Overcoming Obstacles In Frederick Douglas's Life

Covey Douglass ignored the order to take off his shirt to receive a beating. “He then went to a large Gum-tree and with his pocket knife, he ordered me to take off my clothes. I made him no answer, but stood with my clothes on. He repeated his order, I still made him no answer, nor did I move to strip myself… The whipping was a first of a number just like it, and for similar offenses” (Douglass 35-36). Even though he knew he would get an even worse beating from Mr.Covey, Douglass still refused to take his shirt off. Later while in the field, Douglas became sick and as he could not get up Mr. Covey struck Douglass in the head making a large gash. Douglass decided to go to his master (7 miles) and asked for his protection. “ I succeeded in getting a Considerable distance on my way to the woods, when Covey discovered me, and called after me to come back, threatening what he would do to me if i did not come back…”(Douglass 40). Douglass took the changes and was determined to reach his master to become

The life of Frederick Douglass was as horrible and miserable as any other slave. However, since bravery was his most dominant trait Frederick’s life became the life of a hero. Born into slavery on the year of 1818, Frederick never really got to know his family and was separated at birth. Growing up, he knew that blacks like him were not supposed to be educated, or treated as well as the whites. This compelled Frederick even

Frederick Douglass, an African American slave, searches for liberation against the shackles of slavery through education; as told in Frederick Douglass’ Narrative in a Life of Frederick Douglass. Douglass portrays education as a paradox; knowledge brings him both great joy and great pain. Learning opens up new worlds for Douglass, and he becomes obsessed with the possibility of freedom. At the same time, he envies his fellow slaves for their ignorance. They do not understand what their enslavers have stolen from them. Douglass grapples with the hopelessness of his plight, but knowledge empowers him enough to set himself free from a life of benightedness, and to share that knowledge with others.

Message: Douglass wants his audience, the American public, to know that he earned his freedom. Freedom is something that each of us must look for in order to be truly “free.” Through the personal experiences of his own life as a slave and his perseverance to become educated, Douglass shows us that it requires persistence and bravery to look for freedom. He also illustrates to the audience that there is no real end in this search for freedom until slavery is fully abolished.

Covey for a year. Mr. Covey had a reputation for setting slaves straight. The agreement was that Covey could use the slave in the fields. One day, Douglass collapsed in the barn because he was so tired. Covey happened to come by and kicked Fredrick and started beating him. This shows how cruel Covey was. A couple days after the beating, Covey jumped on Fredrick and he decided to fight back. After a long fight, Covey gives up and does no harm to Fredrick for the rest of his time there. This gives Fredrick the courage that is very important when he

It was then that he became aware of his current status: a lowly slave that was considered to be a chattel. And it was then that he wanted his freedom. Meanwhile, the venom slave owner began to poison Sophia?s kind nature. Sadly, Douglass was once again a piece of meat and he no longer viewed the black race as one of the whites. Also, his views for white slave owners changed similarly; his heart was filled with abhorrence for them (Douglass 42). There were many times when Douglass thought about running away to become a free man, but there were few times when he was really determined to fulfill the risky and dangerous task. One of the few times came during the year when he worked for Edward Covey. Douglass became a field hand for the first time in his life. It was one of the few times he felt like a slave. He was not skilled in the backbreaking work required of him. Covey was a harsh and brutal slaveholder. Mr. Covey made his slaves work in all weathers. It was never too hot or too cold; it could never rain, blow, hail, or snow, too hard in the field (Douglass 66). And if it wasn?t work, work, work, it was beatings, beatings, and beatings. Douglass was often whipped and battered for not working ?hard enough.? Under Covey, Douglass and the other slaves were treated as the lowlifes of society, as low as horses and pigs. After six months under Covey, Douglass lost interest in reading and the

Frederick Douglass was once a slave with an opportunity that no other slaves have obtained. Douglass have spent the rest of his life educating himself, either by self-taught or someone else helping him to learn. At the time period, it was forbidden for the slaves to educate or to be educated. Douglass was lucky enough to even receive this chance to educate himself. Despite his determination to educate himself, he is still human. There are obstacles in his journey that prevented him from moving on. He even wished to die from all the pain he stored in himself that he could not express, except in his writing. With all of the obstacles and pain throughout the years, it was worth it because he escaped slavery and became a free man. “Learning to

         When Douglas was born into slavery, grew up in the South engaged in heavy slave labor, torture, several times nearly lost his life. However, his strong will in difficult circumstances, assiduous self-culture struggle. Slaveholders see good discipline, he handed him over to a special tame slaves and whites - Covey discipline. Douglas decided to revolt after being repeatedly beaten severely beaten discipline who scared the other no longer afraid to fight him.

