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Frederick Douglass Nature

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Time and time again, nature has proven itself as a utility for individuals to harness, and deliberately or not, people occasionally use aspects of the natural world to address their personal regards. Frederick Douglass, in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, casts nature not only as a portrayal of the sceneries of his experiences as a slave, but also as a depiction of the oppression of slaves and the coping mechanisms that they look to in order to endure through the cruel and unjust treatment and control by slave owners. Douglass’s autobiography contains countless scenes where he wraps nature within the plot. Through his careful, yet, consistent use of striking imagery, he constructs metaphors and symbols which lay the foundation …show more content…

With no doubt, slavery was a period of great suffering for the black community, but the downtime slaves had between each laborious day was an opportunity for them to reflect on their life. When Douglass describes the journey of privileged slaves to Colonel Lloyd’s home plantation, the Great House Farm, he writes: “The slaves selected to go to the Great House Farm, for the monthly allowance for themselves and their fellow-slaves, were peculiarly enthusiastic. While on their way, they would make the dense old woods, for miles around, reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness” (11). Many slaves held Colonel Lloyd’s plantation in high regard due to the quality of labor that overseers expect there. Douglass places specific emphasis on the flurry of emotions that slaves experience, however, a point that he understates is the length of the travel that slaves must make to reach Colonel Lloyd’s plantation. With all that time for oneself, slaves often contemplated their lives in the miles of woods that acted as their chamber of reflection. The long walks through the woods and the singing done by slaves on these walks are representative of tools used by slaves to cope with their abuse and to express their suppressed negative …show more content…

Douglass summarizes the soul-deteriorating valuation of how he and the other slaves on Captain Anthony’s property were ranked: “Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and swine. There were horses and men, cattle and women, pigs and children, all holding the same rank in the scale of being, and were all subjected to the same narrow examination. Silvery-headed age and sprightly youth, maids and matrons, had to undergo the same indelicate inspection. At this moment, I saw more clearly than ever the brutalizing effects of slavery upon both slave and slaveholder” (39-40). By empathizing with how slaves were oppressed and dehumanized through the cruel actions by slave owners, Douglass creates a somber tone and continues his account by juxtaposing slaves to simple farm animals with no human qualities. This juxtaposition also reveals the parallelism of showing how slave owners acted like there was no diversity among slaves. Additionally, there exists a deeper meaning within Douglass’s use of the term, “brutalize.” While it distinctly means to treat something in a savage and violent way, this term also means to change someone into a brute, ultimately removing their

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In this part of Frederick Douglass’ autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he details the lives of the slaves on his master’s twenty plantations. He talks about what provisions they were given each month and the amount of clothes they received. In this chapter he writes, “The children unable to work in the fields had neither shoes, stockings, jackets, nor trousers, given to them…” (Douglass 6). Here, Douglass illustrates the cruelty that each slave endered with basic necessities.

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First Douglass writes about his relatives who were still being held by his old master. He begs Thomas Auld to tell him how they are doing and set them free. However, this is not enough so he asks his master how he would "look upon me, were I, some dark night, in company with a band of hardened villains, to enter the precincts of your elegant dwelling, and seize the person of your own lovely daughter, Amanda, and carry her … make her … compel her … place her … disregard her … feed her … and so on" (105). This is an important rebuttal which asks not only his master, but oppressors in general to imagine the reverse, where they are the ones being treated like that. It allows them to think about what it would be like were they in the same position as Frederick Douglass and his fellows.

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After eavesdropping on his white owner as to why education was forbidden for slaves, Douglass came to a shocking realization. “These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments…, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought… I now understood… the white man’s power to enslave the black man… From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom.” The imagery in this excerpt helps discuss how deeply the words affected Douglass and how, in turn, these words allowed him to come to the most life-changing moment of his life.

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The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass delves insightfully within the life of a slave, revealing the natures of power and how it affects those who are incapable of handling it properly. In this record, Douglass demonstrates that the system of slavery not only pulverizes the slave, but also the slaveholders. The power that the slaveholders possess, one which is devoid of responsibility, has a dehumanizing impact on them; annihilating their ethics and sense of self-conviction. It breaks the frailest hearts and finest emotions transforming them into those of a devil.

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My natural elasticity was crushed... the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me” (Douglass 39). The point to remember, is the horrendous conditions slaves are subjected to is unfathomable for most and has become dehumanizing; it should only be expected for Douglass to act as he did against the violent attack.

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Douglass describes the ships he sees on the Chesapeake Bay as moving “merrily before the gentle gale” and himself as “[sad] before the bloody whip.” By juxtaposing “merrily” and “sadly,” two completely opposing concepts, he displays that he is coming to a better understanding of how horrible his plight is in the context of the rest of society. The imagery of “the gentle gale,” a seemingly comforting concept, stands in stark contrast to “the bloody whip,” with its connotation of pain and great suffering, which further demonstrates Douglass’ recognition that his situation is different. Towards the end of the passage, Douglass contrasts his “misery in slavery” to “happiness when [he becomes] free.” By associating misery with his current state of captivity and placing it in close proximity to the happiness he would feel if he were liberated, a sense of desperation from Douglass to escape from slavery becomes evident.

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Douglass’ anecdote provided evidence to support his assertion that slaves often fought over the relative merits of their masters, adding to his argument’s ethos and establishing credibility. The substance of the anecdote also added to his argument by showcasing a harmful effect of slavery; its inconsistencies distorted the slaves’ view of the world, causing them to debate over their masters’ relative goodness and consider even the most basic of mannerisms to be indicative of a kind master. Though the readers obviously knew the true nature of the slave owners from the previous accounts of Frederick Douglass, the fact that slaves were so far

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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).

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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.

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Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the  kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.

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Douglass personally feels as if his personality and humanism is being sapped from him every second he partakes in the slave system, even though it is not his choice. Douglass illustrates this through his despairing writing, “My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect

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Dehumanization of both slaves and slave owners must occur for slavery to exist. Slavery harms everyone involved, including the slaveholders who superficially seem to profit from the arrangement. Douglass’s narrative acknowledges the damage inflicted on both sides of the institution of slavery, emphasizing that a human being’s personality and disposition form per the laws and socially acceptable practices exhibited within the society. Douglass has an excellent example how he seen with his own eyes how his mistress became demonized when she became an owner of a slave. Douglass became Mrs. Auld's first salve owner and at the begging when they first met “she [was] of the kindest heart and finest feelings” (38).

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Disagreements, miscommunications, and disputes are a part of everyday life, they are apparent throughout history for being the cause of many major battles and wars. Having two different viewpoints on a subject is quite a simple subject to resolve but not all resolutions throughout history are positive, many are a gateway to a larger conflict. The attack on Pearl Harbor was an event sparked by a misunderstanding between Japan and America. This bombing of a naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii was just the beginning. Japan took action and America retaliated leading both countries and many more into World War II.

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“With them, justice, liberty and humanity were “final”; not slavery and oppression.” This relates to the hardships and the fact that the people don’t recognize how terrible it is. And that these meanings of these “free” words mean something else to him and other slaves. He shows that the changes are hard but once they are made everything will be peaceful. Rhetorical features and strategies are Douglass’ forte’ in engaging with the audience.

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