1. What is the book’s theme (the subject of the book)? The book’s theme is about how runaways had a huge effect on the institution on slavery. Runaways is equal to losing your property, so it would be in the slave master’s best interest to make sure his slaves don’t flee the plantation or at least be able to retrieve them if they found a way to sneak off. Since there were a percentage of slaves who seemed to be submissive, some of them were the main ones who plotted for their escape. You cannot assume that the more hostile slaves would leave because even though they were hard to be broken, some of them simply were not runaways. Also, Franklin analyzes the motives that caused runaways to leave the plantations causing the overseers great trouble. Runaways were not good in the slaveholder business, and it means a loss of profit for the slave master if they were never returned. 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. According to Franklin, slaves were very resistant to slavery and bondage, and some slaves would not stop trying to runaway despite the consequences. Franklin states, “The tensions, conflicts, and often violent confrontations between master and servant, or overseer and slave, have received less attention.”(2) White southerners refused to admit that slaves could n... ... middle of paper ... ... would not recommend this book to others. I would recommend Runaway Slaves to others because it literally has every reason or cause that a slave would run away; some you would never even expect or think of. The book broadens your view of slavery and shows you every opportunity a slave had to escape to the promise land; they would take it. Also, the book shows how whites viewed and feared runaways, and how the slavery institution retaliated to this ultimate form of resistance. The letters from free slaves are very heart felt because after they spent time actually enjoying their freedom, it gives you an understanding of how content and blessed they felt after being free which really made them appreciate their freedom more than any other born free man. Also, they had to carry the burden and guilt that their kin were still held in bondage and may never taste freedom.
At first glance, the book “my bondage and my freedom by Frederick Douglass appeared to be extremely dull and frustrating to read. After rereading the book for a second time and paying closer attention to the little details I have realized this is one of the most impressive autobiographies I have read recently. This book possesses one of the most touching stories that I have ever read, and what astonishes me the most about the whole subject is that it's a true story of Douglass' life. “ Douglass does a masterful job of using his own experience to expose the injustice of slavery to the world. As the protagonist he is able to keep the reader interested in himself, and tell the true story of his life. As a narrator he is able to link those experiences to the wider experiences of the nation and all society, exposing the corrupting nature of slavery to the entire nation.”[1] Although this book contributes a great amount of information on the subject of slavery and it is an extremely valuable book, its strengths are overpowered by its flaws. The book is loaded with unnecessary details, flowery metaphors and intense introductory information but this is what makes “My Bondage and My Freedom” unique.
1. The insight that each of these sources offers into slave life in the antebellum South is how slaves lived, worked, and were treated by their masters. The narratives talk about their nature of work, culture, and family in their passages. For example, in Solomon Northup 's passage he describes how he worked in the cotton field. Northup said that "An ordinary day 's work is considered two hundred pounds. A slave who is accustomed to picking, is punished, if he or she brings less quantity than that," (214). Northup explains how much cotton slaves had to bring from the cotton field and if a slave brought less or more weight than their previous weight ins then the slave is whipped because they were either slacking or have no been working to their
The relationship between master and slave in the Old South was as unique to the region as mint juleps. In no other time or place were master and slave in such proximity and so involved in each other’s private lives. What was it that lead slave-owners to take such an interest in their slaves’ lives? To what extent, and in what ways, were masters involved with their slaves, or vice versa? In this brief paper I will answer these questions using chapters four and five of Peter Kolchin’s American Slavery 1619-1877. The fact that slave-owners had such an active, personal interest in their slaves is only surprising before examining the evidence that Kolchin provides.
Douglass showed “how a slave became a man” in a physical fight with an overseer and the travel to freedom. Jacobs’s gender determined a different course, and how women were affected. Douglass and Jacob’s lives might seem to have moved in different directions, but it is important not to miss the common will that their narratives proclaim of achieving freedom. They never lost their determination to gain not only freedom from enslavement but also the respect for their individual humanity and the other slaves.
...y. He touched parts of the slaves' lives and what they really went through, but I don't think we even have a true idea of what it would have been in their shoes. The author presented the information in a very solid way and sectioned out very well. I understood what he was trying to explain easily. It was somewhat a long book but very much full of knowledge and history that in spirit is still alive today. We may not have slavery like it was then, but we still deal with racism and prejudices daily. The world changed because of slavery and is the way it is because of the history of America. We cannot change the past but we can change the future. Thank God the world is not the way it was. I cannot imagine what painful lives the slaves had to endure. But we can become knowledgeable about the history of slavery and America and learn from it in many different ways.
