A Reflection OfThe Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

Therefore, he appears quite compelling when he attempts to bring out the connection between religion and slavery. Looking at what Douglass went through as a slave, it is unfortunate that his act of reading the Bible was considered a violation of the law. At one point, Douglass narrated that his master’s wife offered Douglass with help to read and write. However, due to “advice” given by her husband and the connection between the Bible and slavery, Douglass’s master’s wife turned against him and was now cruel and bitter towards him.

     The tone established in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is unusual in that from the beginning to the end the focus has been shifted. In the beginning of the narrative Douglass seems to fulfill every stereotypical slavery theme. He is a young black slave who at first cannot read and is very naïve in understanding his situation. As a child put into slavery Douglass does not have the knowledge to know about his surroundings and the world outside of slavery. In Douglass’ narrative the tone is first set as that of an observer, however finishing with his own personal accounts.

Douglass’s narrative is a courageous work, as it confronts the slavery institution, and the misuse of Christianity by the slave owners

Douglass prays at the brink of adulthood for the achievement of manhood and the right to governance of his mind and spirit, “God, ... let me be free ... but not a boy ... bound to someone” (Douglass 39). The voice here is the authoritative voice of emotional maturation. What Douglass affirms belongs to his personal experience, channeled through his religion. Douglass’s feelings are not unlike those he described at the end of the book, in an anti-slavery convention, deciding whether an audience binds him to captivity or provokes him to be

One of the most important examples of perseverance in Douglass’s Narrative is his constant thirst for knowledge. The great impact learning had upon Douglass is inarguable. When his master Anthony takes him to Baltimore, he is introduced to Mrs. Auld who begins teaching him letters and small words (Douglass 250). Once Mr. Auld finds out, he warns the woman of the dangers of this kindness and forbids her from continuing these lessons (Douglass 250). Douglass’s hearing of this stirs within him his most important revelation. He tells readers, “From that moment, I

The “Narratives of the Life of Frederick Douglass” is the story of Frederick Douglass’ life from the time he was born into slavery, to the time he escaped to freedom in the north. When Douglass wrote this book, slavery was still legal in a large portion of the United States. After Douglass’ escape to freedom and his continuation of his education, he became an abolitionist through his works of literature and speeches. In “The Blessings of Slavery”, by George Fitzhugh he states that southern slaves for the most part are the freest and happiest people in the world. He also goes on to say a number of other things that basically establish that slaves live an easy and good life compared to others. Frederick Douglass’ pure story telling in the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” directly goes against any argument for slavery from Fitzhugh, by revealing the harshness of the institution of slavery and the individuals behind it. In each piece of literature both authors also unknowingly touch on topics of early American history such as free labor ideology and paternalism therefore deepening our knowledge of popular understandings during this time period. Douglass refutes Fitzhugh’s pro-slavery argument of the average slave living an ideal life, by disproving early ideas of the free labor system and paternalism through real life encounters of the physical oppression slaves faced on the day to day basis in the forms of inhumane treatment and violence, as well as the true harsh

Authors often exaggerate or revise small details of their own books in order to produce an emotion in the reader instead of a factual representation. However, this does not make authors to be liers, only fabricators. In times or social unjust it is necessary for the oppressed to voice their opinions for the purpose of gaining equality. As it may seem immoral to twist truths, if done correctly it will strengthen the author's message, without compromising the authenticity of the plot. One can see this in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, along with his, My Bondage and My Freedom. Both novels are accounts of Douglass’ troublesome journey from a slave to a freeman. These heroic accounts served as prominent and respected

different than going through it yourself.My evidence for thise statement is 1. “Each cocked his pistol, and, with fingers on the trigger, walked up to Henry, saying at the same time, if he did not cross his hands, they would blow his damned heart out.” and 2. “ Bill answered that I was sick” ... “I told him as well as I could, for I scarce had strength to speak. He then gave me a savage kick in the side, and told me to get up. I tried to do so, but fell back in the attempt”. These pieces of evidence proves that for every action there is not an equal reaction to justify the means. They do not care about how mmuch you can handle or how much you have been through only that work is done and that you obey with 110%. This disproves the position of those who defend slavery because they thought slavery took as much as it gave, but it gives little and yet takes lots. You work day till night and then get food that would probably go to the animals and lay on the dirty ground. Slavery is not equal in any way for only your master can say whether or not you have paid in full from your punishment. But what they have in mind always overdoes what you did.

