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How Is Frederick Douglass Selfish

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During his time as a slave, Frederick Douglass witnessed some of the most terrifying incidents. He observed his aunt getting tortured and the terrible treatments of his fellow slaves from Mr. Gore and Mr. Severe. Though the worst part was, he did not understand why there was slavery. Douglass was a proud man who believed himself entitled to freedom. Frederick Douglass did not endure the most horrifying treatments from his slave masters, but he became mentally traumatized when it dawned on him that he was going to become a slave for life.
Frederick Douglass proved to be a curious man by always making an attempt to learn even when he was being oppressed. He could not fathom why his destiny was to be a slave for a man of different skin color. He wondered why simple information like his name and age were being withheld from him. “A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during my childhood. They white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege.”(12) Apart from the beatings he witnessed and experienced, Frederick Douglass detested the idea that he could not be his own man, learn more about himself, …show more content…

When Mr. Auld warned Mrs. Auld of the dangers that would come about with an intelligent slave, Douglass recognized the path from slavery to freedom. “It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty – to whit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom.”(29) Keeping a slave ignorant was one of the many fundamental things about slavery that Douglass

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