After that Douglass decided to run away back to his old master Mr.Thomas, who then told him to go back that he can not take him back. When he returned to Mr.Covey’s field started working like the rest of the slaves when one day he was ordered to rub and feed the horses. As he was about to leave the horses, Mr.Covey came with a long rope and tried to tie Douglass down to so he could do whatever he wanted to do to Douglass. Douglass knew what he was willing to do to him, so he fought back.

In 1833 Douglass was sent to a “slave breaker” who flagellated him constantly in an effort to physically and mentally break him down. Finally after 6 months of working with covey in all kinds of weather conditions every day except Sunday, Douglass was “broken in body, soul, and spirit.”(Douglass 2064-2128) Douglass lost the will to do anything intellectually he was numbed expressively “my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died…” (Douglass 2064-2128). After enduring this treatment he tried to get protection from his former master and absconded to him. After this covey was set on beating Douglass to death and in a stable he tried where Douglass fought back and told covey “that he had used me like a brute for six months, and that I was determined to be used so no longer.”(Douglass 2064-2128) Only until Douglass seized this opportunity was he no longer subject to covey’s yoke of oppression. No longer bound his mind was free to soar and he was able to pen his autobiography in addition he was also an abolitionist who helped end slavery. His path through slavery was harsh and it took great patience to withstand that condition and to rise up. His experience of slavery was no different than any other slave of the time

The fight with Mr. Covey gave him hope for the future. “This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave”(Douglass 43). The fight that they had revived him with the will to live. The turning point revived his determination to be free and returned his self confidence. “It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood.

Fredrick Douglass was born into slavery and experienced things that a lot of children in that time of 1835 did, the loss of family, moving to different masters, and being treated like unequal’s and beneath society. With the blossoming of knowledge Fredrick Douglass began to experience later on in his life he become the face of change for the African American community all over the south and beyond. Change was going to come and he is known for his intellectual speeches, and writings that changed lives forever. In chapter one, Fredrick Douglass gives descriptive scenes on the encounters he witnessed with slaves being abused and mistreated by the slave holders and workers.

Most importantly, slave owners used overwhelming, deadly force at the slightest provocation. Such a drastic contrast in power was prominent in Frederick Douglass’ The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Throughout the autobiography,

Fredrick Douglass also came to exude a great sense of racial pride as his life progressed. At first, his only perception of his people was that of a lowly slave nation. Yet, he was dedicated to trying to improve their lot. After his fellow slaves learned that he was literate, they “insisted that I must keep a Sabbath school.” He agreed to this proposal because he felt that the only shot his “brothers” had at gaining their freedom was through the power of the written word. Later, when he and his fellow slaves were jailed after their plans to escape to freedom were revealed, he states that “our greatest concern was about separation.” Douglass felt a sense of responsibility and kinship towards the members of his own race, and was loath to break these bonds. His racial pride reached its peak when he saw the houses that the free blacks in the North lived in. Douglass proudly writes that “I found many, who had not been seven years out of their chains, living in finer houses, and evidently enjoying more of the comforts of life, than the average of slaveholders in Maryland.” When Douglass saw how well some of his kinsmen were living, he could not help but change his impression of his people being a downtrodden slave nation. He came to recognize his race for what they truly were: a people equal in stature to any other, even the lofty Caucasians.

In Frederick Douglass’s narrative, Frederick Douglass struggles to free himself mentally and physically from being a slave, he also struggles with the lack of knowledge surrounding his family and his parents, and he also struggles with the reality of being a slave. Douglass struggles to save money to escape to New York City, in the end; he ends up marrying a free black woman and becomes a speaker for the Anti-Slavery Society.