Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Even though the words of his master degrade Douglass, they also inspire him to pursue reading and freedom more passionately. When Douglass sees how intimidated his master, Hugh Auld, is at the idea of his wife, Sophia Auld, teaching young Frederick to read, he realizes that knowledge is truly power. He feels the constraint his master imposed on him his entire life, and he begins to understand how to free himself. Douglass writes that, “From that moment I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom…I was gladdened by the invaluable

Mrs. Auld now realized that education and slavery were incompatible. The once, kind Mrs. Auld, now turned her back on Frederick Douglass. She stopped teaching Frederick Douglass to read, nor, would not let him look at the newspaper. However, all of her evil intentions to abandon him in mental darkness just motivated him to further his reading abilities to the next level

Slavery is a humongous topic involving both slaves and former slaves. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Story is one such story. Douglass suffered punishments, and watching others get punished, he uses those experiences to make his argument against slavery.Douglass’ tone in the narrative is sarcastic and dark. Frederick Douglass successfully uses vast quantities of rhetorical devices, illuminating the horror and viciousness of slavery, including the need to eliminate it.

Greed is the undertone upon which Douglass states that slavery “corrupted souls” and “turned good people into bad people.” The institution of slavery was based on the ultimate control and power over a human to whom he is stripped of all of his identity and becomes sub-human. Consequently, the institution forces slave holders had to buy into this concept in order to justify any and all cruelty toward slaves. Douglas states “Slave holders resort to all kinds of cruelty” and later describes various ways of torture and punishment “all are in requisition to keep the slave in his condition as a slave in the United States” (Douglass 272). Slave holders showed no mercy when reprimanding slaves. The brutality and cruelty of these punishments were more of a statement of power and control and often times the punishment was worse than the offense.

The power that they have over their slaves has a damaging effect on their moral health because they are careless. Douglass describes adultery and rape as typical behavior patterns of slaveholders which damage their families. Sophia Auld is Douglass's main illustration of the corruption of slave owners. The power of slaveholding changes Sophia from a nice woman to a demon. She went from a kind, caring and loving person into a typical mean slave master. She was no longer able to teach Douglass how to read because her husband disapproved it. Slaveholders gain and keep power over blacks from their birth onward by keeping them ignorant of basic facts about themselves. For example slaves didn't know their birth date or who their parents were. They didn't want slaves to have a natural sense of identity. Slave children were not allowed to learn to read or write because this would lead slaves to question their rights.

This was new setting for a slave and it changed the way a lot things were run. A correlation of compromised morals is shown when Fredrick mentions that Mrs. Auld "was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman [but]… slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities" (37). Mrs. Auld had never been exposed to slavery and up until that point had not had to adjust her morals to that situation. In chapter seven, he mentions that her heart soon turned to stone. Fredrick illustrated this point with a metaphor that said she had transformed from and lamb to a tiger (38). This is a direct parallel with the Stanford Experiment when the test subjects persona's began to go from one extreme to the other just based off of what was occurring around them. Also while in Baltimore, he voiced that Mrs. Auld treated him as one is supposed to treat another human being. Then he goes on to speak about Mr. And Mrs. Hamilton. When depicted that they were cruel and heartless towards their slaves, it can strike the point that after a certain amount of time, when moral lines are crossed, humans begin to attempt to justify their wrong and make it a

Little did Douglass now, that the same would happen to him later a various amount throughout his life as a slave. In “Slavery in the Land of the Free”, Bales and Soodalter convey how people can deceive others in the redards of slavery, and change someone’s innocent life forever in the matter of a second. Both authors reveal the story of Maria, the slave for Sandra Beaden. They explain, “On arrival, Maria was dragged into hell. Sandra Bearden used violence and terror to squeeze work and obedience from the child” (1).

Slaves’ future lives all depended on who would “win” them and buy them. For Douglass, it was unbearable to observe human beings cry in desperation and pain. Frederick’s mistress was the only person, besides himself, that was able to experience pure dismay; causing them to ache together and understand the terror.

