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What Is The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dating back to early America, the impact of trade escalated from natural resources to the key usage of human beings to cultivate these desired products. The object of slavery was one of the supreme factors towards the growth of the American economy and how it thrived. The cruel and arguable dictatorship that was forced into the institution was and still is unfathomable. Even though the United States government saw the matter of slavery as a contentious affair amongst Americans, it was never thoroughly handled but laid aside to deal with through temporary resolutions like the Missouri and ⅗ Compromise. However the issue was growing and needed to be addressed as it impacted the United States as a whole. …show more content…

Looking back upon his mothers passing when he was around the age of seven, Douglass “received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions [he would] have probably felt at the death of a stranger”. This was because of the unfair separation brought to the family since Douglass was born of a slave mother and a white father who was supposedly his master. Mistresses could be the most unanticipatedly barbarous. Being a woman, a gentle and motherly disposition would be expected but usually they could be the cruelest if they assumed that slaves obtained favor from their master. The constant torment done to women throughout the account of Douglass’ life not only traumatized them but Douglass as well. Looking back to his first witness of the inhumanity synonymous with subjugation, Frederick Douglass remembers the night his aunt was mercilessly whipped and scarred physically and emotionally through demeaning names thrown upon her by her master. Unfortunately this was not a unique event. Another slave having no relation to Frederick Douglass was put through undignified situations similar to Aunt Hester’s condition. Former slave and proud women’s activist Sojourner Truth was born into this bondage and her being a woman made the already ghastly experience even more unbearable. Born as Isabella Baumfree, Truth grew up speaking Dutch …show more content…

The second Great Awakening was a period of religious revival with Americans having a reversed outlook on religion. Meetings would be held across the country with many attending and becoming loyal to the assemblies. Although most southerners exuded completely different characteristics from the meetings they so frequently took part in. Frederick Douglass was appalled and left stunned when his master Thomas allowed the smallest portion of food to eat the slaves were forced to beg or steal from neighbors to supply the hunger pains being inflicted on them. Yet the plethora of food could be found in the store house. And every night his master and mistress would kneel in the most holy position and pray that God would bless them with more food. Contrary to the indoctrinated cruel nature that masters would have over slaves, not providing enough food for slaves to eat whether good or bad was determined as the most wicked a master could be. The barbaric torture that befell on the slaves unfourtantly did not end with hunger but but with physical anguish inflicted on the disabled. Douglass remembers his master Capitan Auld “tie up a lame young woman and whip her with a heavy cowskin…and in justification of the bloody deed, he would quote this passage of scripture- “

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The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass challenges and enhances information from the textbook America a Narrative History. In Chapter 13 of the textbook, the Second Great Awakening is mentioned, and the author talks about how large camp meetings were held, which resulted in many converting to Methodism. Similarly, Douglass, as his master attended one, mentions a camp meeting, where Douglass hoped his master would become kinder or emancipate his slaves, however, instead it made his master crueler. In addition, in Chapter 15 the conflict between a true Christian and a Southern Christian is brought up. In both the narrative and the textbook, the fact that slavery is endorsed by the bible is brought up as part of the pro-slavery movement.

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Douglass was born into slavery, to say the least. He recalls early in life his mistress treating him as if he was an actual human being. Douglass claims, “She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach” (Douglass 130). He describes his mistress as a loving and caring. His mistress did not see him as chattel, or property.

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Douglass refers to the Bible, to demonstrate the negative influence this sacred text had toward slavery. Alluding to the Bible, Douglass has the ability to explain how slave owners justified slavery. For example, he states that “...God cursed Ham, and therefore American slavery is right. If the lineal descendants of Ham are alone to be scripturally enslaved, it is certain that slavery at the south must soon become unscriptural...” (Page 4) as slave owners argument regarding from what is moral and immoral to justify their injustice towards other human beings.

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Frederick Douglass was born in 1818 to slavery, with a black mother and a white father who was rumored to be his master. Douglass was enslaved during his entire youth and 7 years after escaping slavery; he wrote “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” which entails his horrifying experiences in slavery and his journey to ultimate freedom. Douglass was a well-known American abolitionist and activist. In his narrative, he used emotive, descriptive language in combination with personal anecdotes to appeal to his white Christian audience to expose the reality of the dehumanization that comes with slavery. Douglass refers to several different instances of dehumanization throughout his narrative.

