The Importance Of Slave Women In Frederick Douglass

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During a time of war leading to reconstruction of the United States of America there were few that had such passion to speak out against slavery to set forth laws of equality. An escaped slave, Frederick Douglass, went against current times with the possibility of being apprehended and executed became an abolitionist. Women in society were seen as precious objects, you were not supposed to publically beat women. Douglass’s narrative shows many slave women being beaten by other men and women. Most of the violent scenes in involved women. He associates women with suffering. Frederick makes a special point of describing the traumatic sight of female slaves being beaten and abused. The rape of female slaves by their masters was another common …show more content…

Auld plays a big role in Frederick’s life to me because she makes him persue freedom the most. When Douglass moved to Baltimore with the Auld family he states “my new mistress proved to be all she appeared when I first met her at the door,- a women of the kindest heart and finest feelings” ( Douglass 824). At first, Frederick does not even know how to act and starts bowing and shuffling around. Mrs. Auld starts to teach Frederick how to read and short three to four letter words. Mrs. Auld does not know how to act. Mrs. Auld gets mad when Frederick puts on his “crouching servility” act and starts bowing and shuffling around. She starts to teach Frederick how to …show more content…

I think Douglass’s main point in looking at women in this aspect is to show the corruption of slavery. It can turn the nicest, kindest hearted women into horrible violent slave owners. It portrays an image that conflicts with societies standards for women. . Women can also represent innocence and submission in society, and by taking that image away with the actions he portrayed, it can shock the reader into doing something about it. Corruption and power were the main aspects of slavery that the slaves were able to observe and recognize. Douglass watched some of his owners go from bad to worse with the more power that they

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