Douglass uses emphasis to set up the character of Mrs. Auld for an explicitly straightforward change in human nature. He places emphasis on the initial evaluation of her kind and gentle character. Within the first sentence of the opening paragraph Douglass describes her as “- a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings.” (Douglass 19), he goes on to states “I was utterly astonished at her goodness” (Douglass 19) in the same paragraph. This duplication of the same idea is used as a que for the reader

How did slavery continue to exist despite its inhumane practices? Many of these owners employed the ideas of dehumanizing slaves and religion in order to perpetuate their actions. Dehumanization demoted the societal status of slaves, therefore deeming blacks inferior to their white counterparts. Moreover, although directly opposing religious principles of kindness and avoidance of sin, plantation owners used Christianity as a mechanism to mask their inhumanity and encourage their cruelty toward slaves. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass develops themes of dehumanization and religion, which helps readers understand the techniques slave owners utilized to alleviate their guilt, condone malice toward slaves, and preserve supremacy over colored people in Southern society.

Amongst the injustice and brutality of slavery is the exclusion of education and knowledge. The slaveholder would tactically deprive the slaves of any knowledge because it would expose them of slavery’s injustice. This act dehumanized the slaves to a great extent, and at the same time forbade them to pursue any form of freedom, physically or spiritually. Hugh Auld, Douglass’s master reasoned that “it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read” and believed “If you have a nigger an inch, he will take an ell.” (Douglass 40, 41) Auld advocated his reasoning by calling a slave “unmanageable,” “unhappy,” and “discontented” if enlightened. Douglass however understood differently. The withdrawal of literacy and knowledge, he believed, was one of the greater factors keeping blacks inferior to whites in society. The Narrative also documents the many physiological effects of slaveholding. Douglass carefully explains the masters whipping their slaves when they least deserve it, and overlooking their deeds when they most deserve it. The killing of a slave is also considered the least of an offense or crime, and is simply gone

Frederick Douglass Essay 5/14/2015 -Deborah Kindler-   Frederick Douglass Essay What are the effects of slavery and how was it detrimental to everyone who came in contact with slavery?

Sophia and Hugh Auld become crueler toward him, but Douglass still prefers Baltimore and teaches himself to read with the help of local boys. Douglass becomes more aware of the evils of slavery and of the existence of the abolitionist, or antislavery, movement and resolves to eventually escape to the North.

She was by trade a weaver; and by constant application to her business, she had been in a good degree preserved from the blighting and dehumanizing effects of slavery (19). Mrs. Auld was considered by Douglass to be an angel as she managed to distance herself from slavery. She managed to do so by being independent. She did her own work and did not need to rely on a man in order to be self-sufficient. Most importantly, Mrs. Auld had never owned a slave prior to Douglass’s arrival in Baltimore. Thus, she had not yet been instilled the demeaning manner of how to treat a slave. Instead, she simply sees Douglass as another human being and treats him as so. Up until her marriage to Mr. Auld, she played no part whatsoever in slavery. After Mr. Auld finds out that his wife was teaching Douglass how to write, he immediately instructs her on how slaves should be treated and the possible dangers of slaves being too educated (20). The change in Mrs. Auld occurred shortly as she ceased to be an angel and turned into a demon. Her treatment of Douglass eventually became worse than how Mr. Auld treated him. She made sure that Douglass did not pick up any reading material and she no longer treated him in a humanely manner, but rather with rage and anger. Douglass observed her sudden change and noted that “slavery

Another interesting similarity of the two autobiographies, is the relationship between Mrs. Auld and Douglass, as she facilitated his literacy. The importance of this similarity is that ten years later, after the first autobiography Douglass still remembers the impact, character and personality of Mrs. Auld. Douglass described Mrs. Auld, "of the kindest heart and finest feelings" (Douglass, 1845, 61). These remarks demonstrate the type of mistress that Mrs. Auld was and that she was quite unlike Douglass' previous mistresses, which surprised him. There are several characteristics and actions that Douglass commented and praised Mrs. Auld. He enjoyed when she looked at him in his face, when she smiled at him, when she used a friendly tone of voice, and lastly, when she taught Douglass how to read (Douglass, 1845, 61-62). Though these abnormal characteristics could be attributed to her ignorance of how slaves are normally treated, especially in the southern part of the country, Douglass enjoyed the kind treatment. Mrs. Auld's treatment of Douglass and his attitude is strikingly similar in My Bondage. In the second autobiography Douglass again, commented on her peculiarly kind treatment towards him to the point where he thinks she loves him (Douglass, 1855, 97). Moreover, an interesting similarity is that he once again discussed how Mrs. Auld taught him how to read