Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Essay

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.

     It is at this time that Frederick Douglass learns one of the greatest freedoms of all. He is set free, in an educational sense. Douglass has been taught a few reading lessons form his mistress. Soon after his master discovers this, and commences the teaching at once. Soon thereafter, Frederick Douglass uses some smart tactics to resume his learning. He in a sense manipulates the children around him into teaching him how to read and write. This grand achievement taught Douglass something, as he says, “From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and

Douglass’s escape from slavery and eventual freedom are inseparable from his movingly narrated attainment of literacy. Douglass saw slavery as a

Throughout the history of slavery in the United States, it was common practice not only for slaveholders to neglect to teach their slaves to read or write, but also for them to outright forbid literacy among slaves. This was done in order to limit the slaves knowledge and modes of communication, making it more difficult for them to learn about the abolitionist movement or for for them to share their situation with the world outside of slavery. Like many other slaves, Frederick Douglass was not allowed to learn to read or write. In his autobiography; “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass retells how he managed to become literate in a time where most African Americans were forbidden from literacy, and how this knowledge allowed him to eventually escape slavery.

Frederick Douglass had specific audiences that he wanted to either relate to or to get across a point to. African American people that had endured slavery were an intended audience because Frederick Douglass states things such as “Thus, after a long, tedious effort for years. I finally succeeded in learning how to read and write” and “I was compelled to resort to various stratagems”. Those sentences by Frederick Douglass show that it was not an easy time for him and the levels or trials that he went through to be someone who was not illiterate. Frederick Douglass never once was one to give up on the need to learn to read and write, so that shows that Frederick Douglass thought that it was important for the African American people to be as well educated as the caucasian Americans were. The caucasian Americans were Frederick’s intended audience because of Frederick’s use of contrast throughout the extract. Frederick tells how his mistress had changed on him from being a helpful, loving, and nice woman to an evil spirited, bitter brute

Douglass is disappointed by his master when he prevents his mistress from teaching him, a slave, how to read when he deeply enjoyed being educated and literate. It become harder for him to be able to learn to read and write, but he learned the power of education and how people can be fearful of it at this time if you teach a slave to read and write. When his master tells his wife to quit teaching him, that only motivates and encourages him to continue because he knows that education is valuable or Mr. Auld wouldn’t be telling his wife to stop.

and write in the hope that the boy could get to know the Bible. When

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.

Before I read this piece of art, I did not think that I would like it; I thought it was a tedious literary work like the ones a part of a colossal textbook at first glance. However, I changed my mind after reading it thoroughly. I am honestly amazed at how Douglass’ words link together to have such easy flow and clarity through each sentence. He is a better writer than some of the people who learned how to read and write at an even younger age than him. Last but not least, I love how he proves that education is important since reading and writing gave him the advantage to become a free man; this excerpt gives a lesson on why education is pivotal to gaining knowledge to have a sense of individuality.

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.

He learns the alphabet from his mistress. However, she has to suddenly stop teaching him when his master declares “If you teach that nigger to read, there will be no keeping him. He will forever be unfit to be a slave” (Douglass 960). Hence, Douglass recognizes that education means power. The path to freedom and equality is paved by education. Immediately after, he “… set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read” (Douglass 960). The laws and consequent restrictions meant to prevent him from learning serve only to fuel his passion to acquire the knowledge he needs to become a man. Douglass lets nothing prevent him from learning, and continues to cleverly find ways to learn to read and write (Levine 935). His desire for the self-respect that an education will give him is very clear in the writing style of his autobiography. Even the words in the title “Written by Myself” is a statement of education. It says, I am literate, I am human, and the equivalent of any person in my audience. For this purpose, he persistently uses the bible and political documents in shaping his intellectual views. He knows how important validating his thoughts and ideas with sources are in establishing ethos and logos. Accordingly, as Douglass continues to further his own

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

Douglass had an obvious want for knowledge and understanding, which he clearly fought for through his autobiography. He was taught the alphabet and how to spell at a young age by his master’s wife. However, his teachings were put down when his owner told his wife that there’d be no fit for him if he learned how to read. Douglass soon started to realize that if he wanted his freedom he’d have to learn to read. Being told not to learn only made him want to learn more so that one day he will gain the respect, knowledge, and freedom he deserved. He even used bribes to have young boys teach him to write. His want for education was very strong, and that’s where he uses his desire to his advantage in the writing style of his self written life story. He tells his story as if we were alongside him the whole way learning how he put each little teaching he learned together like a puzzle to make one big magnificent masterpiece at the end when he finally gained his freedom. As Douglass continued to gain knowledge, he gained more character and found himself to not be just a slave but a human being, a valuable and important man who wanted to make a difference in the way he

Define who Frederick Douglass was and provide a summary of his book, narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass: an American slave 1845.

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