How Does Douglass Show How Too Much Power Blinds And The Slaveholders

In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass presents a new perspective of slavery, which many people paid no attention to. He narrates several situations which prove that slavery not only harms the slaves, but the slaveholders as well. In the narrative, there are several episodes which show how too much power blinds and corrupts people, making them commit the most atrocious acts with clear conscience, which is the case of the slaveholders. In the beginning of the narrative, he talks of white fathers who constantly whip their mulatto children. In such cases, the role shifts from being fathers to being slaveholders. They treat their mulatto children as slaves. Not only do they whip them, but they also sell them to other slaveholders. Such acts show that even fathers, being blinded by the power given to them through

Auld. Upon seeing Douglass, she starts educating him and treating him well. However, having learned from her husband how slaves should be treated, she turns into a slaveholder similar to the rest of those he mentions. She dehumanizes him, tortures him, and deprives him of education. This proves that slavery could freeze people's hearts, turning them into stones, allowing them to act with no sense of guilt whatsoever. Moreover, Douglass elaborates on the use of religion to justify such deeds, and he uses the character of Thomas Auld as an example for this. Thomas Auld is a man who comes into the possession of slaves through marriage, and such authority turns him into an inhumane person. He uses religion as a justification for his wrongdoings to those slaves, and usually recites religious verses while whipping them. This emphasizes the idea that slavery turns slaveholders into hypocrites; they are willing to go as far as use religion in their favor to support their