Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Towards the end of chapter ten in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglas describes how slave owners would make slaves’ holidays miserable. Slave owners did this to manipulate the slaves into believing that they are better off in slavery. They would entice slaves to get drunk by placing bets on who could drink the most. When a slave had had enough to drink, he would then ask for something else, but unknowingly receive more alcohol. As a result, slaves would prefer to work in the fields instead of having holidays. This passage illustrates how African Americans remained content in their shackles of slavery for 245 years in America.

In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by Frederick Douglass, he tells his own personal story about what it was like to live as a slave. While living through the horrors of slavery, Douglass manages to educate himself, by teaching himself to read with the help of few. As Douglass matures, life only gets harder. However, his education brings him hope. Not only does Douglass read of abolition, giving him hope, he also learns the importance of his education. Frederick Douglass discovers that education is the key to the freedom of his people through realizing the inevitable power gap is created by ignorance.

In Frederick Douglass’s narrative, “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass”, he speaks of how he gained his education. He discusses who helped him and who discouraged him from getting an education. He mainly taught himself how to read and write, but he would have been nothing without the help of one of his master’s wife, Mrs. Auld. This narrative has shown that even the slightest education can be very abundant and meaningful. Through this essay it becomes evident that education is only a privilege.

In "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass", Frederick uses his trials and tribulations to show that mental strength can overcome physical abuse while also showing us how faith is something that one must have to stay true to one’s self. “I was covered with blood. My hair was all clotted with dust and blood. I supposed that I looked like a man that had escaped from a lion’s den” (54). Fredrick Douglass once said reading and writing is the most important, most basic, and the most meaningful way to grasp an understanding of life and express yourself.

“How would you feel if you were a slave and were not allowed to learn reading and writing?” Frederick Douglass is one of millions victims in slavery; moreover, he is one of few influential African-American abolitionists. He illustrates how he successfully overcomes tremendous difficulties to become literate in his essay, “Learning to Read and Write.” He believes that education is the key to freedom for slaves. Similarly, non-English speaking immigrants regard education as the essential to get rid of struggles in English in the United States.

The “Narratives of the Life of Frederick Douglass” is the story of Frederick Douglass’ life from the time he was born into slavery, to the time he escaped to freedom in the north. When Douglass wrote this book, slavery was still legal in a large portion of the United States. After Douglass’ escape to freedom and his continuation of his education, he became an abolitionist through his works of literature and speeches. In “The Blessings of Slavery”, by George Fitzhugh he states that southern slaves for the most part are the freest and happiest people in the world. He also goes on to say a number of other things that basically establish that slaves live an easy and good life compared to others. Frederick Douglass’ pure story telling in the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” directly goes against any argument for slavery from Fitzhugh, by revealing the harshness of the institution of slavery and the individuals behind it. In each piece of literature both authors also unknowingly touch on topics of early American history such as free labor ideology and paternalism therefore deepening our knowledge of popular understandings during this time period. Douglass refutes Fitzhugh’s pro-slavery argument of the average slave living an ideal life, by disproving early ideas of the free labor system and paternalism through real life encounters of the physical oppression slaves faced on the day to day basis in the forms of inhumane treatment and violence, as well as the true harsh

"Some men know the value of education by having it. I know its value by not having it." –Blessings of Liberty and Education (1894) In Frederick Douglass’ narrative he writes about his childhood memories while he was enslaved including memories from different owners and overseers.He talks about the multiple different plantations he had lived on. He includes his memories of the terrible treatment of his family and fellow slaves as well as memories of being in communications with them. In his narrative, he criticizes many aspects of slavery however he focuses on the inhumanity of slavery. By criticizing the inhumanity of slavery Douglass demonstrates that becoming literate enabled him to discover his self-pride which helped him become a

