Olaudah Equiano: An Insight on Slavery

Numerous people have a diverse way of thinking towards the Narrative of Fredrick Douglass, so some people may think that his description on slavery was adequate while others may think that his narrative was not fair. Several people say that the story was an autobiography of his life and others say that the story was written to reveal the brutal acts of slavery and the hardship one went through as a slave. During most of Douglass’s childhood he did not have it as hard as other slaves, but as the years passed by and the older he became, the harder it become for him as a slave. He did not just live as an urban slave during his childhood but also lived as a plantation slave during his older years. The life of an urban slave was not like the life of a plantation slave.

Some slaves were determined to be free, even at the expense of their own lives. Franklin describes the different ways of how slaves would try to escape, and the main reasons why they were not submissive to the system or content with their condition of having security from their slave master. 2. What is the book’s thesis (the author’s main argument or interpretation of the theme)? The book’s thesis is that the overseers and slave masters had a difficult time of managing slaves on the plantations.

However, he wanted the power and wished to be called master by his slaves (Douglass, p. 76~77). He became a cruel man from possessing all of his wife’s slaves and becoming a slaveholder. He had to be cruel to be looked like a powerful slavehol... ... middle of paper ... ...out his master and mistress who were brutalized. He just wrote about his lifetime stories, so it’s not easy to find out actually how and why slaveholders were changed by slavery. I thought it was because of the power or the fear they got from becoming slaveholders or maybe both the power and the fear were the reasons, because we can say that the fear made slaveholders want the power.

In order to fully understand why revising history to suit the victor’s one must look at the accounts of those defeated (if they happen to survive the revision). In looking at the issues surrounding slavery we can compare a few accounts from escaped and free slaves to that of a couple prominent southern whites who attempted to justify and support slavery. The accounts of the slaves are graphic and at times disturbing but help to paint a clearer picture of the historic events at the time. Unfortunately written accounts of the ordeals that the slaves have gone through are rather rare. Many slaves after all were prevented from learning how to read and write.

It created an awakening for slaves since he was one of the first slaves that wrote a biography of his life even though slaves were expected to be uneducated. It showed cased slavery as evil and immoral and more people began to support the abolitionist movement. Thus caused conflict between the south and the north because many whites had different opinions and beliefs about slavery. Since they claimed slavery was a good thing because slaves were given a place to live and a place

Slavery Essay: Douglas Argument 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.

Many people initially believed the stories to be bogus but that myth quickly went away. Douglass risked his life in telling the story of slavery. His accounts went a long way in sparking the abolitionist movement. John Blassingame makes a good point about Douglass by saying, "by jeopardizing his very security as a fugitive in order to rebuild the credibility of the American slave narrative, none so dramatically as Douglass integrated both the horror and the great quest of the African-American experience into this deep stream of American autobiography" (xli).

However, if you dig deeper into the real history of slaves in America, the stories won’t always be as peaceful. Slaves were not always purchased by someone with compassion. Many cases show these poor slaves being treated with quite inhumane practices. Those slaves were given no choice except to try to find a way out of their dismal and dangerous lives. It was that desperate drive for survival that led to uprisings against the white man.

This liberation the people would get from taking control by revolting is only superficial, because your still being brought under another form of slavery. It’s all about the collective, or the state. No more self or individualism. Marx’s strong appeal to emotions helps pull the reader in emotionally. He informs and reminds the reader of the struggles of the modern day slave and the slave in the past, which is historical fact.

One of the first miscalculated aspects of the slave trade is the reason for southern states involvement in the interstate slave trade. Stowe depicted Kentucky’s involvement in the slave trade due to the poor soil of the region and economic ties with the practice. She implied in the beginning half of the Novel that many Kentuckians resorted to being bondmen in the slave trade due to the infertile land of the Bluegrass Region. In Stowe’s Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, (a book designed to muffle the critics of Uncle Tom’s Cabin) she stated that “Slavery’s subsequent lack of economic viability… [and] prevailing agricultural impoverishment are to blame for Kentucky’s involvement in the notorious traffic…” (Stowe 254). On the contrary, Kentucky where the bulk of the slave trade was supposedly concentrated has long been blessed with great fertility.