Similarities Between Frederick Douglass And Bobbie Ann Mason

In this paper I will compare the writings of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass. I will touch on their genre, purpose, content, and style. Both authors were born into slavery. Both escaped to freedom and fought to bring an end to slavery, each in their own way. Both Jacobs and Douglass have a different purpose for their writings.

Frederick Douglass and Woolf had different methods of achieving their goals. Woolf wants women to fight back and create a voice for themselves. She is not saying that they should get rid of men opinions, but for women to create their own freedom. Virginia Woolf established this idea that there are two thing women need in order to write fiction. She says,“All I could do was to offer you an opinion upon one minor point—a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction; and that” (Woolf 339). The two things that they would needed to have was money and a room of her own. That woman has to be financially independence from men in order to and create ideas for themselves. Without having money to be financially stable women would be busy focusing on losing their homes if they decided to break free from their husbands. For example, men are allowed to have time for themselves while women clean and take care of the family. When she mentions “a room of one’s own” she means that there needs to be a space where women can have the freedom and time to be able to write (me time). Therefore, women need the same freedom and without that, nothing will change. Frederick Douglass’s method differed from Woolf’s. He was motivated to fight for education because he has this idea that you could gain freedom through knowledge. In one’s opinion, he is right because having knowledge frees the mind. He says, “These words sank deep into my

Douglass not only describes slaves as animals, but he describes slave treatment as if they were animals to further describe the horrendous lives of slaves. Slaves were fed food in troughs (36). By choosing the word “trough”, Douglass emphasizes the poor treatment of slaves; slaves were not good enough to be fed from bowls or plates, they were no better than animals. Douglass also compares women on the plantations to breeding animals. Women were expected to reproduce in order to increase their masters’ wealth, not to create a family. Women and children were separated before the child was a year old so they would not form familial bonds with one another. When Douglass’ own mother died, he compared it to a stranger dying because he had no connection with her (18). Slaves were not only thought of animals, but also fostered as animals. Douglass describes Mr. Covey as a “nigger-breaker”, Douglass was broken in “body, soul, and spirit” by

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.

Although reading was beneficial for both men, they found themselves having to hide their readings from the people around them that they could not trust. From the start, both Douglass and Wright found it difficult to lay their hands on literature. Frederick Douglass’s kindhearted mistress taught him how to read; however, she eventually allowed slavery to influence her. Her intentions were no longer the same, which put Douglass in a difficult situation, as he was no longer allowed to read. Douglass was so addicted to reading that he took all opportunities he could get to lay his hands back on a book. In an attempt to show how Douglass had to go behind his mistress’s back, he admits: “When I was sent on errands, I always took my book with me, and by going one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my return” (Douglass 147). What made Douglass different was that he did not let any situation affect his learning. Unfortunately, he quickly realized that in

Since the beginning of writing, literature has played a pivotal role in shaping the history of the world. The same holds true when referring to the early American history topic of slavery. Many abolitionists wrote in hopes that their views will persuade people in America to take a stand against slavery. While there were many authors that led the anti-slavery movement, the most successful writers were the slaves that lived through this atrocious time period and were able to recall their experiences. Two prominent authors during this time period were Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs. While the two writers shared many common experiences due to their time being a slave, they also had had a variety of differences. Harriet Jacobs wrote mostly wrote in a way that appealed to people’s emotions and focused on what a woman goes through as a slave; whereas Douglass focused on freedom and manhood.

In their narratives Frederick Douglass’ and Harriet Jacobs’ recount the agony they have gone through in a slaveholding society, where gender played a deceiving role during the captiva-tion. For slaves it was impossible to achieve designated stereotypical roles of the sexes, respec-tively for male and female, as the only officially recognized gender at that time. While Harriet Jacobs was restricted in her aspire for freedom due to her role conflict as mother and slave, Fred-erick Douglass seems distant to family matters and focused on getting his independence and pride back with education and resistance. Both were constrained to follow the general pictures default to fit the American culture and the norms set by society towards gender throughout their captivation as slaves. Yet, these specific examples of their life are despite their differences, very similar in their desires.

Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass both wrote narratives that detailed their lives as slaves in the antebellum era. Both of these former slaves managed to escape to the North and wanted to expose slavery for the evil thing it was. The accounts tell equally of depravity and ugliness though they are different views of the same rotten institution. Like most who managed to escape the shackles of slavery, these two authors share a common bond of tenacity and authenticity. Their voices are different—one is timid, quiet, and almost apologetic while the other one is loud, strong, and confident—but they are both authentic. They both also through out the course of their narratives explain their desires to be free from the horrible practice of slavery.

Mr. Douglass was not rich whatsoever. As a matter of fact, he was a slave. He didn’t have much, but the young lad had two positive personality traits that guided him on his path to learning to read and write. Douglass was very perpetual. Despite the fact it took him longer due to not having a constant teacher, and not being able to get a chance to find a book or paper all the time, he refused to give up the fight. Do doubt about it, he was determined to learn the skill even if took until he was old and gray. Which it didn’t. He was also very resourceful with where he got his information and how he caught it. Whenever he found a book or paper, he would often collect it and read it. Other times he would give extra bread to the poor white kids in exchange for them giving him some more knowledge. Since he was a serf, food was not an issue, so he was able to use a little

Another example of how Douglass used family values against southern slaveholders was in the treatment of his grandmother. When Douglass’s master decided

Hugh Auld discussed with his wife that teaching a slave to read a write is dangerous " If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell "(Douglas 20) meaning if you teach a slave to read and write he will be more knowledgeable and more curious. Learning would make the slaves more aware of the injustice happening to them and they may potentially challenge the masters. Keeping the slaves ignorant would prevent them from forming ideas. Hugh believed that since it would spoil the slave it would leave the slave to no good use anymore to his master. After some reading and some thinking Douglas finally noticed how bad he and the other slaves were being treated, how bad he was enslaved, and how the other slaves didn't see what Douglass saw " It had even me a view on my wretched condition without a remedy ... In moments of agony I envied my fellow-slavessllaves for their stupidity " ( Douglass 24 ) The slaveholders wanted to keep the slaves ignorant so that they would stay slaves and only focus in the plantation other than what'swhats happening in real life. This was dehumanizing because the slave didn't know they were being treated less than

Both the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and The Adventures of Huck Finn explore the ideas of slavery and its impact on daily life as a whole. The Narrative of Frederick Douglass makes a more straightforward argument, whereas Mark Twain uses a less serious story to outline the dangers of slavery have not only on the slaves, but society. Through the use of Pathos, Frederick Douglass shows the reader the cruelty and hypocrisy of slavery. Mark Twain uses a simple story, one not meant to be interpreted or analyzed, to show just how the people in southern regions viewed slaves in America during the Antebellum period. Even though Frederick Douglass and Mark Twain use

During the 1800s, slaves received treatment comparable to that of livestock. They were mere possessions of white men stripped of almost every last bit of humanity in them. African-Americans were constricted to this state of mind by their owners vicious treatment, but also the practice of keeping them uneducated. Keeping the slaves illiterate hindered them from understanding the world around them. Slave owners knew this. The slaves who were able to read and write always rebelled more against their masters. Frederick Douglass, author of "A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," and Harriet Jacobs, author of "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," were prime examples. Both slaves had been taught how read and write at a young

In lines 18-32, Douglass describes what was an abnormality in those times- a white woman (his master’s wife) taking pity on him, and teaching him to read and write. Douglass’s juxtaposition of his master’s wife’s attitude toward him- which was one of a “pious, warm and tender-hearted” nature, to the way the rest of society perceived him as a “mere chattel” helped highlight just how abnormal her behavior was. This contrast further developed through the fact that to treat a slave as a human being back in those days was “not only wrong, but dangerously so,” yet despite that commonplace assertion found all throughout life back then, his master’s wife still treated Douglass no different than she would treat a friend. This section of the text elaborated upon her kind-hearted nature, which led her to pity and help those worse off than her, no matter how society perceived it. Douglass emphasized this point by using mostly long, well constructed sentences that were filled with figurative language. This syntax helped elaborate upon the tone of newfound hope in this section, by demonstrating his flowing thoughts and feelings, due to his newfound freedoms. This syntax helped emphasize the fact that Douglass had acquired the very knowledge slave owners sought to keep from him, therefore acquiring the power that had been kept from him his whole life.

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.