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Compare And Contrast The Character Of Mr. Auld In Frederick Douglass

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According to Douglas, what is at the core of a white man’s ability to enslave a black man is the fact that white men are educated but the majority of blacks weren’t. So teaching blacks will “spoil” them and make them “forever unfit to be a slave,” becoming “unmanageable, and of no value to his master.”

Mr. Auld is portrayed in a very negative way, which is a stark contrast to the positive way Mrs. Auld was portrayed. Mrs. Auld teaches Frederick Douglas the alphabet, then after he learned that, she went on to teaching him how to spell short words. However, Mr. Auld stops these lessons from continuing as soon as he discovers they’re happening, which was right when he was learning how to spell shorter words. He “forbade” Mrs. Auld to instruct …show more content…

Auld and Mrs. Auld appear to be stark opposites from the way they’re portrayed by Douglas in his Narrative. The portrayal that elicits greater sympathy is the portrayal of Mrs. Auld. She’s incredibly kind and generous, as seen through her willingness to teach Douglas and attitude in how she treated him. It was illegal at the time to teach slaves, and yet she did so anyway. It’s clear she didn’t see Douglas as inferior because he was black but as an equal. However, Mr. Auld on the other hand was clearly very racist and rude, as he constantly uses the n word to refer to blacks, tries to give reasons to support why slaves shouldn’t be educated, and evidently sees them as inferior and less …show more content…

In fact, Douglas was one of the most famous intellectuals during the time as he advised presidents, led lectures; wrote several autobiographies that were so great Northerners found it hard to believe he had previously been a slave, became bestsellers, and was influential in promoting and spreading the idea of abolition. He was also a national leader of the abolitionist movement. He was so famous because of his great autobiographies, being one of the first to offer and show a firsthand experience of a slave in such a way that the majority of Americans could access it. He was also so influential yet he was black. Because he was educated, he was given more respect, which in turn gave him more power in the abolitionist movement, and he was more influential as well. Since he was so different from how other blacks were at the time, he was a lot more well known than the others. His vision of abolition differed from others’ views of abolition in that his way of promoting the idea and movement was to aim at the hearts and minds of readers of his autobiographies. His books are served a purpose to attack the use of slaves and contribute to the promotion of abolishing slavery and argued to fully include black Americans into the nation. Rather than just calling for the abolition of slavery, he fought for more, attacking slavery and calling for the full inclusion of blacks

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According to the text, Mrs. Auld ceased to instruct Douglass due to the strong advice

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He had a justification about teaching Douglass reading. He said that his wife could not teach the poor slave how to read because

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Because of the statuses of each person who attends Douglass’ school, they have a common ground to discuss with each other. Although Douglass is not technically a slave like most of the others learning from him, he still is in the lowest social tier and African American. Because of their corresponding similarities, the slaves and Douglass bond over their hardships while understanding what the others are going through. It is easy to sympathize with each other because they are in the same situation. During the time period this was written, society purposely made African American slaves feel like they didn’t belong and like they were outcasts.

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When most people hear the words “Fourth of July” they think about fireworks, cookouts, and sparklers. During the 1850’s, the Fourth of July served as a reminder of the many horrors and injustices in the world. On July 4, 1852, Frederick Douglass-- a former American slave, abolitionist leader and adroit speaker-- spoke in Rochester, New York about the affectation of celebrating independence. In his speech, “The Hypocrisy of American Slavery”, he claims celebrating independence is unethical when slavery is widespread. To convince the reader of his claim, he uses rhetorical questions, emotional appeal, and antithesis in hopes of shedding light and sparking action on the wrongful situation.

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The narrative of Frederick Douglas breaks down the very mechanisms used to enslave African Americans; from the deprival of education to an over use and desensitization of violence. What also occurs: is the realization that slavery as a system is able to damage those who are in power and use slavery. Corrupting the morals and empathy of white Americans who come in contact with the societal structure of enslavement. The same cycle which keeps African Americans from breaking free also keeps slave owners on a continuous path of cruelty. As an industry slavery seeks to survive and to do so it must have full support and no opposition; by both parties being changed to fit their roles it is able to do so.

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Fredrick Douglass is one of the most famous abolitionists the United States has ever seen. The events that led up to his freedom of slavery were very interesting. In his Narrative you not only get to see the worst of slavery, but you can also feel firsthand what Douglass went through to get his freedom. As we all know slavery was something you could not just walk out of. Some slaves that try to escape even end up getting punished or killed.

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Most of his time was in the movement of the abolition of slavery. He did not want any other black person to face brutality, humiliation, and pain. His arguments became very useful in the anti-slavery movement. It is through his experiences of being a slave that he urged for the abolition of slavery (Douglass, 1845). Douglass’ style of narration makes the reader to be involved in the story emotionally.

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To begin, everybody has their own perspective, their own view-point. As Marcus Aurelius once said, “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is perspective, not fact.” Fredrick Douglas was an African-American abolitionist, author, an influential historical figure, and immensely outspoken about the suffering, torment, agony, and hardships that slaves had endured at the hands of their brutal and ruthless slaveholders. Fredrick Douglas was born into slavery and he was fully aware of the pain and horror that slaves went through.

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Douglass goes so far as to demand for another slave of Aulds, Douglass’ grandmother. Douglass uses this opportunity to directly pieces of slavery that are morally wrong to him, eventually going as far as attacking Aulds religious practice (Douglass 105). Douglass finishes his letter by reiterating his intent to publish and publicize the letter to establish a broader opinion against slavery. Douglass does this while maintaining

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Mrs.Auld was not the average slave mistress. Before Mr.Auld she had not ever owned a slave. She made the slaves that her and Mr.Auld owned feel at ease when they were around her. She was teaching young Frederick his A,B,Cs until her husband found out and put a stop to the lessons. Mr.Auld felt that if you taught a slave how to read that the slave would not be able to do his job.

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The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows the imbalance of power between slaves and their masters. In his book, Douglass proves that slavery is a destructive force not only to the slaves, but also for the slaveholders. “Poison of the irresponsible power” that masters have upon their slaves that are dehumanizing and shameless, have changed the masters themselves and their morality(Douglass 39). This amount of power and control in contact with one man breaks the kindest heart and the purest thoughts turning the person evil and corrupt. Douglass uses flashbacks that illustrate the emotions that declare the negative effects of slavery.

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Frederick Douglass is making many different arguments in his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. One that sticks out in the novel is that some slave owners would suffer just as much as a slave would. When we are first introduced to Douglass’s new owners, Mr. and Mrs. Auld, he describes Mrs. Auld as, “ […] A woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings” (Douglass, 19). When Mrs. Auld was “caught” teaching Douglas how to read and write she was then forbidden to teach him anything.

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Slavery dates back to the seventeenth century, when Africans were taken from their homeland to the English colonies in the new land of America. Simply regarding an African’s skin color, they were put in the lowest position possible as a slave and treated very poorly. And although the African slaves became African American, they were not treated as a fellow American or and even treated like less than a human. African Americans were completely disregarded and ignored in the constitution, because evidently, some of the fathers of the constitution of the United States of America were slave holders themselves. Constitutionally, slavery was abolished in 1865, but Fredrick Douglass had the opportunity to escape to freedom before then in 1838.

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When Douglass was younger Mrs. Auld would teach Douglass grammar everyday, but when her husband found out then he got mad and said, “The first step

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