Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

Picture this going through life without the ability to read or write. Without these abilities, it is impossible for a person to be a functioning member of society. In addition, imagine that someone is purposely limiting your knowledge to keep a leash on your independence. Not only is an American slave raised without skills in literacy, he cannot be taught to read unless someone breaks the law. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the reader is given a detailed explanation of why slave masters keep their slaves ignorant and the effects such a strategy has on the slaves’ lives. In his autobiography, Douglass describes how the knowledge he obtains has substantial positive and negative effects on his psyche. He is given renewed passion and hope for freedom while struggling with the burden of enlightenment of his situation. Ultimately, however, education shapes his fate, and he achieves freedom and prominence as an advocate for abolition.

Therefore, he appears quite compelling when he attempts to bring out the connection between religion and slavery. Looking at what Douglass went through as a slave, it is unfortunate that his act of reading the Bible was considered a violation of the law. At one point, Douglass narrated that his master’s wife offered Douglass with help to read and write. However, due to “advice” given by her husband and the connection between the Bible and slavery, Douglass’s master’s wife turned against him and was now cruel and bitter towards him.

Douglass’s narrative is a courageous work, as it confronts the slavery institution, and the misuse of Christianity by the slave owners

There are a number of key arguments in “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”. A few of which include inequality, education, and Christianity as the keys to freedom in terms of its true values within the institution of slavery. While Frederick Douglass made some key arguments, he also made common ground to make his appeal for the abolition of slavery.

Since before the time of Jesus Christ, religious hypocrisy has run rampant throughout those who held power. Countless lives have been affected by others twisting religious interpretation in order to fit their own needs. Slaveholders used religion and scripture to their advantage when disciplining slaves, sometimes even if they did no wrong. Religious hypocrisy is especially relevant in the life of Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass’s life story depicts how religious hypocrisy committed by both slaves and slaveholders diminished the rights of slaves, while at the same time allowing injustice to endure.

Many people believe that Christians played a great role in abolishing slavery. However, Douglass’ ideas about religion and its connection to slavery shine a light on the dark side of Christianity. Douglass’ account of his own life is a very eloquent first hand retelling of the suffering and cruelty that many slaves were going through. His account gives a detail of the ills that were committed against the slaves. The atrocities committed by the various different masters varied in intensity depending on the masters’ individual personality (Glancy 42). This first hand narrative gives us a glimpse in to the connection between religion (Christianity) and slavery.

Frederick Douglass was an important leader who helped fight for slaves freedom in the 19th Century. Religion played a major role in Mr. Douglass’s life. In his autobiography, he describes his daily struggles of being a slave and how he escaped to freedom. In his narrative, he explains the way his masters would beat, rape, and murder slaves, but only to use their Christian beliefs to explain why they did it and basically use it as an excuse. Douglass himself was also a Christian and explains in his autobiography that the religious views of the masters were very different from the religious views the slaves had. Frederick Douglass composed his autobiography to explain that the master's view of Christianity was unholy and if there was no change to be made, it could continue and lead to an increase in sacrilegious acts.

Douglass shows that people who claimed to be moral Christians were torturers of humans. He presents the irony of this situation in the book. "His (the master's) house was the preachers' home. They (the preachers) used to take great pleasure in coming there to put up; for while he starved us, he stuffed them."(40-41) Douglass is presenting his audience with the two faces of the slave holder's version of Christianity; the selfish greed hidden behind piousness. In addition to this Douglass also makes sarcastic descriptions of people and places, describing how un-Christian they were by calling them Christian. "(I)t is almost an unpardonable offense to teach slaves to read in this Christian county."(32)

Douglass seems to weave religious controversy in his autobiography defining the differences of actions among the slaves and slaveholders. Douglass was an American slave that believed in Christianity, but struggled with the idea that slaveholder could

Frederick Douglass's narrative is an interesting and educative 1845 memoir of a former slave and orator Fredrick Douglas. The narrative explains the events of the author’s life as a slave since childhood until he escapes from the bondage of slavery. The story is divided into eleven chapters, each explaining important events in the life of Fredrick and his fellow slaves. Throughout the narrative, the orator explains various episodes of sadness and happiness in the lives of slaves who are always at the mercy of their slave. The author also expresses the hypocrisy White people who enslaved people while preaching the saving power of Jesus Christ. In the end, the author argues for abolition, and explains his major role in advocating for the abolition

“The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” is notable for such analysis because he was an African American, a trait that has been of controversy for decades back in time. In this text, we are able to get a feel of life as a slave and how difference and identity were then verses how these were perceived once equality was established in the United States. Once freedom and equality were established, there then was a clear distinction in the difference of the two. Frederick Douglass, once enslaved, tells his story of his journey from being a

Quite often Douglass makes note of the Christian hypocrisy shown by slave owners. It is quite prevalent how they use religious text to justify their actions, this is meaningful in the debate on slavery. Douglass also finds the meaning of the law against slaves learning to read and write to keep slaves ignorant and to accept that they are born into slavery. The use of Christianity to justify an end to slavery is also prevalent in the

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, written by himself, was published in 1845. Frederick Douglass is one of the most celebrated writers in the African American literary history, and his first autobiography is one of the most widely read slave narratives. Douglass tells his life from young to old and what he endured growing up. He shares major events that happened that involved history. It took many hardships for Douglass to become as successful as he did but he made it.

In Peyser’s article, “The Attack on Christianity in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave,” he argues that “Douglass seems to believe that slavery is not a perversion of Christian doctrine but rather its perfect embodiment.” In the Narrative, Douglass desires to influence his audience beliefs that he is not against all religions but instead desires to gain their support and raise uncertainties of Christianity itself. Peyser writes about religion in the Narrative and how Douglass compares it to passages from the Bible. Peyser also draws special attention to the appendix

Fredrick Douglass and Henry Melville both critique Christianity as it was practiced in 19th-century America. Douglass illuminates the aspect of Christianity in relation to the way Christians also uphold the institution of slavery. He views it has ironic that those who claim the Christian faith also believe that there is nothing wrong in the practice of slavery. Douglass questions how one can be a true Christian and still not see that slavery in morally and religiously wrong. He ultimately critiques the way people practice the faith and still uphold slavery. Douglass goes as far to say that the slave master’s even become crueler when they find religion, because then they feel as if they can do no wrong. As Douglass states in relation to slavery and religion, “Here we have religion and robbery the allies of each other – devils dressed in angels’ robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise.”