Frederick Douglass And Psychological Trauma

Mental deprivation for Frederick Douglass was a far worse experience than the physical imprisonment of slavery for reasons of personal thought and independent knowledge being stripped away from him. He always knew slavery was wrong in the back of his mind, yet he had no idea of what to do about the situation, but when he was finally told how to read by one of his slave master’s wife, that power he was beginning to obtain was immediately stripped away from him and he felt mentally crushed. Lastly, there came a time when through him educating fellow slaves by teaching them how to read the Bible, the group of slaves plotted to escape. When the plan failed, Douglass was separated from his loved ones.

To display the common treatment of slaves, Douglass develops pathos when describing his first exposure to slavery and the brutal treatment of Aunt Hester. He gives a detailed description of her “heart-rending shrieks” when she was forced to endure countless lashings and beatings (Douglass, 24). Additionally, he describes the mentality of Captain Anthony, the slave owner, by stating that “the louder [Hester] screamed, the harder he whipped” (Douglass, 23). By describing the punishments that his aunt was forced to face and the deliberateness of Captain Anthony’s actions, Douglass develops pathos, which exposes the audience to the harsh nature of slavery and makes them pity the slaves who were forced to endure this treatment. It shows the audience that slaves were forced to endure pain if they did not listen to their masters and could not

Throughout Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye, she captures, with vivid insight, the plight of a young African American girl and what she would be subjected to in a media contrived society that places its ideal of beauty on the e quintessential blue-eyed, blonde woman. The idea of what is beautiful has been stereotyped in the mass media since the beginning and creates a mental and emotional damage to self and soul. This oppression to the soul creates a socio-economic displacement causing a cycle of dysfunction and abuses. Morrison takes us through the agonizing story of just such a young girl, Pecola Breedlove, and her aching desire to have what is considered beautiful - blue eyes. Racial stereotypes of beauty contrived and nourished by

Throughout centuries of slavery, there has always been types of abuse towards slaves. They have gone through different kinds of abuse from whippings to being considered property their whole lives. In the Narrative of Frederick Douglass, he writes about the manipulation and suffering his owners have brought upon him and other slaves. Not only did this mentally affected him, but most of it might have made him stronger.

One of the most striking parts of Douglass’ book is that he wrote about the physical abuse of slaves in great detail. Douglass did not shy away from gory descriptions in order to accurately portray the dehumanization of both the slaves and the slave owners. The first example of physical violence that Douglass provided is actually the first time that he himself was introduced to the cruelty of slavery. He describes his aunt being whipped “upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood” mercilessly by their master, even after she begs him to stop. The diction that Douglass used is so violent in this passage and allows readers to truly understand what Douglass experienced. The master beats Douglass’

Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass illuminates the horrors of slavery in his memoir Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. There is so much evil transpiring from Douglass' intrinsic story that it is difficult to understand how such a cruel thing can happen in the not too distant past of American history. Douglass continuously illustrates the dehumanization of black slaves and how it played a tremendous role in the continual proliferation of slavery and the unhuman practices that came laterally. He touches the emotions of the readers through his short analyses following his stories, and while doing so, he emphasizes the violence and difficulties that were faced by black slaves in addition to the false notions that people have already had. Though some believed that violence was uncommon in the institution of slavery, Douglass

In the interviews African Americans shared how on a daily basis they found themselves dealing with anxiety, fear, humiliation, shame, and stress.”(Thompson-Miller 3). Everyday with feeling all of these emotions is in no way how a life should be lived. “The ‘stress hormone’ cortisol is believed to create a domino effect that hard-wires pathways between the hippocampus and amygdala in a way that might create a vicious cycle by creating a brain that becomes predisposed to be in a constant state of fight-or-flight”.(Christopher Bergland 1). All of the other emotions combined also triggered a PTSD like syndrome called “segregation stress syndrome” .“segregation stress syndrome are similar to PTSD symptoms documented in psychiatric literature. However, “segregation stress syndrome” differs from PTSD because the traumatic experience was not a one-time occurrence; it was sustained, over time, in African American communities. In addition, the racial violence that occurred was a form of systematic chronic stress, the type that has been shown to have a detrimental impact on a person’s psychological well-being”. (Thompson-Miller