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Frederick Douglass’s views were greatly influenced by his upbringing. Born February 1817, he was separated from his mom at an early age and rarely saw his father. During the time of his upbringing it was not uncommon for white slave masters to have sexual relations (rape or other cases) with African American slave women on their plantations (“Frederick Douglass Biography”). As a result, his ethnicity was a mix of African American and American, otherwise known as a mulatto. Douglass was raised in slavery and in an environment of hard labor and cruel treatment.

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He was separated from his mother at an early age. As an adult, he conjectured that this separation was “to hinder the development of the child’s affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child” (Douglass 24). Once separated, Douglass saw his mother only four or five times in his life and could not “recollect of ever seeing my mother by the light of day” (Douglass 25). Douglass (28-30) remembered as a young boy hearing the piercing screams of his aunt as she was stripped, tied and then whipped into unconsciousness. The incident struck him “with awful force.

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One of the strategies Douglass uses to convince his audience slavery should be abolished is by “calling out American hypocrisy in his Fourth of July oration” (Mercieca 1). He shames them with no remorse. He speaks on the opposite treatments that enable whites to live in a state of freedom and liberty, while the blacks are living in a state of bondage. As the audience listens, he reminds them, there are men, women and children still held hostages to the chains of

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Throughout his narrative, Douglass’s descriptions of the white slaveholders expose the Christian hypocrisy found in the American slave system. Douglass first does so by exposing how the lesson taught by Christians to help those in need is contradicted by the experiences Douglass has especially with hunger. Douglass reflects on these experiences when he states that for the “first time during a space of more than seven years” feeling the effects of the “painful gnawing’s of hunger…” (54). This event shows the Christians’ lessons of selflessness and kindness is hypocritical as they treat their fellow humans as subhuman. The Christians at the time rely on scripture to make a case for slavery in America.

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Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the  kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.

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Dehumanization of both slaves and slave owners must occur for slavery to exist. Slavery harms everyone involved, including the slaveholders who superficially seem to profit from the arrangement. Douglass’s narrative acknowledges the damage inflicted on both sides of the institution of slavery, emphasizing that a human being’s personality and disposition form per the laws and socially acceptable practices exhibited within the society. Douglass has an excellent example how he seen with his own eyes how his mistress became demonized when she became an owner of a slave. Douglass became Mrs. Auld's first salve owner and at the begging when they first met “she [was] of the kindest heart and finest feelings” (38).

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Douglass’s Message to Women Frederick Douglass gives many examples of the treatment of women like the following passage: “this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and made a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable; for by this cunning arrangement, the slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father.” (Douglass 1183) Through this passage, Douglass brings to light that enslaved women are raped by their masters because of the master’s lust and the master’s desire to produce more slaves. By looking at the passage in the context of the rest of Narrative of Life, Douglass makes it clear that women who are raped by their masters and birth a child from the rape have it worse than others because of the excess brutality they receive from the master’s wife.

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When Douglass was first sent to live in Master Hugh’s family as a slave, he learned that his mistress treated him like a “human being ought to treat another” (37). The reason why Douglass learned how to read was because his mistress taught him the alphabet since she was described by Douglass as a “tender hearted woman” (37) who took cared of people that were in need since she had more than enough provisions. However, his personal opinion on his mistress changed as soon as she became crueler and violent than her husband. The irony of her change is that once she finally taught him the alphabet, “nothing more seemed to make her more angry than to

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In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Douglass presented his life as a slave and the hardships he endured. He exposed the cruelties he faced throughout his time as a slave. He also shows how slavery affected everyone involved. Not just the slaves were negatively affected, but the slaveholders also were. He showed how slavery inflicted its hold on their social life, their family life, and their religious life.

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A part of the reason as to why slavery is so horrifyingly sad is that it tears families apart. His birthing situation was the first brutal incident of many in Douglass’s life. Over time, he witnessed many traumatic incidences, including the beating of his Aunt Hester: I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition. I was quite a child, but I well remember it.

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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.

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