Brief Summary: The Life Of Frederick Douglass

Even though the words of his master degrade Douglass, they also inspire him to pursue reading and freedom more passionately. When Douglass sees how intimidated his master, Hugh Auld, is at the idea of his wife, Sophia Auld, teaching young Frederick to read, he realizes that knowledge is truly power. He feels the constraint his master imposed on him his entire life, and he begins to understand how to free himself. Douglass writes that, “From that moment I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom…I was gladdened by the invaluable

Towards the end of chapter ten in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglas describes how slave owners would make slaves’ holidays miserable. Slave owners did this to manipulate the slaves into believing that they are better off in slavery. They would entice slaves to get drunk by placing bets on who could drink the most. When a slave had had enough to drink, he would then ask for something else, but unknowingly receive more alcohol. As a result, slaves would prefer to work in the fields instead of having holidays. This passage illustrates how African Americans remained content in their shackles of slavery for 245 years in America.

The life of Frederick Douglass was as horrible and miserable as any other slave. However, since bravery was his most dominant trait Frederick’s life became the life of a hero. Born into slavery on the year of 1818, Frederick never really got to know his family and was separated at birth. Growing up, he knew that blacks like him were not supposed to be educated, or treated as well as the whites. This compelled Frederick even

Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who altered America's views of slavery through his writings and actions. Frederick's life as a slave had the greatest impact on his writings. Through his experience as a slave, he developed emotion and experience for him to become a successful abolitionist writer. He experienced harsh treatment and his hate for slavery and desire to be free caused him to write Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In his Narrative, he wrote the story of his miserable life as a slave and his fight to be free. His motivation behind the character (himself) was to make it through another day so that maybe one day he might be free. By speaking out, fighting as an abolitionist and finally becoming an author,

Everyone would agree that education helps develop us into who we are and what we can become. We are able to explore new ideas and concepts, which leads to more knowledge. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass is thrown into a new world of knowledge and opportunity, once he learns how to read and write. Through his knowledge, he learns more about his situation and potential. Douglass discovers that a slave was set free by persuading his master, and as a result, this information makes Douglass an avid learner. He understands that education is his only way out of slavery. Education empowers people to make good decisions and paves a future that provides opportunities. An education can open doors that were once closed.

Douglass had a way with words. He would capture my mind when I was reading the book. His narrative was very unique especially because he was a former slave and slaves were not supposed to know anything. When reading the book, I started to understand what the slaves were going through. Douglass talks about one of his slave owner Anthony he "was generally called Captain Anthony... he was not considered a rich

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

Frederick didn’t know his father and he saw his mom 5 times in his life. As a slave he worked all day and slepton dirt floor in potato sacks to keep warm. Frederick was sent to Maryland when he was 8 years old . He was self-educated he learned how to read on his own and taught other slaves to read also. Frederick worked and got 6 dollars a week and had to give 3 dollars to his master. this did not make him happy.When Frederick Was 18 when he planned his escape From Baltimore to New York

Soon Frederick planed an escape but a white man found out and Frederick was in jail for about a week. By surprise Thomas Auld came and released him. Then Frederick was sent back to Hugh Auld in Baltimore. Frederick was now 18 years old, 6 feet tall and very strong

This starts off young for Frederick when he was only newborn his mother would be sold off and he would be raised by his aunt, also he would never know his father but was always thought to be his master Anthony, Frederick’s first master. Many slaves at an early age would be raised by a woman that was too old work in the field and would take care of the child untill the age of ten. Frederick would know the name of his mother “Harriet Bailey” and only see her several times before her death (Douglass 1). Unlike, most slaves he would also know his grandparent’s name “Isaac and Betsy Bailey” (Douglass 1). This would be very uncommon to know mother, father, and grandparents.

He was also separated from his mother who later died. He had a hard childhood, he did not let being a slave stop him from what he wanted to do. He would feed white children in exchange for school work to help his education. When he got a hold of a book he would read it over and over to better understand it. It wasn't just all him, though he got help from his master's wife she taught him the alphabet and showed him how to read.¨I did not know I was a slave until I found out I could not do the things I wanted¨-Frederick

Being a slave in the United States was not uncommon in the 19th century. There were many brutalities of being a slave including physical and spiritual abuse. Slaves were considered property and not as human beings. They were mistreated and kept illiterate. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is a autobiography written by Frederick Douglass himself that told of his experiences of being a slave in the United States. He expresses the brutality the slave owners and how he struggled with running away to become a free human being. The themes of his story include: the ignorance of slaves, the treatment of slaves as property, religion used as justification, and the victimization of female slaves.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass perfectly depicts the dreadful experience of living in slavery. From being unsure of the day he was born, to his first beating from a master, to the brutal and exhausting work, and to the joyous day he was freed. Besides describing his experience as a slave, he describes the toll slavery had on the masters and families of slaves. Frederick Douglass also includes his view of education in relation to freedom. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a good excerpt from The Classic Slave Narratives that can be considered a good historical resource due to the historical content it provides about slavery.

Frederick Douglass’ biography revolves around the idea of freedom. After seeing a traumatizing incident as a child, Douglass slowly begins to realize that he is not a free human being, but is a slave owned by other people. He is surrounded by a society that devalues him and people like him, and systematically worked to keep them ignorant and submissive. In this society, it is made clear that no slave is special, and everyone is replaceable. Rather than accept this, Douglass struggles to maintain what little autonomy he was allowed to have. When his one of his masters, Thomas Auld, bans his mistress, Sophia, from teaching Douglass how to read, Douglass learned from the young boys on the street. His biography shows him transforming from an ignorant child into his older, more learned self.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was conspicuously well written. Taking into consideration the fact that he had no type of formal education. He begins by giving details about his early years. Douglass describes how he had no recollection of what his date of birth was. Most slaves did not know. I believe the Masters and Overseers kept the slaves’ age away from them as an unknown to further make them feel like they were even less important, and too irrelevant to even have a birth date.