ipl-logo

Comparing Douglas And Narrative Of The Life Of A Slave Girl

819 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Comparative analysis of Frederick Douglas Autobiography and Incidents in the life of a slave girl by Harriet Jacobs

The Degradation of Beliefs
In the Bible book of Luke 12:47, “He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.” One who reads this statement would conclude that violence towards another who is not following orders is alright in the eyes of God. Slaveholders often use the Bible as a way to right their wrongs. In their slave narratives, Frederick Douglass in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, and Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, both describe the role of religion in their lives. Slavery overall is harmful towards the religion of slaves and slaveholders. Religion is a main outlet for the slaves, and many times it is shown how their faith is shaken by slaveholders actions. Jacobs tells of her friend Benjamin, and how he is placed in jail for escaping his master (7). Benjamin was asked if he ever thought of the presence of God, he replied with, “No, I did not think of him. When a man is hunted like a wild beast he forgets there is a God, a heaven. He forgets everything in his struggle to get beyond the reach of the bloodhounds” (8). During this feeling of being hunted, trusting in God would be the last idea in a slave’s mind, simply because if their God was on their side, he would not allow for this to …show more content…

In Jacobs’ narrative, one account of a young girl giving birth, and suffering great pain, she cries out, “O Lord, come and take me!” (3). While this is happening, her mistress stands by mocking the girl. After the birth of the child, the young girl’s mother hopes for her own baby to be in heaven soon because of the horridness of the world around them (3). The mistress then continues, “There is no such place for the like of her and her bastard” (4). Although under this mistress’ beliefs to encourage faith, she shows hypocrisy in humiliating the young girl’s devotion in a tough

Show More
Related
555 Words | 3 Pages

1. Fredrick Douglass witnessed harsh and violent actions throughout his slave life, as slave owners utilized Christianity as a justification for these actions and for the system of slavery. Douglass experienced this religious abuse throughout his life as a slave. However, in 1832, when he began working for Captain Auld, he witnessed the misuse of religion in the setting of a violent action. After Auld whipped a young woman, he justified his actions by quoting the Bible: “He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many strips” (33).

Read More
1039 Words | 5 Pages

Frederick directly relates to the slaveholders’ hypocrisy by explaining a Christian quote “translated” into normal English. He proclaims that the religious white slaveholders are “always ready to sacrifice, but seldom to show mercy” (Douglass 104). The abusive religious slaveholders are ready to sacrifice their time for Christian enlightenment, yet not to show mercy to the lashed and the abused. They much rather achieve their own growth and God’s blessings without a slightest bit of care or concern for their fellow “heathen” that

Read More
1572 Words | 7 Pages

Douglass who grew up under the hand of many different Christian overseers and masters, shared that, “religious slaveholders [were] the worst.” When Douglass was abiding with Mr. Thomas Auld (Mr. Auld’s brother), He described him as a man, “incapable of managing his slaves either by force, fear, or fraud,” until his religious conversion. Mr. Thomas Auld was converted at a Methodist camp-meeting, and Douglass expressed, “I indulged in a faint hope that his conversion would lead him to emancipate his slaves, and that, if it did not do this, it would, at any rate, make him more kind and humane.” Douglass was let down in both respects, and he said, “If it had any effect on his character, it made him more cruel and hateful in all his ways… after his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty.” One of his master’s justifications involved reciting religious passages and quotes from the Bible while whipping his slaves.

Read More
1080 Words | 5 Pages

Douglass refers to the Bible, to demonstrate the negative influence this sacred text had toward slavery. Alluding to the Bible, Douglass has the ability to explain how slave owners justified slavery. For example, he states that “...God cursed Ham, and therefore American slavery is right. If the lineal descendants of Ham are alone to be scripturally enslaved, it is certain that slavery at the south must soon become unscriptural...” (Page 4) as slave owners argument regarding from what is moral and immoral to justify their injustice towards other human beings.

