Slavery in Douglass’s Narrative is portrayed as a destructive force which affects every aspect of life it touches. Despite being a slave, Douglass was able to acquire the enough knowledge that allowed him to consider his position as well as the positions of other slaves and slaveholders. From his point of view both slaves and slaveholders are devastated and utterly changed by slavery. He managed to give several examples on how the white slaveholders were morally and psychologically corrupted under this institution. Ironically, these white slaveholders refused the abolition of slaves despite being corrupted by slavery themselves. One of the most obvious and terrible examples of the detrimental change that slaveholders faced once they started dealing with this institution is Mrs. Sophia Auld. She is an example of how the innate human nature is pure and not racist. Never being in direct contact with slaves before, Sofia treats Douglass kindly as her own son and starts teaching him the alphabets and some other words. However, once ordered by her husband to stop teaching him …show more content…
Covey did not show any kindness at first; the reader is introduced to him as being cruel without knowing anything about his past or his nature before being a slave breaker. However, his decay is on a higher level because he is faking religious piety. The scene in which he is going to a religious meeting and therefore he talked kindly with Douglass contradicts with his acts of adultery. Covey is keeping a female slave and a hired man to impregnate her which will get him more slaves. He is morally corrupted to the extent that he is encouraging an adulterous action in order to get more slaves and more money. His reaction would never be the same if he found out that one of his slaves have eloped with her male companion. This shows that he reached the peak of his moral decadence and