Douglass Example 3

When his term with Mr. Edward Covey ends on 25 December 1833, Douglass reveals a feeling of disgrace when he is appalled by the slaveholders who are forcing the slaves to drink wine and whiskey, since it was “a disgrace not to get drunk on Christmas” (44) and, when the Christmas holidays end, the slaves, who the slaveholder “cheats… with a dose of vicious dissipation, artfully labelled… liberty,” are willing to go back to work, choosing to rather be “slaves to man as to rum.” (45). While the slaveholders capitalizes on the slave’s ignorance and negligence to play the game of trickery, Douglass exposes his detestation of the course of action for the “cunning slaveholders” (45). Later, as Douglass appeals to a feeling of disappointment when he meets Henry and John Harris and utilizes their yearning of freedom to attempt escaping, but fail. As MacKethan puts it, “the American definition of man and the American concept of freedom could no longer be denied to… [Douglass]… or by logical extension to any other slave” (“From Fugitive”). In summary, MacKethan attempt to reveal the inhumanity of the slaves by hinting

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass details the oppression Fredrick Douglass went through before his escape to freedom. In his narratives, Douglass offers the readers with fast hand information of the pain, brutality, and humiliation of the slaves. He points out the cruelty of this institution on both the perpetrator, and the victims. As a slave, Fredrick Douglass witnessed the brutalization of the blacks whose only crime was to be born of the wrong color. He narrates of the pain, suffering the slaves went through, and how he fought for his freedom through attaining education.

In addition to Jacobs’ account, Douglass’ narrative focused on his journey through manhood and freedom – “…I wished I could be as free as they would be when they got to be men … ‘Have not I as good a right to be free as you have?’” (Douglass, Chapter VII) – as well as, “This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood.” (Douglass, Chapter X). He had no freedom, but when he decided to fight back against the evil hand of slavery, he found it and made it his own. As a slave, he had no right to freedom, which in turn belittled his own manhood. His fight with Mr. Covey restored his sense of honor, his entitled manhood, as well as a spark of freedom he did not previously have.

         When Douglas was born into slavery, grew up in the South engaged in heavy slave labor, torture, several times nearly lost his life. However, his strong will in difficult circumstances, assiduous self-culture struggle. Slaveholders see good discipline, he handed him over to a special tame slaves and whites - Covey discipline. Douglas decided to revolt after being repeatedly beaten severely beaten discipline who scared the other no longer afraid to fight him.

A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a book that highlights Fred’s birth into slavery, what tortures he endured during it, and his eventual escape from it. Throughout the book, Fred learned the hardship of slavery and the gifts of freedom. He learns what’s important to him, and eventually learns the risks he must take in order to become free. His story fits very well with the Big Questions, and here are some examples: In the 1st Big Question, Family was very big on Frederick.

This means, that Douglass’s work does not need to have actually happened to be considered a realistic narrative, it just needs to seem like it could have happened and is a normal occurrence for slaves. After considering this, there are reasons that this narrative became so popular. Douglass’s narrative does not portray an everyday occurrence of American slavery it is about one man who, with luck on his side, made it to freedom. Every slave did suffer, slaves were beaten, raped, whipped, and worked to death this narrative does catch the sorrow of slave life but it goes out of the ordinary. The famous line “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man." (Douglass, 73) is a chasm used to exemplify this. Overcoming oppression in the scene where Douglass takes on Mr. Covey the “slave breaker” (Douglass, 66) would not be a normal occurrence, Douglass triumphs and becomes the embodiment of a romantic hero. To overcome Covey, “Douglas creates a need to invent a self outside of the active oppression around him.” (Wessel). Instead of being realistic, this narrative is an example of propaganda, Douglass romanticises the fight to get his readers attention, to give slaves hope, and to grasp Northerners’ following in joining the abolitionists.

