ipl-logo

Did Frederick Douglass's Freedoms To Have Taken Away From His Family

1100 Words5 Pages

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; An American Slave is the autobiography of the titular slave turned abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The novel chronicles his life from his childhood on a Maryland plantation to his eventual freedom as an adult. Douglass published the book in 1845, going into graphic detail when describing the horrors and injustice he witnessed in order to show the average american what slavery really was. Slave Girl in California is an article about an egyptian girl who was sold into servitude by her parents to pay off a debt. A girl named Shyima became the domestic servant of the Ibrahim family in Egypt when she was 8. She was sold by her mother thinking that she would help the family and have a better life; …show more content…

In the first chapter of N.F.D, Frederick Douglass recounts how slave children would be taken away from their mothers when they were infants. During most of his early childhood,Douglass was cared for by a stranger ,and was visited in the night by the woman he didn't know was his mother. Douglass laments that when his mother did die he felt “the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger”, meaning that the separation destroyed any chance of an emotional bond with his mother. Also slaves themselves were separated from “normal’ American society . Douglass recalls slaves being forced into small buildings to live, being under constant monitoring by masters and others, and being punished or killed should they wander off. This same theme is also present in the slave girl article. In the third paragraph, details emerge about Shyima’s early life after being sold to the Ibrahims. Soon after being, sold Shyima was forced to move out of her home to stay with the Ibrahims and to care for them and their home.. She wasn't allowed to call her family even after she moved to America; but when she was freed she did call them.The only problem was that they blamed her for ruining their deal with the …show more content…

In the slave girl article, Shyima is found in 2002 by the police after a neighbor reports something going on in the Ibrahim's house. The Ibrahim's attempt to cover it up by saying she is a part of their family, but when detective question their children and find discrepancies in their stories, they take Shyima into protective custody. Shyima is allowed to call her parents, but to her surprise they rebuke her. Shyima makes the decision to start a new life in America while the Ibrahims are charged with involuntary servitude and forced labor. They are then ordered to pay Shyima $76,000 in reparations; later, they are deported and justice is served for Shyima. However in N.F.D, in both Douglass's retelling and while he is writing the book in 1845, american slavery is still legal. Cruelty towards slaves goes unpunished and murders are thrown out or not even taken to court simply because the victims were slaves. In chapter 4, 4 differnt murders take place, one of which involves overseer Gore, and another involving Douglass' sister in law. Each murder is never taken to court and the worst punishment anyone receives is a slap on the hand given to Mr.Gore by Lloyd. Another case of injustice in the same chapter was when a man in the town near the Lloyd planation was bragged about killing two slaves with a

Show More
Related
753 Words | 4 Pages

However , there are very opposing themes such as money and gender as well. First in the Slave girl , Shyima was 10 years old when she was taken . She had lived with the Ibrahims and worked for very little pay .Her mother decided it was time for shy’mia to help out the white people next door out into the farmhouse.

Read More
752 Words | 4 Pages

There was also a girl named shyima who was forced into labor. Now frederick douglass and shyima differ in a lot of things when it comes to slavery but they were both forced to work and were both punished for certain actions. Frederick Douglass was beat and whipped but shyima was mainly just isolated from the rest of the world and only worked all day. Frederick douglass and Shyima both experienced terrible things.

Read More
1042 Words | 5 Pages

In many cases slave-owners, o even overseers, were not concerned with a slave’s wellbeing. The death of a colored man is described as unimportant and easy to settle with money, sometimes just an excuse, “… that killing a slave, or any other colored person, in Talbot county, Maryland, is not treated as a crime, either by the courts or the community. ”(Douglass 34). It’s a striking fact that helps us understand the author’s undeterred determination to escape slavery and abolish it later in his

Read More
739 Words | 3 Pages

At a young age, Douglass witnessed his Aunt Hester being horrifyingly whipped by his slave master; Captain Anthony. He explains that viewing this brutal site made him feel as if he were a witness to/ participant in this evil action. He goes on to say the first time he ever saw this inhumane abuse introduced him to the true hellish world of slavery. After firing their first overseer, Anthony hires another overseer by the name of Mr. Gore. One day, Mr. Gore brutally whipped slave by the name of Demby.

Read More
355 Words | 2 Pages

Analysing Frederick Douglass’s Narrative Frederick Douglass’s narrative of his slavery experience, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave,” was published in 1845. It discussed the truly horrific accounts of what legalized slavery looked like for him. Frederick Douglass uses diction in the form of explicit negative connotation in his narrative to reveal the horrible legacy of slavery. Douglass uses connotation in his narrative to help the reader understand the drastic realities of being a slave, especially a runaway slave, during the time of legalized slavery. He describes his experience of being in a free state as, “the unarmed mariner to feel when he is rescued by a friendly man-of-war from the pursuit of a pirate.”

