Dehumanization Of Slavery

Slavery can easily be determined as one of the most blatant acts of dehumanization. In the narrative titled “Narrative Of The Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass is easily able to portray this by quoting, “I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man”, Chapter 10 page 45. The quote overall does illustrate to the reader the narrator’s reflection to slavery as a whole as he states they were deprived of not only their basic

Yet with power your are able to entitle yourself giving a voice to those who follow and support your ethics and ideological views. In slavery the suppression of a slave had began with dehumanization and the deprivation of education in order to embed fear among them. Fear and disobedience can be represented as the inhibitor and suppressor of power, as it pertains to hold value to the other. Furthermore, without fear there will always be disobedience, however with fear, disobedience no longer stands. Throughout the era of slavery, torture and maltreatment were used to instill fear into slaves that rebel or show resistance. In the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, on page 19 Douglass quotes “Mr. Gore was a grave man, and, though a young man, he indulged in no jokes, said no funny words, seldom smiled. His words were in perfect keeping with his looks, and his looks were in perfect keeping with his words. Overseers will sometimes indulge in a witty word, even with the slaves; not so with Mr. Gore. He spoke but to command, and commanded but to be obeyed; he dealt sparingly with his words, and bountifully with his whip, never using the former where the latter would answer as well. When he whipped, he seemed to do so from a sense of duty, and feared no consequences. He did nothing reluctantly, no matter how disagreeable; always at his

Although it had been said 421 years ago this renowned proverb had cultivated itself as the apex of modern society. In addition to its modern influence, it had greatly impacted the decline of slavery. In the novel, “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass incorporates his acquisition of knowledge in order to implore others to conform to his cause. “These dear souls came not to Sabbath school because it was popular to do so, nor did I teach them because it was reputable to be thus engaged. Every moment they spent in that school, they were liable to be taken up and given thirty-nine lashes. They came because they wished to learn. Their minds had been starved by their cruel masters. They had been shut up in mental darkness. I taught them, because it was the delight of my soul to be doing something that looked like bettering the condition of my race”, Chapter 10 page 23 . Even as Douglass comes to the realization that to educate his fellow slaves a price had been paid he had continued to see the progressional popularity of his “school” due to the fact that every human has the natural desire to learn. As mentioned by the proverb “knowledge is power”, every human has the opportunity to learn as it creates the circumstances to change your situation. Slaves had sought this opportunity as it had offered aid to their freedom as well as the empowerment of their voice as with no knowledge not a single man would