Frederick Douglass Chapter 6 Analysis

Frederick Douglass was a slave in the 1800s who escaped captivity in Maryland and fled to Massachusetts. During his time in slavery, he learned how to read and write, which later aided him in telling his story to convince people to abolish slavery. In Douglass’s autobiography Narrative of an American Slave, Douglass argues that the knowledge of slavery transforms people in chapter six using convincing metaphors, vivid imagery, and revealing parallelism.

In chapter six, Douglass uses metaphors to emphasize Sophia Auld’s change in behavior after experiencing the power of slavery. When he first meets Mrs. Auld, Douglass describes that “her face was made of heavenly smiles, and her voice of tranquil music” (p. 40). In saying this, Douglass is

Douglass demonstrates her change through “that cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all a sweet accord, change to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon” (p. 40). Douglass uses a repetitive structure to affirm how Mrs. Auld’s transformation is because of slavery. He says that she changes in many ways from her eyes to her voice, and then to her face. He mentions these attributes of hers in the first paragraph, which describes her smiles as “heavenly” and her voice as “tranquil music” (p. 40). These descriptions contrast each other completely and prove her conversion to hatred. Douglass continues explaining his transformation by saying “what he most loved, that I most hated. That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought” (p. 41). Here, Douglass explains how his thoughts have fully changed into ones that are separate from his master. The “great evil” and “great good’ mentioned represent the knowledge of how to read, write, and comprehend the world around him (p. 41). Douglass’s master-Mr. Auld- understood the power holding the black man under the white man. For that reason, he did not want Frederick to find out because he knew how detrimental understanding the means of his-Douglass’s- enslavement was for a slave owner. That is why Douglass sought it avidly and wanted to learn more. Mrs. Auld did not know that teaching Douglass how to read and write would affect him enough to completely rearrange how he thought. Therefore, the knowledge of slavery changed Sophia Auld and Frederick