Memory was given to man for some wise purpose. The past is…the mirror in which we may discern the dim outlines of the future and by which we may make them more symmetrical – Fredrick Douglas. Fredrick Douglas’s autobiography is a first- hand account of his transformation from a former slave into one of the most important civil rights activists of the Reconstruction era. His fluid, descriptive narrative on his life as a slave, helped sway the crowds into the emancipation of all slaves. His battle for civil rights help usher in a new breathe into the civil rights movement of his era. What is it about this autobiography that makes you feel disgust about slavery? We will dive into some of the details to find this very reason.
As in most autobiographies,
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Shining a light on the cruel treatment of slave masters and their overseers. It would seem as though he wanted to ease the readers into the violent topic while at the same time painting a vivid picture.
Fredrick Douglas talks about witnessing his Aunt Hester being whipped for having an interest in another slave. He blamed this on the Masters jealousy and wanting Aunt Hester for himself. Fredrick Douglas relates this to a tie between power and sexual desire. “I expect it will be my turn next”, Fredrick Douglas said in a passage as sort of an omen of what is to come. Slaves who had broken the rules of the plantation were deemed “unmanageable”, and were whipped and sold to slave traders in Baltimore. The slave owners had seen this as an appropriate way to send a warning to other slaves about being
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The caretakers of the horses were constantly punished and whipped for never meeting the standard of care set by the slave master. Having a thousand slaves meant that some of the slaves never actually met the slave master. Fredrick Douglas recalled a time that the slave master was going around his fields on a horse and stopped a slave to ask them what they thought of the slave master. If the answer was negative then he would remember their name to sell them later on. Slaves who were not loyal were sold quickly in order to keep order among the slaves and to keep them suppressed mentally, physically and
From before the country’s conception to the war that divided it and the fallout that abolished it, slavery has been heavily engrained in the American society. From poor white yeoman farmers, to Northern abolitionist, to Southern gentry, and apathetic northerners slavery transformed the way people viewed both their life and liberty. To truly understand the impact that slavery has had on American society one has to look no further than those who have experienced them firsthand. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and advocate for the abolitionist, is on such person. Douglass was a living contradiction to American society during his time. He was an African-American man, self-taught, knowledgeable, well-spoken, and a robust writer. Douglass displayed a level of skill that few of his people at the time could acquire. With his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Written by Himself, Douglass captivated the people of his time with his firsthand accounts into the horror and brutality that is the institution of slavery.
In Douglass’ book, he narrates his earliest accounts of being a slave. At a young age, he acknowledges that it was a masters’ prerequisite to “keep their slaves thus ignorant”, reporting he had no true account of his age, and was groomed to believe, “a want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood” (25). This mindset was inbreeded in slaves to use ignorance as control and power. As a child, Douglass is separated from his mother. Thus, he comprehends this is implemented in slavery to disengage any mental, physical, and emotional bond within families and to benefit slave owners concern of uprooting slaves for trade. He illustrates the “norm” action and response of a slave to the master. To describe the typical dialogue, he states, “To all these complaints, no matter how unjust, the slave must answer never a word”, and in response “a slave must stand, listen, and tremble” (38). In the course of his narrative, he describes several excruciating acts of abuse on slaves. His first memory of this exploitation, the lashing of his Aunt Hester, he depicts as, “the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery” (29). Also, he gives accounts of owners’ self-deception tactics, injustices, and in effect, shaping characteristics of prejudice, jealousy, and dishonesty of slaves towards slaves. Likewise, connecting to the reader, slave...
In his early years, Douglas lived on a farm where he watched many slaves receive harsh beatings and whippings. For example, one of his masters whipped his Aunt Hester because she was not there when he desired her presence. At the time she was in the company of another man, which was something that Colonel Lloyd, her master, told her not to do. As Douglas witnessed the whipping, he saw Lloyd take his aunt into the kitchen of the house and strip her naked. He then told her to cross her hands and as he tied them together and hung her on a hook, leaving her body totally open. Lloyd then began whipping her with a cow skin until she began to bleed. “I was so terrified and horror-stricken at the sight, that I hid myself in a closet, and dare not venture out till long after the bloody transaction was over” (p. 4). As a result of witnessing many beatings such as this, Douglas was able to put much feeling and heart into his works.
...alling 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 (pg. ).” George Womble, a former slave, expresses how his slaveholder, Mr. Ridley, “Sometimes he whipped us, especially us boys, just to give himself a little fun. He would tie us in such a way as to cause our bodies to form an angle and then he proceeded to use the whip (1936-1938).” According to Womble, “At other times he would throw us in a large tank that held about two-thousand gallons of water. He then stood back and laughed while we struggled to keep from drowning.” The slaveholders would treat their slaves in such a cruel way and they would create many punishments for them, even if they did not do anything to deserve it.
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.
