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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.
Samantha Havier RDG091 Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Summaries: Chapter One: Frederick Douglass was born a half white and half black slave, and was separated from his mother no long after birth. As a child he witnessed horrific things that happened to not only him but to his Aunt Hester as well. Douglass did not know how old he was and only knew he was about seventeen around 1835. Frederick never got to know his mother.
In chapter 6, Douglass says that people slaves and slaveholders are affected by slavery, I believe its true. Douglass had a new Mistress who had never owned a slave before she was married and didn't know what would come of it. She had the heart made of pure gold, she didn't care if a slave would look her in the face. Her mere presence had put the stingiest of slaves at most soothing. All she was to him at the beginning was genuine smiles and the sweet sounds of her voice.
Douglass uses paradox to demonstrate that slavery degragrates the slaverholder. When Douglass under Mr. Sever’s care he described that: “He was less cruel, less profane… He whipped, but seemed to take no pleasure in it. ”(Douglass 24). Most slaveholders are characterized to be cruel and inhuman because of the whipping and the way they treated the slaves.
Abolitionism was a well-known movement around the time of the Civil War and its aim was to put an end to slavery. The people of the early nineteenth century viewed the elimination of slavery in numerous ways. Some fought against the end of slavery, some appeared to mildly support the cause and yet others wholeheartedly supported the ending of slavery until their dying day. Charles Finney was a religious leader who promoted social reforms such as the abolition of slavery. He also fought for equality in education for women as well as for African Americans.
Although slaveholders would beg to differ, you should keep in mind the cruelty slaves experienced by slaves. One should consider the moral , social, and religious ways. First, Douglass says the slaveholders believed what they were doing was right; however, morally they were changed by slaveholding. Douglass supports this by explains how his mistress was majorly affected. “ She has bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach.
Slavery had many faces but the underlying concept remained beneath each of these different faces. No matter how kindly a slave was treated by their master, they were still considered property and subhuman. While some owners beat and mutilated their slaves, others were more "kind" and treated their slaves humanely. Nonetheless, they still owned slaves and believed the slaves were property. Famous former slaves, such as Frederick Douglass, enlightened people as to how slaves were treated by their masters.
Frederick Douglass was a former slave and an abolitionist, his story tells of the hardships of the slaves, and its effects on humanity. Douglass was afraid to publish his Narrative due to the possibility of being sent back to slavery, or other people being punished for what he had done. Douglass is very critical of the use of slavery in the United States of America. He also believes that Christianity practiced in the southern United States is not actual Christianity, due to their use and mistreatment of slaves in their economy. Douglass rebukes the romantic image of slavery, testifies against black intellectual inferiority, and displays the disloyalty amongst slaves that has been distilled there by the white owners.
All the terrible and inhuman things that Douglass describes are the practical and usual things that happened in his time, they are not extraordinary. His true stories and multiple details from his life give the reader an idea about the effects of slavery on the life of different people in the
Douglass also drives vast attention to the false accusation that suggests the loyalty between a slave masters is stronger than the loyalty between slaves. Within the first chapter, Douglass evidently mentions the clear hypocrisy of religion, specifically with “Christian” slave owners who used their religious teachings and the Bible to justify their gruesome treatment to their slaves. Christian slave owners and their religious practice throughout is a reoccurring theme within the text of Douglass’ autobiography. In the midst of the next several chapters, Douglass begins to describe the conditions of his plantation such as brutal beatings, murder, and many others. Within the remaining text, Douglass explains his journey of escaping freedom which fueled the creation of the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”.
Douglass encountered multiple harsh realities of being enslaved. For example, the ex-slave was practically starved to death by his masters on multiple occasions. In fact, “[He was] allowed less than a half of a bushel of corn-meal per week, and very little else... It was not enough for [him] to subsist upon... A great many times [he had] been nearly perishing with hunger” (pg 31).
Consequentialism is the foundation of utilitarianism, its core belief is that an act is morally right if and only if it produces more good results then bad results, on balance, than any other alternative. Similarly, utilitarians believe that an act is morally right if and only if it produces more overall happiness than unhappiness, on balance than any available alternative. In utilitarianism, the moral goal is to increase the amount of good things (pleasure and happiness) and decrease the amount of bad things (pain and unhappiness) for the greatest number of people. Utilitarianism can be broken up into two categories, Rule and Act utilitarianism. For both theories, they can agree that the only thing intrinsically valuable is pleasure/happiness
In the book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass reveals his life as a slave and the valuable lessons he learned from his experience. Douglass wants the truth about slavery to be revealed and wants to eliminate the lies that portray slavery as beneficial. Douglass exposes the reality of slavery by criticizing the “romantic image” of slavery, showing the intellectual capabilities slaves had, and revealing the reasons why slaves were disloyal to each other. Douglass criticizes the southern, romantic image of slavery by exposing the harsh treatment and sadness that slaves endured. It was southerners who thought slavery as beneficial, because it benefited themselves and white society.
With this, Douglass is addressing the topic of slavery and whether to abolish it or not. And goes about telling the hardships he went through.
There I was on top of my house floating down the river. This was no normal river this river felt like the inside of my freezer. It was cold and unforgiving kind of like my cat that was with me. Not only were we floating down the river it was raining cats and dogs. Good thing I grabbed my tent.
