Chapter 4 is entitled "The Cruel Hand," stemming from Frederick Douglass's quote in 1853 where he describes "a heavy and cruel hand" being laid upon the black man. In this chapter, Alexander describes how relevant this quote still is today. This chapter got me thinking about when a prisoner has served his/her time behind bars and they are finally "free," they are anything but "free. " They are almost better off behind bars because at least there, they have a place to sleep and food to eat. A prisoner is released out into the real world after serving time behind bars and they are immediately expected to provide for themselves.
When slavery was abolished in 1865, it was a critical turning point in the journey towards equality for African Americans. Prior to the eradication of slavery writers like Frederick Douglass sought to free millions of slaves in America. While slavery was a well-known and growing problem in the south, it wasn’t as widely recognized in the north. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Douglass recounts his experiences and tribulations as a slave. In the narrative Douglass effectively uses rhetorical imagery, antithesis, and irony in order to expose the harsh reality of slavery during the 19th century.
In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass feelings about the songs he heard the slaves sing, provoked anger deep inside his heart. Having grown up in slavery, dealing with the beatings, long hours, hardly any food, and let’s not forget any freedom. It would make him a bit annoyed. It not only provoked anger, but also reveal short-term happiness among the slaves. Frederick stated that, “they would make the dense old woods, for miles around reverberate with their wild songs.”
Throughout his story, Douglass talks about the worsening situations he is put in as time goes on. He witnesses the deaths of fellow slaves and he himself is put through abuse of all forms including physical, mental, and emotional. However, he sets himself apart from other slaves at the time due to his positive mindset. In his own words, he claims, “This living word of faith and spirit of hope departed not from me, but remained like ministering angels to cheer me through the gloom.” In this statement, he uses both a biblical allusion and a simile to his advantage through their utilization for delivering his point.
Frederick Douglass offers two powerful works of abolitionist writing in in letter to Thomas Auld and his address “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro”. His letter to Thomas Auld, his former slave master, was the personal made public, as he recounted his struggle and his family’s struggle to ostensibly to Auld but perhaps more importantly to the public at large. He used a similar strategy as Solomon Northup did in 12 Years a Slave, placing particular emphasis on the injustices of slavery within the context of familial relationships. Douglass wrote of his love for his children, saying “Oh! sir, a slaveholder never appears to me so completely an agent of hell, as when I think of and look upon my dear children”(4).
In “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass narrates in detail the oppressions he went through as a slave before winning his freedom. In the narrative, Douglass gives a picture about the humiliation, brutality, and pain that slaves go through. We can evidently see that Douglass does not want to describe only his life, but he uses his personal experiences and life story as a tool to rise against slavery. He uses his personal life story to argue against common myths that were used to justify the act of slavery. Douglass invalidated common justification for slavery like religion, economic argument and color with his life story through his experiences torture, separation, and illiteracy, and he urged for the end of slavery.
Frederick Douglass’s narrative was an inspiration through decades of fighting for freedom and desires of overcoming
Chapter seven of “Narrative” by Frederick Douglass focuses on him learning how to read and write while living in Master Hugh’s household. Douglass mentions he lived there for seven years. Douglass talks about having a mistress who was “... a kind and tenderhearted woman…” (p. 52), she did treat him as a slave but more so as a human being, however, nothing made her more angry to see him with a newspaper. Later on, in the chapter, Douglass talks about him regretting his own existence, as if he didn’t have a reason to live in the world.
The Truth of Enlightenment In Learning to Read by Frederick Douglass, he states that “Learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing” (230). The connotation of the word curse gives people the feeling that reading torments a person and never leaves them alone. For such a strong word to be used, it seems as if knowledge can physically and emotionally bring pain to people that did not expect its effects. Reading itself is a form of enlightenment that pushes people toward a valuable education and consideration of the world around them.
“One who is a slaveholder at heart never recognizes a human being in a slave” (Angelina Grimke). This quote was created to show the effect that slavery had on not only the slave, but the slaveholder. The slaveholder would dehumanize the slave to the point where the human was no longer recognizable; instead, the slave was property. Throughout this autobiography, Frederick Douglass uses language to portray the similarities and differences between the two sides. He allows the reader to spend a day in the life of a slave to see the effects from it.
What common themes bond together the literary works of the 1800’s? Frederick Douglass and Kate Chopin both realized that people were not being treated fairly and thus it influenced their writing. Through personal experiences and observations Frederick Douglass conveyed how African Americans in My Bondage and My Freedom were treated unfairly. Kate Chopin used the plot to show how women were treated unfairly in “The Story of an Hour”. My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass tells of some of the experiences he went through as a slave.
These songs were far from joyful, they would sing “…the most pathetic sentiment in the most rapturous tone…” and these songs would “… [breathe] the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish.” (29). Douglass argues against the positive image of slavery that portrayed slaves to be
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an autobiography told through the eyes of Frederick Douglass himself. Douglass was born as a slave; he was an African-American abolitionist and orator. In the book, Douglass highlights numerous cases of irony associated with slaveholding. Throughout his narrative, Douglass examines the irony of religious slaveholders and one of his non-religious slaveholder. He also speaks of the irony in which slaves are treated below animals.
Frederick Douglass was a great writer, but he wasn’t always. He was an escaped slave who used that in his speeches as a topic to gain the attention of his audience. His audience was a seemingly sympathetic one and got to them through rhetorical questions. Douglass wanted to convey the message that there are many changes that need to be made.
Lately there has been a grand concern towards the diets of children throughout the whole world where many support the idea that the media has a big impact when it comes to children’s food choice while some do not agree with this idea of influence. This is a burden that generates highly debates that are far from over. With this being said, this study will analyze three different points of views regarding adolescents’ food choice being influenced by media. To begin with, The Oxford University Press published a journal based on the social influence and food choice. According to Oxford`s journal, there are currently several researches that have found that the social media can either affect positively or negatively the choices people make towards