In the excerpt, The Battle with Mr. Covey, Douglass was involved in a fight with the owners.I think that the theme of the excerpt is to not back down from anyone.I say this because in the excerpt,

Towards a self-made man Douglass confrontation with Covey did not mean full freedom for him, for that he was still a slave, but it was for sure “a turning point” in his “carrier as a slave”. It is so because from that point and on, the struggle for freedom would become his principal. Cynthia R. Nelsen, considering the Douglass act of confronting describes that though it is not “depicting an originary moment” this act does describe a new birth, a coming into being of a new self with newfound expanded freedom constituted in some significant sense by the fight-event itself. With Douglass’s concrete-historical master/slave dialectic, the former docile slave (Douglass), laboring under the yoke of his master (Covey), resolves to confront his master, risking his life in order to gain something more than spiritual or inner freedom. In the passage that follows, Douglass interprets the fight with Covey as a decisive moment in his struggle for freedom (Nielsen, 2013 , p. 54)

Covey underscores how slaveowners’ defense of slavery with religion was something said and not done. In fact, Douglass even asserts that slaves have a solid faith and the “help” of their white masters is not needed and even detrimental. As opposed to Mr. Covey’s false Christianity, Douglass attributes slaves to having true Christianity, evidencing this by his own great ability to sing versus his master’s poor singing. Mr. Covey was “a very poor singer himself, the duty of raising the hymn generally came upon [Douglass]” (82). Douglass’ ability to sing the hymnals represent his strong grasp on Christianity, whereas Mr. Covey’s poor singing portrays his hypocrisy and distance from the faith. Contrary to the plantation myth, Mr. Covey, the slaveowner is dependent on Douglass, his slave. This role reversal emphasizes the how the South’s claim to be carrying out a Christian duty was flawed.

Due to Mr. Covey’s religious beliefs of Christianity, he used to be calm for a particular period of time, but that day Douglass gave him answer back by raising his voice on him which help Douglass to be free and also build up his confidence. This incident built self-confidence in Douglass which helped him to escape slavery. This was one of the turning points of Douglass’s mission of freedom. “Douglass self-realization as a free man and a chosen man” (Andrew 137). Douglass was sufficiently tough to finish the social problem of slavery, he made a plan to run away from their slaveholders.

According to Douglass, there is a huge difference “between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ” (Douglass 397). The slave-holders uphold the Christianity of the land; they proclaim to be devout Christians, yet do not encompass the ideals of Christianity in their actions, especially in their mistreatment of their slaves physically, mentally and psychologically. “We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members” (Douglass 398). Slave-holders first used Christianity to take complete control over their slaves. “The enslavers compel their prey to distort ideas of the original Creator, or Providence, into the image of oppressors wearing the mask of the Christian God” (Ferguson 305). After unimaginable amounts of physical and mental abuse, the slaves, now powerless, begin to confuse the almighty God with their slave-holder. This is conveyed in Douglass’ story in the way Douglass refers to Covey after he repeatedly batters and lashes his body. After this physical abuse, Douglass says that “there was no deceiving him (Covey). His work went on in his absence almost as well as in his presence” (Douglass 357). In this passage, it is as though Douglass sees Covey in a similar light as God; both cannot be deceived and both are ever-present in his life;

In that fight, Douglass conveys in not so uncertain terms that his master would need to kill him in order to succeed in beating him down, rather than he let him hurt him anymore. We see an example of the true spirit of Mr. Covey with his need to maintain a façade of being a "Negro breaker." Douglass has asserted his strength and will and for anyone to find out the truth of what transpired during the altercation would mean giving up Mr. Covey's well earned, unsubstantiated reputation.

Why was it so important for slave owners that their slaves should remain ignorant and what strategies did they use to achieve this goal?

There are several turning points on Douglass's road from slavery to freedom, but his fight with Mr. Covey is probably the most important. This is the moment when Douglass resolves that even though he is still a slave in the legal sense, he will never again be a slave in his mind. He has gained the property of his mind back. Douglass armed with knowledge and the purpose given to him through the ownership of property sets out knowing that it is his responsibility to help others gain possession the property of their minds and

PAPER #1: Identify ten (10) important individuals from Douglass’s Narrative, and briefly explain their significance to Douglass. (This essay can be done in a bullet-point or numerical format). (250 words; 20 points)