Read More
1283 Words | 6 Pages

In the autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass discusses the hardships he encounters that transformed him from an unknowledgable slave to a powerful man who took a stand for the abolishment of slavery. He utilizes an assertive tone in order to grasp the attention of a primarily white audience because he believes they are the only ones who can penetrate moral judgement into the heads of slaveholders of the South. Douglass characterizes Christianity as the most influential source that encourages the continuation of slavery. The growing fear and brutality among slaveholders towards many slaves persists as long as slaveholders manipulate religion as a validation for their actions. Douglass uncovers

Read More
1255 Words | 6 Pages

The area of the Khina culture is a plateau region in the mountains, surrounded by slopes and lots of rocks located in central Africa. The group living in the region is a pastoralism/early agriculture-based society, needing to grow food and collect supplies to prepare and cultivate their crops. It has been well documented that the transition into agriculture was very hard on humans as a whole, all around the world, and this would have been no different living where the Khina people lived. While little formal and recent archaeological excavations have been done in the area, the ethnographic record with recorded accounts from around the 1920s is extensive and provides a lot of information about what could be expected in an excavation of the area

Read More
582 Words | 3 Pages

He later goes on to say he could hear the cries of chained slaves passing through the docks in the dead of night and it having a profound affect on his psyche. He also points out that the church is not doing its job because it has the power to condemn slavery and their choosing to remain silent on the issue. He brings to light the Fugitive Slave Law, which gives blacks no due process and civil rights. Under this act freed blacks could very well be accused of being a fugitive slave and have to be transported back to the south.

Read More
197 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout the “Narrative of Fredrick Douglass”, Douglass develops an image between true and false Christianity. Douglass elaborates his point in the opening appendix, calling the former “the Christianity of Christ” and the latter “the Christianity of this land.” Douglass describes the ordeal that slaveholders’ Christianity is not a given evidence of natural goodness, but an artificial state of self-righteous brutality. To tackle this distinction, Douglass states a basic contradiction between the charitable, peaceful beliefs of Christianity and the violence from the immoral actions of slaveholders. The character that is described as a good example for this theme is Thomas Auld.

Read More
559 Words | 3 Pages

In “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” there are many ironic actions related to religion. Douglass does his best to give us personal accounts of events he witnessed. Douglass also gives the reader a better understanding of how slaves were treated and how many people backed up their actions with

Read More
909 Words | 4 Pages

From Old Testament Bible times, slavery has been a part of many societies and civilizations. Slavery has been discussed and debated by many different groups of people, some defending it and some opposing it. Those who have been slaves are best able to share about their experiences. Through Frederick Douglass’ personal experiences, he proved that slaves were mistreated on the plantation, in the city and whether they were old or young.

Read More
1049 Words | 5 Pages

It is a common argument for Christian slaveholders to make “…that God cursed Ham, and therefore American slavery is right…” (5). this argument exposes their hypocrisy as it conveys how they attempt to stretch small pieces of scripture to justify the violence of the American slavery. Douglass thus asks if it is humane to use a small piece of writing to damn an entire race to hardship and subhuman treatment. This case of blasphemy is amplified by the observation that Douglass makes of one of his slave masters, Mr. Covey, in that “he seemed to think himself equal to deceiving the almighty” (61).

Read More
497 Words | 2 Pages

Douglass also drives vast attention to the false accusation that suggests the loyalty between a slave masters is stronger than the loyalty between slaves. Within the first chapter, Douglass evidently mentions the clear hypocrisy of religion, specifically with “Christian” slave owners who used their religious teachings and the Bible to justify their gruesome treatment to their slaves. Christian slave owners and their religious practice throughout is a reoccurring theme within the text of Douglass’ autobiography. In the midst of the next several chapters, Douglass begins to describe the conditions of his plantation such as brutal beatings, murder, and many others. Within the remaining text, Douglass explains his journey of escaping freedom which fueled the creation of the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”.

Read More
753 Words | 4 Pages

Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the  kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.

Read More
692 Words | 3 Pages

Douglass has shown how religious slaveholders are the worst especially when entertainment comes into play. The first being from one of his slaveholders Master Thomas, he whipped a young woman while reading a quote from the scripture to explain his reason for whipping her. The next example was with his other Master Mr.Covey, he would go to church and preach the word but come back beating slaves and going against the almighty God. The last example that is shown is again shown with Mr.Covey, he was guilty of compelling his woman slave to commit the sin of adultery. All of the examples illustrate that religious slaveholders are worst than non-religious slaveholders.

Read More
927 Words | 4 Pages

Religion and its relationship to slavery is a contradictive subject, whether it was forced upon slaves or was a form of hope and freedom is still commonly debated about to this day. However, these individuals were devoted Christians in the abolitionist movement who all

Read More

More about Comparing Douglas And Narrative Of The Life Of A Slave Girl

Related Topics

Open Document