Read More
1272 Words | 6 Pages

Frederick’s aunt was tied up like an animal to a post and severely whipped. Being exposed to this unnecessary and unfounded abuse over and over again would make all the slaves feel as if they weren’t worth anything; that they did not deserve any form of kindness or respect, and that no matter what they did they weren’t safe. This would mentally break anyone, seeing another human being being treated in this way just because of the color of their

Read More
1319 Words | 6 Pages

Douglass was sick that day so he wasn’t able to make it to his shift in the fields. Another perpetrator and victim situation we see in the narrative is when Douglass is telling us about a slave named Demby is shot and killed by an overseer after he fled from a beating. “Mr. Gore then, without consultation or deliberation with any one, not even giving Demby an additional call, raised his musket to his face, taking deadly aim at his standing victim, and in an instant poor Demby was no more” (Douglass, “Narrative” 955). When asked why he shot and killed Demby, Mr. Gore replied that he became “unmanageable”. Again we see that they use the term “unmanageable” as an excuse for why they treat the slaves with such

Read More
1573 Words | 7 Pages

In Terry Alford’s novel “Prince Among Slaves” there were many people that strived to bring Ibrahima back to Africa, during this time he also worked to free his children. The role of letter writing had an impact on the course of the book and each person connected the direction of Ibrahima’s journey. A former prince, Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima, was captured through an ambush due to his lost to the Hebohs and is now a slave (23).

Read More
864 Words | 4 Pages

The autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written in 1845 in Massachusetts, narrates the evils of slavery through the point of view of Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass is a slave who focuses his attention into escaping the horrors of slavery. He articulates his mournful story to anyone and everyone, in hopes of disclosing the crimes that come with slavery. In doing so, Douglass uses many rhetorical strategies to make effective arguments against slavery. Frederick Douglass makes a point to demonstrate the deterioration slavery yields from moral, benevolent people into ruthless, cold-hearted people.

Read More
1333 Words | 6 Pages

Since Frederick did not see his mother very much due to the the distance that separated them, he viewed her as a stranger during her funeral. This separation ensured that Douglass did not develop familial feelings toward his mother. Douglass’s separation made him develop a loathing for slavery and its masters while gradually becoming unmanageable. “In the same book, I met with one of Sheridan's mighty speeches on and in behalf of Catholic Emancipation.”

Read More
858 Words | 4 Pages

During her time in slavery, Shyima was mistreated. When she was moved to the U.S. on August 3, 2000, she was treated worse because she was the only worker they’d brought with them. Shyima was constantly both verbally and physically abused. “The Mom was a master at making many of the people around her feel like dirt”(72). She would yell derogatory words, like “You’re nothing, nobody”(73), and that she was a “stupid girl”(26).

Read More
193 Words | 1 Pages

Despite the obvious immoral results of slavery, the stripping and destroying of families is a point Douglas highlights throughout the narrative. Using his grandmother’s experiences of loss, Douglas shares how “she lives to remember the loss of children and grandchildren”. With no rights to her own children the burden of watching loved ones shipped away and treated “like so many sheep” has an almost unbelievable take on the true hardship slavery created for Fredrick and so many others. Throughout the narrative, the idea of freedom was always difficult and complicated to obtain. For Douglas, freedom was something of uncharted water, with no ability to relate to any freedom besides the memories of childhood anonymity was something that had to

Read More
973 Words | 4 Pages

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is Frederick Douglass’s autobiography in which Douglass goes into detail about growing up as a slave and then escaping for a better life. During the early-to-mid 1800s, the period that this book was written, African-American slaves were no more than workers for their masters. Frederick Douglass recounts not only his personal life experiences but also the experiences of his fellow slaves during the period. This book was aimed at abolitionists, so he makes a point to portray the slaves as actual living people, not the inhuman beings that they are treated as. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, slaves are inhumanly represented by their owners and Frederick Douglass shines a positive light

Read More
970 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

While watching the film, I realized that in this century to deal with the moral issues of abuse and oppression against women is a huge challenge. As the idea of patriarchy is deeply ingrained in one’s mind from an early age and there exist certain loopholes in the law that let people literally get away with murder when honor is the excuse. The film shows the mindset of the men in our society. Even after being released from jail, Saba’s uncle and father were determined on their side of the story that she bought shame to their family and deserved every bit of what happened.

Read More

More about Did Frederick Douglass's Freedoms To Have Taken Away From His Family

Related Topics

Open Document