Douglass's narrative is like a highway map, showing us the road from slavery to freedom. His big minus was he born slave it is very difficult when you born as a slave, because when you born as a slave it's very difficult to change to free person, because he used to live as a slave not as a Fredrick Douglass, but his passion made him change when he learned to read and when he read books he started fantasying himself as a free, He says " The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. They gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently lashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance". It's no doubt that had many obstacles before escaping to New Yory, but he was boldness he risked his life he can even die choosing freedom but he understand that there is no life if there is no freedom. He listened his instinct instead of relying his experiences. For me Fredrick Douglasss is the person who made nothing from something. He is

Yordanose SolomoneAfro 3597 WEssay ATuesday October 18, 2016The Contradicting Nature of Christianity and the Institution of Slavery A Thematic Analysis of Frederick Douglass 's NarrativeChristianity quite often, especially when associated to the system of slavery becomes even more of a contentious issue than it already is. In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass presents the theme of perversion of Christianity by slaveholders as a way to bring out the contradiction that lie deep within slaveholders ' adulterated interpretation of the belief system. In this paper, I will highlight these perversions that Douglass discusses in his narrative and explore why slaveholders ' form of Christianity make strong impression in his writing. Lastly, I will examine the larger tonal meaning as it relates to the theme and share some reasoning behind Douglass 's need to include it in his narrative.The first element of perversion of Christianity that Douglass mentions is the dehumanization role "the slaveholders '" Christianity plays in dismantling any form of familial structure the slaves may have created.Douglass speaks about this in this association with his own separation from his mother, Harriet Bailey and not completely knowing who his father is. Thus establishing the first element in this perversion, which can be explained easily as a breaking down the first requirement for a growing boy, a family.This perversion lets slaveholders not only to distort the

Fredrick Douglass also came to exude a great sense of racial pride as his life progressed. At first, his only perception of his people was that of a lowly slave nation. Yet, he was dedicated to trying to improve their lot. After his fellow slaves learned that he was literate, they “insisted that I must keep a Sabbath school.” He agreed to this proposal because he felt that the only shot his “brothers” had at gaining their freedom was through the power of the written word. Later, when he and his fellow slaves were jailed after their plans to escape to freedom were revealed, he states that “our greatest concern was about separation.” Douglass felt a sense of responsibility and kinship towards the members of his own race, and was loath to break these bonds. His racial pride reached its peak when he saw the houses that the free blacks in the North lived in. Douglass proudly writes that “I found many, who had not been seven years out of their chains, living in finer houses, and evidently enjoying more of the comforts of life, than the average of slaveholders in Maryland.” When Douglass saw how well some of his kinsmen were living, he could not help but change his impression of his people being a downtrodden slave nation. He came to recognize his race for what they truly were: a people equal in stature to any other, even the lofty Caucasians.

The story of Frederick Douglass was riddled with several events that changed his life. Those events participated in representing his identity. Douglass started his autobiography in an exemplary autobiographical style using a simple topical expression. “I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot County, Maryland.” (Douglass, p.12). In this first sentence, Frederick Douglass identified himself and located the place where he was born (Lee, p.11).

In the autobiographical narrative “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”, Fredric Douglass shares his momentous journey from slavery to freedom and the paths he took to get to freedom. From the beginning of the book, Douglass is a slave literally, both body and mind. Once the book comes to an end, he gets his authorized freedom and freedom of his mind. Each chapter of the book is like a series of "realizations,” moments of insight, that he has along the way.

In A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the memoir offered a lesson about treating others the way you would want to be treated. The unfair way most of the white people treated black people was disgusting and had the roles been switched, these white people wouldn’t have respected this way of life either. The part of this memoir that had the biggest impact on me would be when Douglass described how exactly the slaves were treated and why they were treated this way. The way the author described the ways these innocent people were looked upon made me feel compassion to recognize people's’ feelings before I react to a situation. Douglass also influenced me to want to stand up for my beliefs and everything I do. He also helped me comprehend

In this selection from the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave”, Frederick Douglass vividly describes his feelings about being a newly liberated fugitive slave. In doing this, he describes the different emotions he felt. Saying that out of the joy also came distrust. He was happy that he was not a slave anymore but could not trust a soul, for the white man would immediately take him back to the horrible life of a slave and the black man might stab him in the back and rat him out for money, and therefore was in absolute confusion about what to do, where to go, or where to stay. On arriving to this new environment he had mixed feelings of happiness and loneliness; he is able to convey these feelings through syntax such as repetition, figurative language such as similes and metaphors, and with diction and tone that both give the reader negative feelings about the state of Douglass’s situation.