Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Issues of power in literature
Frederick douglas, the narrative of the life of fredrick douglas analysis
Issues of power in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Issues of power in literature
“But alas! This is kind heart but had but a short time remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influences of slavery, soon became red with rage, that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord, and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.” (Douglas 19) This is how Frederick Douglas describes the change in his former mistress, Sophia Auld, as slavery corrupted her whole way of life. From this excerpt we can see that people can change profoundly for the negative. The question is what could possess one to change so radically when given power over another human being. Prior to the mistress’ change, Frederick Douglas, author of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas (1995) describes her as “a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings.” (19) This brings us to one of Douglas’ motifs of how slavery can carry a fatal poison that if one possess’ can change their outsight to life. This poison affects some people more then others. For example, if one compares all of Douglas’ slave owners, it is easy to see that those born into a slave holding …show more content…
At first she does not seem to recognize the worth of this power yet over time and especially after her husband being furious over her teaching educational lessons, she came to know how much responsibility she possessed. When Auld realized the power she had, like Douglas describes, she started to abuse it. The sweet requests she used to make were soon followed by harsh orders and demands. The slave possessing lifestyle started out as a small poison and soon spread through her entire body from the way she acted to those demon eyes she
Through his disgusting state of once being a slave, Douglass uses figurative language to express his thoughts and emotions of being a slave, and becoming free. Douglass expresses himself in the first paragraph as “ a man transformed into a brute” as a result of Mr Covey “succeeded in breaking me[him].” Douglass defines himself as an animal through his explicitly harsh word choice, and seems to be degrades him from being a human being, who deserves desires and thoughts of his own. In contrast of this,
Douglass then goes on to describe how slavery and his mistress husband’s beliefs alter her demeanor, for example, he writes about her “tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness.” He
Throughout the novel Douglass shows the damaging effects of slavery on the slaveholders. The excessive and corrupt power that the slaveowners impress on their slaves not only physically abuses the slaves, but morally abuses the slaveholders. Douglass shows this to depict that slavery is unorthodox for all involved. In America’s democratic society that we see today, no one branch of government should have unlimited power. There are checks and balances to keep this from happening. Power corrupts, the saying “absolute power corrupts absolutely” perfectly depicts what Douglass is trying to express. This absolute power is what corrupts the slaveowners. Slaveowners view their slaves as property and have absolutely zero respect for them. The slaveowners
In Douglass’s early teens he was no longer under the direct control of the Aulds. He was sent to a slave breaker named Covey. Under Covey’s cruel whip it was expected that Frederick Douglass would lose his “rebellious streak”. It was unnecessary to send him to Convey, but Thomas Auld was an incompetent master who had a bad eye for bad behaviour. Douglass told us that “Captain Auld [Thomas] was not born a slaveholder. He had been a poor man, master only of a Bay craft.” (65); this was a likely mistake for him to make.
Here Douglass thoughts about Mrs. Auld are quickly changed when he sees “that cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage” (176). Mrs. Auld was no longer that kind-hearted, caring person she was when Douglass first met her. She changed due to the fact that she was now effected by the harsh and horrid reality of slavery.
The Life of Fredrick Douglass shows how slavery could of not only affected the slaves but the owners as well. Thomas Auld was overall a cowardly owner and quite tough compared to other slaveholders. Douglass believed that since Auld obtained slave owning from marriage, it made him more of an unpleasant master because he wasn’t used to being around slavery and having so much power. Fredrick Douglass also was convinced that religious slaveholders were false Christians because they became more self-righteous and thought that God gave them the power to hold slaves. By telling stories to the reader, Douglass hoped to bring awareness to the harsh subject of slavery and show how the slaves kept hope during these miserable times.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an autobiography written by Frederick Douglass himself. No one knows the hardships and difficult times that Frederick Douglass went through as a slave, better than himself. That is why Frederick Douglass is considered to be, in my opinion, is the most reliable author when it comes to telling the story of his life as a slave.
Syntax and diction play a huge role in the beginning of Douglas piece. He speaks clearly about his first teacher, “the mistress”, and how she was so passionate to educate him. At first, Douglass acknowledges her as a kind and generous woman, as he reveals "there was no sorrow or suffering for which
Douglass managed to escape this and moved to a life in Baltimore. He was still a slave, but he was not treated as such. His mistress, Mrs. Auld, taught him to read and write. She was kind and caring, and Douglass said “that woman is a Christian.” By this the audience gets an insight into how Mrs. Auld was treating Douglass and can compare his current situation to his time on a plantation.
Both slaves and women within the United States felt the vast inconsistencies that plagued t...
“12 Years a Slave,” an autobiography by Solomon Northrup written in 1853 after he spent twelve years in slavery down in the deep south. Solomon was born a free man to his father Mintus Northrup. Mintus was the property of a man named Henry B. Northrup, whom later became emancipated through Northrup’s dying will. Solomon lived thirty years free, until, the early part of 1841. Solomon went seeking extra money playing his fiddle, this was the turning point of his life for the next twelve years. His description about slavery, slaveholders, and the events throughout his captivity is nothing short of horrific and gives an alternate view through the eyes of a man that was once free.
Most African Americans of the early to mid-nineteenth century experienced slavery on plantations similar to the experiences described by Frederick Douglass; the majority of slaves lived on units owned by planters who had twenty or more slaves. The planters and the white masters of these agrarian communities sought to ensure their personal safety and the profitability of their enterprises by using all the tactics-physical and psychological-at their command to make slaves obedient. Even Christianity was manipulated in a way that masters communicated to their slaves that God had commanded them to obey their masters. People like Frederick Douglass who preached abolition of slavery, only had to nurture the already existing spirit within slaves to strive for freedom.
The effects that he claims that damage the slaveholders is they became immoral, lazy, and too dependent on slaves. Mrs. Auld is the prime example of this damaging effect. At first, Mrs. Auld was a kind lady who was willing to teach Frederick to read. In addition, she was a weaver (meaning she had a skill), and this work deterred her away from seeing the cruelty to slaves. Mr. Auld saw that his wife was trying to instruct Frederick on how to read but told her it was a bad idea because if Frederick learned to read he would not be a good slave.
Auld, he was introduced to education which gives him a sense of humanity back. Mrs. Auld taught Douglass the alphabet and how to spell small words. However, Mr. Auld found out and disapprovingly said “ if you teach that n- - - - - how to read… it would forever unfit him to be a slave” which Douglass took note of to (250). Douglass realized the importance of his master being scared of him reading and spelling and noticed the value in having and education. Having an education and realizing the importance of that was a major building block in forming Frederick Douglass’s identity.
Imagine being ripped apart from your mother as a child. Imagine watching family and friends receiving the stinging blow of a whip. Imagine religious men telling you that this is the will of god as they work you as close to death as they can. While difficult to imagine, this occurred to some of those who were enslaved in the early United States of America. One of the most heart wrenching of these accounts comes from a man born as a slave, Frederick Douglass. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an example of how some early Americans dehumanized slaves and how Fredrick Douglass’ viewed this atrocity. Despite this, Douglass found mental and physical means to fight this treatment.