In the well-written narrative The Life of Fredrick Douglass, the author, and former slave known as Fredrick Douglass, uses multiple examples of brutal whippings and severe punishments to describe the terrible conditions that African American slaves faced in the south. Douglass’s purpose for writing this narrative was to show the physical and emotional pain that slaves had to endure from their owners. According to Fredrick Douglass, “adopted slaveholders are the worst” and he proves his point with his anecdotes from when he was a slave; moreover, slave owners through marriage weren’t used to the rules of slaveholding so they acted tougher. He also proves that Christian slave owners weren’t always holier, they too showed no mercy towards their slaves and Douglass considered them religious hypocrites.
Douglass wrote three biographies about his life as a politician, slave, and abolitionist. However, the historical value of these works does not remain as important as the quality of the works themselves. Frederick Douglass’ writing deserves recognition in the canon of great American authors, because his work meets the chosen criteria for inclusion in a collection of important literature. Douglass influenced many famous abolitionists with his literary works, and this impact, coupled with his desire to write an expose about oppression in America, makes him a winning candidate. Although his published works, mostly autobiographies, received much acclaim from abolitionists, this paper explores the quality of Douglass’s work from a literary standpoint. This paper also details the events shaping Douglass’s impressive life and writing career. By examining the prestigious “life and times” of this black author, the reader will recognize the widespread influence of Douglass’s writing on other antislavery writers, politics, and hence, the public. In a look at his first and greatest work, Narrative of the Life, the following paper will demonstrate why Frederick Douglass deserves a place in the hall of great American writers. To fully appreciate the impact of Douglass’s autobiographies, we must examine violent period in which he lived. Douglass, born in 1818, grew up as a slave on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation in eastern Maryland. At the time, abolitionist movements started gaining speed as popular parties in the North. In the North, pro-slavery white mobs attacked black communities in retaliation for their efforts. By the time Douglass escaped from slavery, in 1838, tensions ran high among abolitionists and slaveowners. Slaves published accounts of their harrowing escapes, and their lives in slavery, mainly with the help of ghostwriters. Although abolitionists called for the total elimination of slavery in the South, racial segregation still occurred all over the United States. Blacks, freemen especially, found the task of finding a decent job overwhelming.
There has been a stigma that only slaves were brutally punished for misbehaving or attempting to escape, but behind closed doors women suffered the same amount of pain or if not worse than slaves from their masters. Douglass witnessed a number of incidents and describes the abuse as, “Master would keep this lacerated young woman tied up for four hours at a time… he would tie her up and hit her for breakfast, leave her, return for dinner and whip her again” (44). Another time he witnessed his Aunt Hester abused from what he believes to be his father, “… he took her into the kitchen and stripped her down, leaving her neck, shoulders, and back entirely naked… he commences to lay on the heavy cow swing” (16). Douglass included this event in is narrative because to paint the picture for readers that men had complete control of their slaves and women at home. Whatever the man thought was best to handle certain situations from slaves disobeying orders or thinking women had no rights of their own, the men during the 1800’s would use abuse to assert their dominance and authority. Douglas described these events in great detail, from the slave masters’ tying their hands together and being hanged, stripping them naked, leaving half their body exposed, but most disturbingly Douglass witnessed and describe the cries and blood dripping to the floor. Revealing the gruesome details from women abused is
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.
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.
In Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, one of the major themes is how the institution of slavery has an effect on the moral health of the slaveholder. The power slaveholders have over their slaves is great, as well as corrupting. Douglass uses this theme to point out that the institution of slavery is bad for everyone involved, not just the slaves. Throughout the narrative, Douglass uses several of his former slaveholders as examples. Sophia Auld, once such a kind and caring woman, is transformed into a cruel and oppressive slave owner over the course of the narrative. Thomas Auld, also. Douglass ties this theme back to the main concern of authorial control. Although this is a personal account, it is also a tool of propaganda, and is used as such. Douglass’s intent is to convince readers that the system of slavery is horrible and damaging to all included, and thus should be abolished completely. Douglass makes it very clear in his examples how exactly the transformation occurs and how kind and moral people can become those who beat their slaves and pervert Christianity in an attempt to justify it.
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
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.
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.
The narrative of Douglass quotes "Mr. Covey gave me a very severe whipping, cutting my back causing blood to run, and raising ridges on my flesh as large as my little finger". This quote also shows how horrible the men were abused and beaten too. Although, they had more of a chance to fight back against their masters, which is proven in this quote "This gave me assurance, and I held him uneasy, causing the blood to run where I touched him with the ends of my fingers". The quote explains how Douglass finally fought back against his master, after being beaten several times by him. The mental abuse is shown in the quote from Douglass's narrative that states" Mr.Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit.". This shows that the masters would mentally break the men, so they would behave and listen to them better. Most masters would drain all the spirit out of the men to make the threat of the slaves fighting back very rare. Those were the horrible struggles the men had to deal with in