ipl-logo

Frederick Douglass A Hypocrisy Of American Culture

1360 Words6 Pages

Frederick Douglass Story
Frederick Douglass was a man who was outspoken about the abolition of slaves. He believed all men were equal as the Declaration of Independence states. He spoke of his feeling regarding the unjust treatment of the African Americans in the United States. Frederick Douglass’s book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” allowed us to see his life at the same time as the unjust treatment of the slaves in the United States. Slaves were property. They had no value, no rights, no freedom and treated as such. Douglass also allows us to see the growth of a boy to a man who dreamed of freedom and was finally able to have freedom. He gives readers insight about how his life and his fellow slaves’ life compared to life …show more content…

The United States exalted Christian values. These values edified the culture. However, Douglass demonstrates that Christian values seemed to be only for the white man. Douglass expressed how the masters and the overseers used Christian teachings to keep the slaves oppressed into slavery. Douglass compared the Christian church to prisons: “The slave prison and the church stand near each other. The clanking of fetters and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious psalm and solemn prayer in the church, may be heard at the same time” (Douglass, 1275) He describing how similar they were although dressed differently. Douglass also informs the reader that the more religious the master, the worse the slaves were treated: “I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show together with the horrible inconsistencies, which everywhere surrounds me. We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunders for church members.”. (Douglass, 1225) White Americans never saw the black man as anything but property. Property does not have rights so what they were doing was not anything against their Christian beliefs. Douglass indicated again that slaves were a property of the …show more content…

He describes how the owners tried their very best to stamp out the slaves’ culture. An example of this is slave owners did not understand how slaves sang as they worked or relaxed. Masters instead thought that signing was a sign of happiness. The truth was they used their songs as relieving the sorrows of their condition. Douglass beautifully explains, “Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.” (Douglass,

Show More
Related
732 Words | 3 Pages

Christianity was, to the slaves of America, (something with a double meaning). In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, Frederick Douglass, the author, argues about how Christianity can mean one thing to a free white man and something completely different to a black slave. The slave owners follow the ‘Christianity of the Land’ while the slaves follow the ‘Christianity of Christ.’ Frederick begins to build his credibility to a, white, northern, audience by including documents from trustworthy writers and by getting into personal experiences through his writing. Throughout the narrative, he is articulate in how he writes, and it shows the reader that he is well educated.

Read More
648 Words | 3 Pages

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Rhetorical Analysis By Migion Booth Social reformer, Frederick Douglass was an African American man who decamped from slavery. He has drafted several books including Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Mr. Douglass writes about his perspicacity as a slave. Mr. Douglass repeatedly uses paradox, imagery, and parallelism to display how slavery was inhuman and heartbroken.

Read More
526 Words | 3 Pages

The Narrative of Frederick Douglass is a very great perspective for people of today to understand what it was like to be a slave in the 1800’s. It tells the story of the slave Frederick Douglass and how he began as an uneducated slave and was moved around from many different types of owners, cruel or nice, and how his and other slaves presences changed the owners, and also how he educated himself and realized that he shouldn’t be treated so poorly It was at the point later in the book that I realized how some slaves might have felt during slavery in the 1800’s. When Douglass is sent away to Mr.Covey he is treated pretty badly but eventually he stands up to Mr.Covey and demands that he stopped being treated like an animal.

Read More
1080 Words | 5 Pages

During the time when Douglass wrote this book, there were several myths which were used to justify slavery. The slaveholder during his time justified this inhuman practice using different arguments. The first argument they used was the religion. From the narrative, Douglass says that slaveholders called themselves Christians which was the dominant religion by then.

Read More
814 Words | 4 Pages

However, Douglass, who knows the true culprit, refutes this idea saying instead that slaves would join together in song to tell of their hatred and sorrow. Another way that Douglass rebukes this friendly image is with the gory horrific reality. For instance, when a savage overseer kills a slave named Demby, Douglass recalls “his mangled body sank out of sight, and blood and brains marked the water where he had stood”(22). Douglass isn’t painting this life in a positive way because he wants others to grasp the alarming reality that was life as a slave. Although those involved in the enslavement of African Americans might’ve liked to believe it, there was nothing reasonable or justifiable about

Read More
1110 Words | 5 Pages

Douglass points to the vast unwillingness from the group of whites that refuses to fully perceive and accept African-Americans as deserving and equal citizens of the nation. Based on his personal experiences as a slave, Douglass is abundantly aware that the battle to abolish slavery is not an easy task. For the first twenty years of his life, he witnessed firsthand the abject cruelty of that institution in our country. Tactfully, Douglass seizes this opportunity to publicly highlight the unmerited and coarse differences in the treatment between the whites as opposed to the blacks living in the United States during this time period. He makes a “powerful testaments to the hypocrisy, bigotry and inhumanity of slavery” (Bunch 1).

