Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Religion Essay

In the autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass discusses the hardships he encounters that transformed him from an unknowledgable slave to a powerful man who took a stand for the abolishment of slavery. He utilizes an assertive tone in order to grasp the attention of a primarily white audience because he believes they are the only ones who can penetrate moral judgement into the heads of slaveholders of the South. Douglass characterizes Christianity as the most influential source that encourages the continuation of slavery. The growing fear and brutality among slaveholders towards many slaves persists as long as slaveholders manipulate religion as a validation for their actions. Douglass uncovers

Douglass scolds the religious slaveholders for preaching such moral values in the Bible yet lashing their savage punishments towards slaves. The slaveholders become ignorant to the “pure, peaceable, impartial Christianity of Christ” and instead of obeying the Bible, they resort to the “corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land”(81). Unlike “Mr. Wilson, who proposed to keep a Sabbath school for...slaves… to learn to read the New Testament”, “class leaders [of the church] with many others, came upon [slaves] with sticks and other missiles, drove [them] off, and forbade [them] to meet again”(46) in fear of them learning too much and possibly rebelling. Douglass exaggerates the class leader’s armory, the missiles, in order to prove that a smaller weapon, such as a gun or a stick in this case, can only kill so many slave’s desire to learn. The hyperbole on the word, missiles, shocks readers because a missile destructs so swiftly, it could entirely wipe out a slave’s desire to learn and will scar them for life if they think about trying to act up again. Douglass jolts the white audience with a hyperbole to display the punishments of slaves if they consume holy knowledge from church. In addition to Christianity, slaveholders apply one of the most sacred and religious holidays to win over the hearts and minds of slaves. The original

Choosing to go down a religious pathway does not appeal for everyone. It’s not just a hoop to jump through or to have automatic access to graduate from church; Christianity is a lifelong commitment that should change a person for the better. For slaves just like Douglass, they live their life with nothing but faith. Even in the field, “they would sometimes sing the most pathetic sentiment in the most rapturous tone, and the most rapturous sentiment in the most pathetic tone”(20). Douglass points out that singing is a refuge for slaves. “Every tone [is] a testimony against slavery”(21) because singing is their only way of communicating their struggles. He mentions their singing to portray that they are calling out to God, or at least some assistance from a heavenly spirit. While religion gives hope to many, it does the opposite as well. Although religion plays no part in Mrs. Auld’s “cheerful eye...soon [becoming] red with rage… and [her] angelic face [giving] place to that of a demon”(32), Douglass illustrates her transformation being compared to a well-known villain of the Bible, Satan. The literary device of foiling Mrs. Auld who was an influential character (but not the protagonist) with Satan, an opponent against God, highlights the importance of Mrs. Auld. Douglass represents this contrast to depict that even kind-hearted souls can turn sour. Due to a change in heart, Mrs. Auld and Douglass