Frederick Douglass 'Reflective Essay Titled'

     The tone established in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is unusual in that from the beginning to the end the focus has been shifted. In the beginning of the narrative Douglass seems to fulfill every stereotypical slavery theme. He is a young black slave who at first cannot read and is very naïve in understanding his situation. As a child put into slavery Douglass does not have the knowledge to know about his surroundings and the world outside of slavery. In Douglass’ narrative the tone is first set as that of an observer, however finishing with his own personal accounts.

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.

We are all a product of our environment. What we hear and see while we are growing up, becomes the norm. This was the case for me. Since being removed from that environment, I have realized that this is a big world that we live in and I have to share it with a lot of people, no matter what our differences are.

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

The purpose behind Fredrick Douglass’s Narrative was to appeal to the other abolitionists who he wanted to convince that slave owners were wrong for their treatment of other human beings. His goal was to appeal to the middle-class people of that time and persuade them to get on board with the abolitionist movement. Douglass had a great writing style that was descriptive as well as convincing. He stayed away from the horrific details of the time, which helped him grasp the attention of the women who in turn would convince their husbands to help by donating money and eventually ending slavery. He used his words effectively in convincing the readers that the slave owners were inhuman and showed how they had no feelings for other human

Writing in the favor of black people has always remained controversial from the very beginning. Critics regard such writing as “a highly conventionalized genre” indicating that “its status as literature was long disputed but the literary merits of its most famous example such as Frederick Douglass 's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass…are widely recognized today.” (Ryan:537) Despite of such severe resistance, writers like Douglass have penned down their autobiography to present the misery of their fellow beings.

Since ancient times historians always examined artifacts and sources of different writings. The purpose of examining artifacts and writings were to find the time period, the place of its origin and whether they are primary or secondary sources. Primary sources are materials produced by people or groups directly involved in the event/ topic under consideration either as participants or as witness. Some examples of primary sources are decrees, letters, newspapers, journals, birth and death registries etc. Secondary sources are those when a person was not present at the time of the event. Examples of secondary sources may include books, articles etc. Now, this brings to our discussion - is Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass a primary source? Even though people may different opinions about the autobiography of Frederick Douglass being a primary source, Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass is a primary source because it mentions his purpose for writing, it clarifies the arguments made by Frederick Douglass, and finally, it illustrates the credibility of the author.

    Lastly, some people can see the world differently, but the majority sees it the same. For example, in the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker the author adds, “Her eyes seemed stretched open, blazed open by the flames reflected in them.” What the author means in the quote is that years back a house was burned to the ground and it affected Maggie. Maggie witnessed the incident when she was younger and

Frederick Douglass is perhaps the most well-known abolitionist from American history. He is responsible for creating a lot of support for the abolitionist movement in the years before the Civil War. He, along with many others, was able to gain support for and attention to the abolitionist movement. People like him are the reason that slavery ended in the United States.

Frederick Douglass was born in Maryland in 1818 as a slave to a maritime captain, Captain Anthony. After decades of enslavement, Frederick Douglass escaped to the North and became one of the prominent members and drivers of the abolitionist movement. In an effort to provide an eye-opening account of the harsh treatment of slaves, Douglass wrote Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass detailed his life beginning from his meager early years through his escape to the North. In writing his autobiography, Douglass utilized a variety of techniques including the use of the three rhetorical strategies: Ethos, Pathos and Logos to create a powerful and influential argument against the institution of

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, depicts a vivid reality of the hardships endured by the African American culture in the period of slavery. One of the many things shown in Frederick's narrative is how slaves, in their own personal way, resisted their masters authority. Another is how slaves were able to create their own autonomous culture within the brutal system in which they were bound. There are many examples in the narrative where Frederick tries to show the resistance of the slaves. The resistors did not go unpunished though, they were punished to the severity of death. Fredrick tells of these instances with a startling sense of casualness, which seems rather

Imagine walking down the street, there are hundreds of people, each one with a unique opinion of the one standing next to them. Completely influenced by the way they were raised, it is nearly impossible to say that the background of someone does not affect their view of their world and people in their everyday life. In todays' society, everyone has an opinion, and nine out often times, those opinions are based off of prior life experiences. One's family life can determine how they perceive their surroundings, and influences their opinions of others. Ones view point is determined by the way one is raised, each person has a different view of the world and who inhabits it.

But deep down you don’t. Worldly ideas scream “Never change!” Being identical to everyone else is a sickness that so many have.

When people meet people they will more often than not meet someone who is different from them. They will be a different color. A different sex. A different social class. It will be someone who has grown up in a different environment than them. And instinct will set in and one will try to change the Other; they will perceive that they are helping the Other but really they are helping themselves. One person will

This means that you are shaped, in a way, by the world around you. Your parents have the biggest role, but TV shows, media and commercials all play a part too. When you are growing up, you think that what is on TV has to be true. For example, when I was in elementary school, I watched shows that involved kids in high school. I thought high school would be exactly like what I saw on TV, but it definitely was not. This is just like if you watch a TV show when you are growing up that has an African American as the “bad guy,” you are more likely to associate African American’s with crimes. Another factor that contributes to discrimination is social conformity. There is this pressure in our culture to conform, to our family or our friends’ views. Agreeing with the prejudices and other beliefs that your family believes in can even bring support from family members or friends in other areas.