An Analysis Of Frederick Douglass 's ' The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick ' Essay

      In reading The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, I, like others, found myself to be deeply moved. The way in which Mr. Douglass walked me through each stage of his “career” as a slave gave me a better understanding of the African American slaves’ struggle. I realized in reading this mans story that he was a gifted individual and I pondered over where his strength came from? It is true and obvious that Mr. Frederick Douglass was an extremely gifted man, but with no mother or father to guide him, what motivated this man to accomplish his goal? For this man did indeed become free.

     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

Many people believe that Christians played a great role in abolishing slavery. However, Douglass’ ideas about religion and its connection to slavery shine a light on the dark side of Christianity. Douglass’ account of his own life is a very eloquent first hand retelling of the suffering and cruelty that many slaves were going through. His account gives a detail of the ills that were committed against the slaves. The atrocities committed by the various different masters varied in intensity depending on the masters’ individual personality (Glancy 42). This first hand narrative gives us a glimpse in to the connection between religion (Christianity) and slavery.

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

Writing in the favor of black people has always remained controversial from the very beginning. Critics regard such writing as “a highly conventionalized genre” indicating that “its status as literature was long disputed but the literary merits of its most famous example such as Frederick Douglass 's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass…are widely recognized today.” (Ryan:537) Despite of such severe resistance, writers like Douglass have penned down their autobiography to present the misery of their fellow beings.

Since ancient times historians always examined artifacts and sources of different writings. The purpose of examining artifacts and writings were to find the time period, the place of its origin and whether they are primary or secondary sources. Primary sources are materials produced by people or groups directly involved in the event/ topic under consideration either as participants or as witness. Some examples of primary sources are decrees, letters, newspapers, journals, birth and death registries etc. Secondary sources are those when a person was not present at the time of the event. Examples of secondary sources may include books, articles etc. Now, this brings to our discussion - is Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass a primary source? Even though people may different opinions about the autobiography of Frederick Douglass being a primary source, Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass is a primary source because it mentions his purpose for writing, it clarifies the arguments made by Frederick Douglass, and finally, it illustrates the credibility of the author.

Frederick Douglass was born in Maryland in 1818 as a slave to a maritime captain, Captain Anthony. After decades of enslavement, Frederick Douglass escaped to the North and became one of the prominent members and drivers of the abolitionist movement. In an effort to provide an eye-opening account of the harsh treatment of slaves, Douglass wrote Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass detailed his life beginning from his meager early years through his escape to the North. In writing his autobiography, Douglass utilized a variety of techniques including the use of the three rhetorical strategies: Ethos, Pathos and Logos to create a powerful and influential argument against the institution of

Frederick Douglass, he is consider one of the greatest influential civil rights activists. His full name is Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, he was born into slavery on a Maryland Eastern Shore plantation. Frederick Douglass aspect in life was to become educated, to read and write, that was the only path to freedom, for himself and fellow slaves. He wanted to truly understand the larger picture of slavery. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass gives us an eye-opening of the horror of slavery. Douglass is driven by the need to express and portray his life as a slave, he educates himself and was able to read and write and he came to realize the dehumanization that was depicted towards slavery. He was determined to escape the horror of slavery. He failed the first time, but the second time was a success. Frederick Douglass became a great abolitionist, compelling America 's view of slavery through his writing and actions. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass includes events from his life as a slave and many other stories of others slave.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, depicts a vivid reality of the hardships endured by the African American culture in the period of slavery. One of the many things shown in Frederick's narrative is how slaves, in their own personal way, resisted their masters authority. Another is how slaves were able to create their own autonomous culture within the brutal system in which they were bound. There are many examples in the narrative where Frederick tries to show the resistance of the slaves. The resistors did not go unpunished though, they were punished to the severity of death. Fredrick tells of these instances with a startling sense of casualness, which seems rather

Frederick Douglass, a young slave whose mother was dead and father was absent, experienced many hardships a young person should not experience. When he was around seven or eight, an event had changed his life for the better: his move to Baltimore. Douglass heard many things about Baltimore from his Cousin Tom who described it very exquisitely. In the close reading of the passage from the autobiography, The Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass, during his years as a slave he believed he had a spirit that never left him and once this event occurred, that changed his life, he knew this spirit was from God.

She was a field hand, and a whipping is the penalty…”: Black women’s struggles in search of happiness shown in Narrative by Frederick Douglass

Given the certain circumstances, literature is a very strong thing in this world. It has the power to shape beliefs of the reader, such as who to love or hate, why people did certain things in the story, or even the understanding of whether someone did the right thing or not. The author has the control of what to think, and it’s like they are the puppet master in the whole operation. Not only do they have the control of the reader’s belief, they get to choose who is given power, and gets to shape people’s beliefs in the story itself. It’s not also positive sometimes either. As shown, in literature, power can be given to individuals whose use it to negativity shape people’s beliefs.

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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