Read More
559 Words | 3 Pages

“ I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, woman-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.” (Douglass 100) Douglass does this to show how hypocritical people in the South were being. Churches were teaching the Christian practice of being kind and compassionate while not actually practicing it themselves. Douglass argues that the actions of some people are against religion.

Read More
1049 Words | 5 Pages

Here, Douglass exposes the Christian attempt to wash their hands of any guilt or wrong doing. Overall, Douglass exposes the truth behind this hypocrisy; when these slaveholders use God as a

Read More
498 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
753 Words | 4 Pages

Through deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion, Frederick Douglass shows the readers what negative effects slavery has on the slaveholders themselves. Douglass successfully shows that slavery makes the slaveholder bitter and brings ultimate sadness into their lives. In addressing the harmful effects of slavery on the slaveholders, he makes one reconsider their moral righteousness and better comprehend the difference between humanity and atrocity. Though there are many other ways that slavery could have been harmful to the slaveholder, Frederick Douglass has shown that these ways given were true and has proven that they were indeed negative effects on the

Read More
392 Words | 2 Pages

The legendary abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass was one of the most important social reformers of the nineteenth century. Being born into slavery on a Maryland Eastern Shore plantation to his mother, Harriet Bailey, and a white man, most likely Douglass’s first master was the starting point of his rise against the enslavement of African-Americans. Nearly 200 years after Douglass’s birth and 122 years after his death, The social activist’s name and accomplishments continue to inspire the progression of African-American youth in modern society. Through his ability to overcome obstacles, his strive for a better life through education, and his success despite humble beginnings, Frederick Douglass’s aspirations stretched his influence through

Read More
973 Words | 4 Pages

Because of this, he successfully creates a contrast between what the slave owners think of and treat the slaves and how they are. Douglass says that slave’s minds were “starved by their cruel masters”(Douglass, 48) and that “they had been shut up in mental darkness” (Douglass, 48) and through education, something that they were deprived of, Frederick Douglass is able to open their minds and allow them to flourish into the complex people that they are. By showing a willingness to learn to read and write, the slaves prove that they were much more than what was forced upon them by their masters.

Read More
1574 Words | 7 Pages

Douglass is a African American that was a slave and did a Narrative about his time being a slave and in his Narrative he “threw light” at the American slave system. African American slave Frederick Douglass lived through a time of racism and how slavery was a natural thing to do but was a very awful thing. And slavery is when families who had colored skin were separated and sold of to a person that can do anything to them, the slave is pretty much like the slaveholder’s property. And in this essay I will talk about how Douglass’s position differs from those who supported slavery and also I will be talking about How Douglass used his Narrative to share his position. How Douglass “throws light” on the American Slave system is by showing

Read More
1838 Words | 8 Pages

PAGE 2 In the Narrative Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, he uses this text to explain his purpose in “throwing light on the American slave system”, or show it for what it really is, as well as show his position on how he strongly believes slavery is an issue that needs to be addressed and how it differs from those who defended slavery, with experiences from his own life to support his argument. Douglass uses experience from his early days as a young slave to throw light on the aspect of physical abuse. According to his narrative, Douglass states, “Master, however, was not a humane slaveholder.

Read More
812 Words | 4 Pages

Also, in the same chapter, Douglass’ expresses his feelings for Mr.Freeland stating, “I will give Mr.Freeland the credit for being the best master I ever had” (Douglass 49). Douglass’ states that Mr.Freeland was not religious but he was the best master he ever had. It is ironic that non-religious slaveholders treat their slaves better than religious slaveholders. Therefore, Douglass notes the irony of religious and non-religious slaveholders: religious slaveholders being more cruel than non-religious slaveholders. Douglass perceives how slaves are treated worse than animals.

Read More

More about Frederick Douglass A Hypocrisy Of American Culture

Related Topics

Open Document