaves willing to take a stand and risk their lives to help their own. Douglass realizes that with the help from the ex-slaves he could also help his fellow slaves.
Douglass’s life in the city was very different from his life in the country, and living in the city changed his life. In the city, he worked as a ship caulker which he excelled at, compared to a a field hand in the country which he was not skilled at. In the city he was treated better and always fed, but in the country he was experienced lack of food most of the time. The city opened his mind to escaping, and with the help of abolitionists he was able to successfully escape. In the country he did not knowledgable people to help him and was turned in by an ignorant, loyal slave. The city’s better opportunities and atmosphere led Frederick Douglass to escape freedom and dedicate the rest of his life fighting to end slavery
In using descriptions of slave life, ironic situations, and general frankness, Douglass is appealing to the emotions of his audience. Douglass is letting people know of the terrors of slavery by touching their emotions. He gets them motivated by being interesting and then builds upon this by describing his life in simple terms that all humans can relate to.
Frederick Douglass’ escape can be attributed to two very key elements. One being his education and willingness to remain enlightened as well as his determination and confidence.