Frederick Douglass: Literary Analysis Essays

In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave, written by himself, the author argues that slaves are treated no better than, sometimes worse, than livestock. Douglass supports his claim by demonstrating how the slaves were forced to eat out of a trough like pigs and second, shows how hard they were working, like animals. The author’s purpose is to show the lifestyle of an American slave in order to appeal to people’s emotions to show people, from a slave’s perspective, what slavery is really like. Based on the harsh descriptions of his life, Douglass is writing to abolitionist and other people that would sympathize and abolish slavery.

He notes that, the slavery institution made them forget about their origin, and anything else that entails their past, and even when they were born. The slaves forgot everything about their families, and none knew about their family because, they were torn from them without any warning. Douglass explains how they went without food, clothing and even sleep because their masters were cruel to them. American slavery took advantage of black laborers as they were beaten mercilessly without committing any offense. They were not treated as human beings, but as property that could be manipulated in any way. The slavery institution was harsh for the Africans especially women who were regularly raped, and forced to bear their masters children and if they declined, they were maimed or killed.

Frederick Douglass focuses mostly on appealing emotionally to pathos through the use of imagery. He writes, “there were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such.” He again appeals to pathos when describing the eating portions. Douglass explains the eating troughs used for children and says “few left the trough satisfied.” Douglass illustrates the cruel conditions slaves faced, from the bare sleeping quarters to the harsh whippings received. This effects the reader by helping them visualize the conditions the slaves were placed in. He chose to do this to inform those who weren’t aware of what was happening inside the gated properties. Douglass next establishes credibility through the use of ethos. He begins his narrative by giving background information and stating that he has “no accurate knowledge” of his age. Douglass implies that he can be trusted because of his own personal experience.

In Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Mr. Douglass gives many examples of cruelty towards slaves as he shows many reasons that could have been used to abolish slavery. Throughout the well-written narrative, Douglass uses examples from the severe whippings that took place constantly to a form of brainwashing by the slaveholders over the slaves describing the terrible conditions that the slaves were faced with in the south in the first half of the 1800’s. The purpose of this narrative was most likely to give others not affiliated with slaves an explicit view of what actually happened to the slaves physically, mentally, and emotionally to show the explicit importance of knowledge to the liberation

There is so much damage happening in Douglass’ story that it is challenging to grasp how such an inhuman thing can happen not so long ago from today. Douglass illustrates how dehumanization of black slaves by the whites played a significant role in the timeline of slavery and the brutal occurrences that seemed to expand with it. Whether it was before, during, or after slavery, the slaves were dehumanized in many ways. Without dehumanizing the black slaves' society we would be unable to preserve the experience of violence in order to keep slaves thrive intact situated. But on top of that slaves were punished in extreme manners physically and mentally which this would have caused them to come to a sort of break and become a brute. Not only keeping

A positive connotation surrounds the term “devour” as its typical use is to emphasize when food is palatable or enjoyable. However, Douglass mentions that “mush” is simply “boiled cornmeal” and therefore can barely be considered edible and lacks any real sustenance. Despite this, slaves, like a dam unable to retain anymore water, flood their designated troughs to consume their “food” at a rapid pace. Slaves, after living a life of deprivation for so long, lost their own sense of self-worth and became acceptant any form of food or clothing, despite its poor quality. Douglass also mentions that at feeding time “He that ate the fastest got most; he that was strongest secured the best place; and few left the trough satisfied” (Douglass 24).

The life of a slave is never easy; it is full of hurt, cruelty, and chains; there is no freedom. Naturally, one in such a condition would want to escape, but often that is an improbable option; there are too many limitations such as a lack of money and/or connections. Also, slaveowners will stop at nothing to keep their slaves in their possession and will use methods such as moving their slaves around or keeping their slaves too weak and uneducated to go anywhere else. Frederick Douglass employs religious diction, contrasts, and repetition in his memoir, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, to convey the longing despair for freedom that many slaves have, even if they can not necessarily escape.