The detail present in the narrative helps convey the tones of liberation and fear. Douglass recalls the “blessedness of freedom,” of not having to wonder if it will be a day of “life or death,” yet he was able to live and “succeed in reach{ing} New York without the slightest interruption.” Attaining freedom was the highest goal for Fredrick Douglass. As a slave each day he would wake up wondering if he would live to see tomorrow, due to his strength he was able to live on and succeed in reaching the safe state. However, once freedom was attained he felt as though he “had escaped a den of hungry lions” with “money loving kidnappers” causing him to “trust no man.” Douglass feels as though he is prey in this free state where kidnappers are awaiting to make some easy money and take him back to slavery.
Often when we think of slavery in the 1800’s we associate the concept with only black slaves. However in the book of Uncle Tom’s Cabin we see that if mister Shelby wasn’t a slave owner and owed the debts to Haley, he has been just as likely to become a slave working for Haley. It is we arrive at the question what does it mean to be free and how do we obtain it. We will be looking at Frederick Douglass’s definition of slavery and how he overcame it through increasing his own literacy as a result of reading.
"The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point" was penned during the Victorian era by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Similar to the works of Anna Letitia Barbauld, Browning also used literature to protest the institution of slavery among African Americans. How she felt about racism and injustice is colorfully portrayed in this poem.
Despite each individual having different circumstances in which they experienced regarding the institution of slavery, both were inspired to take part in the abolitionist movement due to the injustices they witnessed. The result is two very compelling and diverse works that attack the institution of slavery and argue against the reasons the pro-slavery individuals use to justify the slavery
Fourteen thousand. That is the estimated number of Sudanese men, women and children that have been abducted and forced into slavery between 1986 and 2002. (Agnes Scott College, http://prww.agnesscott.edu/alumnae/p_maineventsarticle.asp?id=260) Mende Nazer is one of those 14,000. The thing that sets her apart is that she escaped and had the courage to tell her story to the world. Slave: My True Story, the Memoir of Mende Nazer, depicts how courage and the will to live can triumph over oppression and enslavement by showing the world that slavery did not end in 1865, but is still a worldwide problem.
Slave-owners looked upon the African Americans as lesser people who were in desperate need of support. They were not capable of surviving on their own without white guidance (Boston). Dr. Flint, the master over the plantation where Harriet Jacobs lived showed a great example of paternalism. He cared for Harriet but in a possessive way to which he continuously sought the woman for his personal needs. For Dr. Flint, the slaves he owned should be grateful towards him and be willing to do what he asked with no rebuttal. This wasn’t the case with Harriet. She simply refused him at every chance which only angered the slaveholder. Jacobs resisted the doctor and his paternalistic ways. Harriet Jacobs sheds light onto the self-interest that drives the paternalism displayed by the masters. The slaves were property and who wanted to showcase poorly groomed property? If there was someone visiting, the slaves, except for those within the house, would be hidden away and those who worked within the master’s home would dawn nicer clothes and better meals would be prepared all in a show for the
...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.
In your own words, what is the author’s thesis or the central focus? What would you answer if you described what you read to someone, and then they asked, “So what’s the point?”
The issue of Slavery in the South was an unresolved issue in the United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. During these years, the south kept having slavery, even though most states had slavery abolished. Due to the fact that slaves were treated as inferior, they did not have the same rights and their chances of becoming an educated person were almost impossible. However, some information about slavery, from the slaves’ point of view, has been saved. In this essay, we are comparing two different books that show us what being a slave actually was. This will be seen with the help of two different characters: Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the life of Frederick
Douglass's narrative is, on one surface, intended to show the barbarity and injustice of slavery. However, the underlying argument is that freedom is not simply attained through a physical escape from forced labor, but through a mental liberation from the attitude created by Southern slavery. The slaves of the South were psychologically oppressed by the slaveholders' disrespect for a slave’s family and for their education, as well as by the slaves' acceptance of their own subordination. Additionally, the slaveholders were trapped by a mentality that allowed them to justify behavior towards human beings that would normally not be acceptable. In this manner, both slaveholder and slave are corrupted by slavery.