Frederick Douglass, throughout Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, uses religion to get many of his points across. In one way, religion plays a huge role in Douglass’ ability to become literate throughout the text. With the Bible and other Christian texts, Douglass is able to further his ability and the ability of others to read. This becomes important because as Douglass points out the slaveholders believe a literate slave is not a good slave. This union of literacy and religion show the importance of religion to Douglass. However, Douglass also incorporates religious details throughout the Narrative and the appendix that lend themselves to a separation between “the Christianity of this land [America] and the Christianity of Christ.” These two distinct religious views cannot coexist in Douglass’ America, and it becomes clear that in order to abolish slavery, first one must confront these two distinct roles of Christianity. So in a way, Douglass’ religion is not just an attack on the unrighteous ways of the slave-holding Christian, but it also becomes a political vessel to forward the abolitionist cause. If religion is viewed as a political vessel for Douglass, the appendix can therefore be seen as his call-to-arms against the oppressive intolerance of slavery and slaveholder religion.

The theme of individual versus society has been featured in many pieces of literature over time. This conflict can be described as an individual’s struggle against the confines of their culture or society. The individual wrestles with either upholding society’s rules or breaking them. The conflict of the individual versus society is included in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass. In his memoir, Douglass, who was a slave at the time, learned how to read and write. This was deviant from society in that period because slaves were not allowed to read and write. This conflict also appears in real life situations, such as the women’s suffrage movement or the Civil Rights Movement. Members of these movements did things that deviated from societal norms at the time. The theme of the individual versus society is presented as an individual deviating from society’s ideals.

Being a slave in the United States was not uncommon in the 19th century. There were many brutalities of being a slave including physical and spiritual abuse. Slaves were considered property and not as human beings. They were mistreated and kept illiterate. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is a autobiography written by Frederick Douglass himself that told of his experiences of being a slave in the United States. He expresses the brutality the slave owners and how he struggled with running away to become a free human being. The themes of his story include: the ignorance of slaves, the treatment of slaves as property, religion used as justification, and the victimization of female slaves.

Frederick Douglas is a former slave, abolitionist, writer, editor, and orator. He was born in 1818 and died in 1895. Throughout Douglass’ early years he suffered physical abuse, deprivation, and tragedy. Although he had a rough start he overcame every obstacle thrown his way and became a great spokesman for his people. Douglass didn’t really know who was as a person all he knew was what people told him. Throughout his early life he looked at the life of the white kids and judge his life based on theirs and he felt that his life was totally unfair because he was not afforded the same privileges as his Caucasian peers. In 1835 Frederick Douglass overheard his master say that he was 17, and this was the first time he ever heard anything of his age (1).

In the memoir, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, a slave named Frederick Douglass wrote an autobiography to show the way slavery degraded slaves and slave masters. He was born in Tuckahoe, about twelve miles from Easton, Maryland. He was born into slavery and had no knowledge of his age. Douglass was separated from his mother after birth, never saw her, except when she would occasionally visit him at night. Douglass was transferred and sold repeatedly in the slave markets of the South. The physical abuse and physical neglect of the slaves resulted in mental fluctuation. As a result, the psychological consequences that were within these elements were more detrimental to the mental development and to the identity of the slaves.

Frederick Douglass’ biography revolves around the idea of freedom. After seeing a traumatizing incident as a child, Douglass slowly begins to realize that he is not a free human being, but is a slave owned by other people. He is surrounded by a society that devalues him and people like him, and systematically worked to keep them ignorant and submissive. In this society, it is made clear that no slave is special, and everyone is replaceable. Rather than accept this, Douglass struggles to maintain what little autonomy he was allowed to have. When his one of his masters, Thomas Auld, bans his mistress, Sophia, from teaching Douglass how to read, Douglass learned from the young boys on the street. His biography shows him transforming from an ignorant child into his older, more learned self.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass perfectly depicts the dreadful experience of living in slavery. From being unsure of the day he was born, to his first beating from a master, to the brutal and exhausting work, and to the joyous day he was freed. Besides describing his experience as a slave, he describes the toll slavery had on the masters and families of slaves. Frederick Douglass also includes his view of education in relation to freedom. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a good excerpt from The Classic Slave Narratives that can be considered a good historical resource due to the historical content it provides about slavery.

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.