FDFinalEssay 1
1578 WordsMar 15, 20157 Pages
Perennial throughout all history, man’s adoration and abuse of power inevitably evokes his personal corruption. At creation, Adam and Eve succumbed to vices as they lusted for the power of wisdom. Similarly, in current civilization, men idolize money as it enhances their fame and influence on humanity. Ultimately, when a man’s ability surpasses any societal limitations, greed, lust, and pride tempt his morality which usually fails to persist. In his novel, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglas reminisces on personal experiences as a slave while concurrently investigating the paradoxical nature of Southern slaveholders. He delves into the mystery of a white man’s ability to suppress…show more content… Though not prohibiting slavery, it warns slaveholders to manage their lesser men with an upmost vigilance recalling that they themselves are similarly suppressed by an even higher being. Nevertheless, Christian slave holders are deemed to be most unusually cruel. They alter the bible’s teachings in order to support their own practices. “Religion of the South is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes,—a justifier of the most appalling barbarity,—a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds… [It is the] dark shelter under, which the foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find their strongest protection” (Douglas, 117). By conjuring the most abstruse interpretations of Christian teachings, they justify their actions thus allowing for their purposeful ignorance. During his bondage under Captain Auld, Frederick Douglas observes his master consoling “religious sanction for his cruelty” (Douglas, 98). When he relentlessly whips a lame young woman and then exhibits her lacerated nude body for countless hours, he justifies his bloody deed with the Scripture quote: “He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes” (Douglas, 99). This girl’s supposed disobedience, however, actually proves to be helplessness, as she is impaired with the inefficacy of her hands which were burnt in a fire. Captain Auld finds religious vindications promoting his punishment of the girl’s inabilities while,