Throughout all of history there has been an ideal beauty that most have tried to obtain. But what if that beauty was impossible to grasp because something was holding one back. There was nothing one could do to be ‘beautiful’. Growing up and being convinced that one was ugly, useless, and dirty. For Pecola Breedlove, this state of longing was reality. Blue eyes, blonde hair, and pale white skin was the definition of beauty. Pecola was a black girl with the dream to be beautiful. Toni Morrison takes the reader into the life of a young girl through Morrison’s exceptional novel, The Bluest Eye. The novel displays the battles that Pecola struggles with each and every day. Morrison takes the reader through the themes of whiteness and beauty,

David R. Williams and Ruth Williams Morris write in “Racism and Mental Health: The African American Experience” that negative attitudes of white Americans resulting in the formation of racist policies contribute to mental health problems for African Americans, as they attempt to cope. Mental health issues, Williams and William Morris continues, can be a consequence of living within a lower income bracket with decreasing prospects for future improvement, an inability to attain needed “resources” e.g. the choice between prescription medications and food, or finally, internalizing the damaging opinions.

African Americans experience specific events of danger related to race that overwhelm the nervous system and require us to recover. These dangers may be real or perceived discrimination, threats of harm and injury, police incidents, and humiliating and shaming events. The aggressors may be black or white. These events stand out in our memory and have long-term impact on our perception of ourselves and our social environments. As mentioned in the previous discussion, some African Americans are stronger after recovering from these events, and others have long-term declines in their ability to cope with future stresses and threats.

“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, is a story about the life of a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove, who is growing up during post World War I. She prays for the bluest eyes, which will “make her beautiful” and in turn make her accepted by her family and peers. The major issue in the book, the idea of ugliness, was the belief that “blackness” was not valuable or beautiful. This view, handed down to them at birth, was a cultural hindrance to the black race.

Racism and discrimination are the leading and growing factors of psychological trauma amongst African Americans. As stated in the article, Racism’s Psychological Toll, by Jenna Wortham, “Race-based stress reactions can be triggered by events that are experienced indirectly, or externally, like social media or national news events. ” I agree that this is exceptionally true because, being a member of the black community, I often am scared for my brother’s safety when he goes out. In the media, we often are shown images of police brutality and the mistreatment of black men.

The desire to feel beautiful has never been more in demand, yet so impossible to achieve. In the book “The Bluest Eye”, the author, Toni Morrison, tells the story of two black families that live during the mid-1900’s. Even though slavery is a thing of the past, discrimination and racism are still a big issue at this time. Through the whole book, characters struggle to feel beautiful and battle the curse of being ugly because of their skin color. Throughout the book Pecola feels ugly and does not like who she is because of her back skin. She believes the only thing that can ever make her beautiful is if she got blue eyes. Frieda, Pecola, Claudia, and other black characters have been taught that the key to being beautiful is by having white skin. So by being black, this makes them automatically ugly. In the final chapter of the book, the need to feel beautiful drives Pecola so crazy that she imagines that she has blue eyes. She thinks that people don’t want to look at her because they are jealous of her beauty, but the truth is they don’t look at her because she is pregnant. From the time these black girls are little, the belief that beauty comes from the color of their skin has been hammered into their mind. Mrs. Breedlove and Geraldine are also affected by the standards of beauty and the impossible goal to look and be accepted by white people. Throughout “The Bluest Eye” Toni Morrison uses the motif of beauty to portray its negative effect on characters.

Racist ideology is institutionalized when how people’s interactions reflects on an understanding that they share the same beliefs. However, in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, the topic of racism is approached in a very unique way. The characters within the novel are subjected to internalizing a set of beliefs that are extremely fragmented. In accepting white standards of beauty, the community compromises their children’s upbringing, their economic means, and social standings. Proving furthermore that the novel has more to do with these factors than actual ethnicity at all.

instances of violence which directly ravage the lives of African American people still arise on an incessant basis. These extremist mistreatments of faultless human beings can undermine the freedom that individuals are entitled to and cause social anxiety and depression. Furthermore, a recent and significant hate crime incident which ensued in the United States was that: