The “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” is a memoir written in 1845 by a former slave Frederick Douglass, who later became a famous orator. The book is known as one of the most important and famous written works of former slaves during that period of time. The book tells about the period when Douglass was a slave and his strivings to become a free person. He tells a lot about his masters and the period when he eventually became free. The book is a great example of a written work telling the reader about the American slave system, freedom, and dehumanization.
Chapter seven begins with Douglass’ words that he lives with his masters for seven years. He spent this period with a great benefit as he learned how to read and write. It is an exceptional
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The reader compassionates Douglass during his story, and it is hard to understand how people could be so cruel. It is obvious that slave had no rights, but they were also deprived such things as learning to read. It is also evident that slave system changed people as it may be seen from the example with Mrs. Auld (Douglass, Frederick p.33). Moreover, Douglass writes that learning to read became a curse for him as he states “the more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers” (Douglass, Frederick p.35). From that moment Douglass could not think of them other than of robbers who took him from the family in Africa and forced to serve them (Douglass, Frederick p.35). These thoughts opened his eyes to his real status, and he almost despaired of changing something. However, the stories he read and heard supported him and helped to believe in the better future. It is very hard to read the story of Douglass as he always stayed positive in spite of all the difficulties. In that way, the dehumanization of people who are connected to slavery is obvious, and it is a representation of the American slave system of that