Frederick Douglass was a famous slave because he was an abolitionist, he wrote The Narrative of Frederick Douglass. When he was little he received little to no education because he was a slave however, he was determined to learn. He knew it would help him to freedom. In his narrative he uses strong and precise language to show how unhappy his life was. He made his narrative with hopes to put an end to slavery.
Douglass realized that he didn't have the same knowledge as other people. He didn't know his own personal information, like his birthday. “The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege.”(Pg. 12 E.1) This is compelling because it shows how enslaved people were viewed as lesser and how they lacked the rights that other people had.
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They borrowed him from his owner. Douglass portrayed her as a nice woman at first but having power over another human made her heartless. Douglass said, “The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work.”(Pg.13 E.1) This is striking because he used engaging language to describe and tell the readers how horrible owning another human being is and how knowing you have power over someone else can make you terrible. After spending much time with the Auld family, Douglass went to work for a new slave owner named Covey. Covey was known to break enslaved peoples’ spirits so they can be a “good” slave. The new owner did just that. All of Douglass’s hope to escape to freedom was gone. “My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed…”(Pg.18 E.4) This quote is powerful because he chose to use strong language to really go in depth to tell us how slavery changed him and it helped us understand his situation