The Amerian Characteristics Of Frederick Douglass And Harriet Jacobs

America the brave; the land of the free. These sentiments did not hold true for multitudes of men and women before the civil war. Among those who were denied these Amerian characteristics were Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs. Both of these astounding writers lived most of their lives in servitude, where they found a fire within themselves to go on in their lives to learn and tell their stories. While Douglass and Jacobs may have had two incredible different tales of prejudice, they both tell a tale which relies on the themes of perseverance, the quest for education and freedom, their lack of control, and family. In the beginning of Douglass’ tale, he expressed a lack of knowledge of his own age (Douglass 1182.) At this stage, one may

This was a feat that now only grew their want for knowledge, but also grew the want for freedom. When Mrs. Auld taught Douglass to write her husband interrupted and conveyed the common belief that teaching a slave to read would ruin him or her. “If you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master,” Douglass quoted his livid master (Douglass 1196.) Jacobs had no such difficulty learning. Her early years were considered easy by herself and even when she found herself in the hands of her first mistress she faced no dangers or punishments. During this time she learned and thrived (Jacobs

Douglass expressed that during the time of his life when he had been sent to live with Mr. Covey he was broken in not only body, but in soul and spirit as well (Douglass 1210.) When Douglass says,”You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man,” (Douglass 1211) the theme of perseverance is most evident. After he had been broken down to almost nothing, Douglass rose from the ashes and fought back; he fought Mr. Covey with all of his might just as if he were fighting slavery itself in human form (Douglass 1214.) This highlights again the key differences of the struggles of a male and a female who are reaching for the same gift of freedom. His main fears were only whether he would win the fight, since to preserve his reputation Mr. Covey could never send him before others. Jacobs, however, had to fear for her children after any action she