Life as a slave was hard enough and being a slave mother only made it harder. “When I lay… I felt how much easier it would to be to see her die than to see her master beat her… The spirit of the mothers was so crushed by the lash… ‘broken in’ to that degree” (Jacobs 96-97)? With showing how distinct life was for both white free mothers
In the same page, he also tells how a woman killed his wife’s cousin in the cruelest way. Afterwards, he talks about the horrible feeling this murder produced throughout the entire community. Douglass also recounts the experience of watching the slaveholder whip his aunt until she was covered in blood and the pleasure the slaveholder seemed to take in it. The graphic description of her abuse makes readers feel the same anger Douglass must have
African Americans were often separated from their families to be put into slavery. Not only did they not get to see their loved ones, but they had to live with the idea of not being able to protect them. This applied especially to the slave men who were incapable of protecting their wives and children from slavery or abuse. John Rudd, a slave who had his mother and brother sold away, said, “If’n you wants to know what unhappiness means, jess’n you stand on the slave block and hear the auctioneer’s voice selling you away from the folk you love.”
Throughout the narrative, the author includes his personal stories about experiencing the violence of slavery first-hand. For example, on page 20, he writes about the first time he witnessed a slave, his own aunt, getting the whip. “The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest…I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition… It struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery…” The author including his experience of his aunts whipping, in detail, appeals to the emotions of the reader.
Ella’s grandmother had informed her on her own experience with slavery because she had been beaten by her slave master for refusing to marry a man he had chosen for her. With her grandmother telling her
Those that were not within the trade heard rumors of the acts that were committed but many were apathic to the plight of others that did not directly affected them. However, once Douglass began to speak and write about his time as a slave recounting the at times unsolicited violence that occurred, the tides began to turn within the public opinion. It was no longer merely rumor, it was fact being presented by a survivor. Within the “NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS, AN AMERICAN SLAVE” Douglass brought to life the everyday horrors that he had witnessed such as the treatment of his aunt, “The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest” (1184). This image of a woman being whipped and treated with such degradation was appalling to bear to the supporters of the abolition.
Many people forget that African Americans in this country have been enslaved for longer than they have been free. Coates reminds his son to not forget their important history and that they will continuously struggle for freedom over their own bodies. They must learn to live within a black body. These struggles can be seen in the racial profiling and brutality among police officers in cases such as Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and countless of others. He goes on to describe his childhood and how fear was the root of black existence.
The institution of slavery not only brutalizes its victims, but also dehumanizes the practitioners of it. Slavery had warped and twisted the very essence of every person it encountered, from the slaves being subjected to the cruelty and sadism of their masters, to the masters themselves losing their very humanity to such barbaric degrees, some of whom even being previously persons of reputable morality. The Classic slave Narratives provides numerous examples of this, many of which being within the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, and The History of Mary Prince. The Narrative of Frederick Douglass is filled with these examples of brutalization of both slave and master.
As a black person in America, I have come to realize that there are many other people that see my race as inferior. It is often difficult to consider this thought in my everyday life and after reading Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates has demonstrated that I am not the only black person in America who feels this way. The most powerful message that I encountered in this story is the fact that I come into this world with the world already against me and I am constantly trying to find who I am versus what others perceive of me. Being black in America forces individuals to change their natural being to try and live up to the standards of others. The American standard or the “American Dream” is described by Coates as a goal that cannot
While thinking of her children and their future under slavery, Jacobs recalls her constant fear of slavery and Dr. Flint and how it persistently overlooks her life: “If I went out for a breath of fresh air, after a day of unwearied toil, his footsteps dogged me. If I knelt by my mother’s grave, his dark shadow fell on me even there” (Jacobs 28). Through the metaphor of a dark shadow representing Mr. Flint and slavery, Jacobs is able to show herself in vulnerable situations to appeal to her audience’s sense of humanity and freedom. As a slave, any time not working is valuable, especially with family, which is why this metaphor from Jacobs is so effective. Even while kneeling by the gravesite of her mother, she feels the “dark shadow” of slavery covering her.
When Douglass is living with Master Hugh’s family, he sees for the first time a white person who treats him like a human being. Douglass uses metonymy to illustrate her dehumanization, an effect of the power of holding a slave: “Under [slavery’s] influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamb-like disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness” (Douglass 43). The words “tender heart” are an example of metonymy that alludes to the woman as a whole because she is known to be compassionate. As slavery integrates itself in his mistress’s life, her “lamb-like” nature is abraded and the “tiger-like fierceness” is the consequence of slavery. Douglass’ epiphany is that this corruption not only affects the slave but society as a whole.
Frederick Douglass also symbolizes the corruption of slavery on slaveholders through his characterization of Mrs. Auld. When Douglas first met Mrs. Auld, she was the first kind face he had seen, but after years under the influence of slavery, her heart grew cold and she proceeded to beat him. Similar to Douglass, Prince recalls an experience she had with the son of her owner Master D-. In the beginning of Prince’s life, children had been her one source of compassion that shared a different complexion. Children were undefiled by the evils of slavery, like Prince’s childhood friend, Miss Betsy, who cried when they were separated.
In this way, Beloved exposes the trickery, dishonesty and the futility of the whites. The slave owners assumed that these slaves were their own property and assets which could be made, controlled, described and even changed. Schoolteacher, a representative of white supremacy, introduced beating, torture, humiliation for the slaves. He disapproved the way of living of the slaves: “He complained they ate too much, rested too much, talked too much, which was certainly true compared to him, because schoolteacher ate little, spoke less and rested not at
When Sethe tells Paul D the story of her being beaten by the schoolteacher, he focuses on the beating itself, but she instead repeats the phrase “they took my milk” (Morrison 20). While slavery is a horror, it is a dead horror that people today cannot relate to. However, by having Sethe focusing on her milk, Morrison laments the pain of a mother’s sacrifices to support her children even when she is unable to support herself. Even during her assault, Sethe focuses on her breast milk, meant for her child, being taken from her. The portrayal of the hardship of motherhood allows Sethe’s experience as a slave to transcend beyond the time period and become a universal suffering that people can relate to, therefore achieving mimesis.
The characters in Beloved, especially Sethe and Paul D are both dehumanized during the slavery experiences by the inhumanity of the white people, their responses to the experience differ due to their different role. Sethe were trapped in the past because the ghost of the dead baby in the house was the representation of Sethe’s past life that she couldnot forget. She accepted the ghost as she accepted the past. But Sethe began to see the future after she confronted her through the appearance of her dead baby as a woman who came to her house. For Sethe, the future existed only after she could explain why she killed her own daughter.
