There are many purposes and aspects of a narrative. Most people write autobiographies to explain why they did what they did in their life. One specific category is slave narratives. There are many great authors whose purpose of a slave narrative was to enlighten white readers of the horrors of slavery. The Narrative of Fredrrick Douglass is a great example of a book that completed this. In his narrative, he provided insight on the brutality of slave owners, how slavery tore apart families, and how slaves wanted to be treated equally to every other person.
Frederick Douglass went thoroughly into the brutality of slave owners, mostly shown through physical violence. He did not go into detail about the difference of violence due to gender, however.
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In Douglass’ narrative, he showed how slaves wanted to feel free and be treated like every other person. Some white people thought that if you had darker skin, you weren’t as human as they were. Douglass showed that he, and all slaves, had real emotions and real feelings, just like anybody else. “Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears” (Douglass 15). White people would mistake the slaves singing for enjoyment. Douglass says that slaves would sing when they were most unhappy because they wanted some sort of song to cheer them up in the hardest hours of labor. “America will not a reverence for our great Creator, principles of humanity, nor the dictates of common sense, awaken thee to reflect, how far thy government falls short of impartially promoting the welfare of mankind” (Cooper 50). Researchers also believe that if the government had not been so keen on making slaves feel lesser, so many things would be different. Looking back, it’s disappointing to see the justification of murdering, and mentally and physically abusing