Dignity In The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

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In the books Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass and RUR by Karel Capek, there is the topic of dignity and should people have to work to have human dignity. What makes them have dignity is very touchy and controversial topic. In the dictionary, dignities definition is the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect. Therefore, the definition along proves that people don’t have to work to have dignity but it helps. The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows that individuals have to work hard to have dignity through the experiences of Frederick Douglass and conversely, RUR shows that individuals don’t have to work to have dignity as a human.
First, the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows us that black people must work hard, through the experiences of Frederick Douglass, to have the slightest amount of dignity. Throughout the United States’ history of slavery, blacks have been treated badly and had to work hard throughout their whole entire lives. Frederick Douglass has many experiences that show us that black people must work hard to get any dignity. His first experience is when he is a young boy, Frederick says, “My connection with Master Daniel was of some advantage to me” …show more content…

Frederick says, “…I applied to Master Hugh for privilege of hiring my own time… he granted me my privilege…” (103). This shows Frederick’s constant hard work at his job, caulking, and bringing in substantial amount of money is what led Master Hugh to gain trust in Frederick and allowed him the most amount of freedom any slave could get in working independently. Frederick was changing the world around him and he didn’t know it. Dignity was hard to come by as a black man and everywhere Frederick he somehow got it through hard work. As a result, black men must work hard to gain any recognition of dignity from a white

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