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What Is Frederick Douglass's Journey To Freedom

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Every slave’s journey to freedom is imbued with hopes, struggles and triumph. Each individual narrative complex and intriguing. The world is blessed to have one of those distinct stories written by an educated former slave that went by the name Frederick Douglass. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave, Douglass reminisces on his life and the countless trials that he had to surpass throughout the years to become a free African American. There were many endeavors on his path to freedom, almost too many to count. However, the most important events and choices that helped turn his life around were beginning to learn how to read and write, fighting back against his former master Covey, and failing his first attempt at escaping slavery. Initially, Frederick did not see much value in …show more content…

Douglass states that he does not know the reason why he decided to stand up for himself. However, his self esteem and value most likely increased subconsciously as an outcome of his education on slavery. After the exhausting altercation, Covey showed a sign of defeat for the first time. Covery did not punish Douglass for the insurrection and stopped trying to whip him for the rest of his ownership. If he punished Douglass it would be a confession of his failure to break a slave, his reputation would be ruined. The reluctance to discipline Frederick enhanced his confidence and resulted in him declaring to himself that he would not be discriminated against from this point on, “I did not hesitate to let it known of me, that the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me” (83). If literature made him aware of his worth and position in the world, fighting back was his way of taking action and proclaiming that enough is

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