Slavery was an unjust system that forever changed the course of American history. It was founded upon the belief that some people were worth less than others simply based on the color of their skin. The horrors that these slaves were exposed to on a daily basis revealed just how dark humans can be. Still, the testimony of survival in this text is truly remarkable. The “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” is a compelling, and often disturbing, account of a man’s life in slavery, his escape, and what his life was like when he was free.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave is a great depiction of oppression of the African American race of people. Douglass’ narrative exploits the harsh and cruel reality of physical, mental, and dehumanization that the slaves faced. Along the way, Douglass witnesses many horrifying experiences as a slave and learns from such experiences how to prevent from winding up in similar situations. The first exhibition of oppression was with Douglass’ aunt when he watched her be beaten by Mr. Plummer at the end of chapter one.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a story about slavery and the many unkind effects it had on human nature. One of the things apparent in this story is the way the slaves were dehumanized. From the time they were born until their last breath every aspect of their life was painful and forced. Women forced to breed, children removed from their parents at birth, lack of food and dignity, and unnecessary killings are just a few of the examples that could be used for the ways they were dehumanized . Both mental and physical abuse were the slave owners’ way of controlling other humans and letting them know that they were not equal.

Through the common slave narrative motif of exposing physical and emotional abuse of slaves, Douglass showcases the exploitation and dehumanization of slaves by their masters, arousing readers’ sympathy and strengthening the humanitarian cause behind abolitionism. Douglass describes how the slaves received a scanty allowance of inadequate clothes and bedding each year, wiring that “When these failed them, [slaves] went naked until the next allowance-day” --a fact illustrated by the description that “children...almost naked, might be seen at all seasons of the year” (48). Deprived of such basic comforts, Douglass reveals how the masters stripped autonomy away from their slaves and dehumanizing, highlighting that not only were they used as

In The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, Fredrick Douglass tells stories of his life as a slave and a many of his horrible experiences. During the time of slavery, people were discriminated against because of their skin color and where they come from. African-Americans were forced to work for British white people in America for many years. These slaves were not treated with respect nor where they treated like human beings. They were seen as animals and over-worked. Douglass was born into slavery and was a slave for many years of his life until escaping to freedom. Fredrick Douglass describes what life was like in slavery and how slaves were treated by their masters. Slavery was a dehumanizing

Slavery was practiced throughout America since the 17th century till the 19th century. Such a huge period of time had a great effect not only on the slaves themselves but also on their masters. The concept of slavery in its essence is unnatural and inhumane. Thus, one cannot but notice the horrific circumstances of such an act. In The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, one can see the atrocious effect of slavery on both slaves and slaveholders.

Not only were slaves deprived of their human qualities, they were also treated inferior as if they were animals. When the slave children were fed, they were fed cornmeal mush. The children were treated as “like so many pigs…they would come and devour the mush…some with naked hands, and none with spoons” (Douglass 42). Slaveholders dehumanized these slave children by treating, feeding, and sheltering them like pigs and savages—they were not humans anymore. This relates to an account by Olaudah Equiano in his narrative, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, where he was being sold at a slave market and described, “We were conducted immediately to the merchant's yard, where we were all pent up together, like so many sheep in a fold, without regard to sex or age…” (Equiano 55). In his account, he, as a slave, was also being dehumanized by being herded like sheep and was bought and sold—like livestock. Douglass also mentioned an instance where after his old master died, he was sent back for valuation where “men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and swine. There were horses and men, cattle and women, pigs and children, all holding the same rank in the scale of being…” (Douglass 57).

In his Narrative of the Life of the Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass wrote that slavery proved as injurious to one of his masters as it was to him. Frederick Douglass lived a very cruel and harsh life especially since he was a slave himself, which made him experience a lot of mistreatment and sad moments that I can only imagine. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass suggests slaves were treated as less than human because of the bias reasons towards the African Americans in the 1800s which lead to slaves being mistreated and tormented physically something that the masters would not be able to understand.