Slavery In Caloya And Douglass

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.

The brutality that slaves endured form their masters and from the institution of slavery caused slaves to be denied their god given rights. In the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," Douglass has the ability to show the psychological battle between the white slave holders and their black slaves, which is shown by Douglass' own intellectual struggles against his white slave holders. I will focus my attention on how education allowed Douglass to understand how slavery was wrong, and how the Americans saw the blacks as not equal, and only suitable for slave work. I will also contrast how Douglass' view was very similar to that of the women in antebellum America, and the role that Christianity played in his life as a slave and then

After about nine chapters detailing his slave life, he says, “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.” (Douglass, 75) He then goes on to describe the turning point for him that sparked his quest for freedom. By structuring his narrative this way, he reveals both sides- how slavery broke him “in body, soul, and spirit” (Douglass, 73) and how it eventually “rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom” within him (Douglass, 80). In doing so, he gives the reader an insight into how he became himself, and reinforces the evils of slavery in the way it shapes a man’s life. Douglass’ use of diction and structure effectively persuades the reader of the barbarity and inhumanity that comes as a result of slavery.

The morals of Frederick Douglass have been greatly affected by the culture of slavery. Not having a choice on what they do in their life makes slaves depressed. Almost no slaves have any education as slaveholders do not want slaves to use their education either to escape or they may read things that could possibly make them depressed. After Frederick Douglass taught himself how to read, he consequently, became depressed after learning what else he could have done with his life. “I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead,” after he started reading, he was given some insight into how bad his life truly was (55). The effects of slavery may also have a negative impact on the slaveholder, “When I went there, she was pious, warm, and a tender-hearted woman. . . Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone,” (52). Slavery furthermore proved its ability to change people through Mrs. Auld, who turned from an extremely nice and comforting slave owner into a cold hearted slave owner. This change affects Douglass, because Mrs. Auld became more aggressive. Slavery can also turn people who were initially nice, calm people into an aggressive person. A great example of this is when the fight between Frederick Douglass and Mr. Covey, Frederick Douglass has had enough of the way he is treated by Mr. Covey.

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.

Slavery corrupts white slave owners in ways that are detrimental to the South through how it changes a normal person into a ruthless tyrant, treat human beings as less than an animal, and who overall have no sense of identity, age, or personality. As a child, Douglass’s life was not all bad because he was on the better side of being a slave , for example he worked in the great house until he was about 8 years old. As he got older he learned that different owners treated their slaves with more deception, more care, or didn’t care about their slaves at all leaving them hungry and tired. All slave owners treated their ‘property’ with cruelty. He had many owners including Edward Covey, Captain Anthony, and Sophia Auld. All of whom failed to see his humanity. In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, F. Douglass shows that slavery corrupts slave owners and gives others the idea that it is okay,and that slaves should be treated as livestock and inhumanely. Douglass shows that slavery corrupts people by telling us about the lives of Edward Covey, Captain Anthony, and Sophia Auld. We see how being a slave owner shows the brutal side of a person.

In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the dehumanization of slaves often occurs, as white plantation owners view slaves as objects undeserving of humane treatment in order to uphold power and warrant their unjust practices. Limiting knowledge and prohibiting education for African Americans was one strategy common among slave owners, as “it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant” (17). Due to their lack of intellect, slaves could not recognize the injustices of the slavery system and had little chances of escaping. When Mrs. Auld attempts to teach Frederick Douglass how to read and write, Mr. Auld claims, “A n***** should know nothing but to obey

North American Slavery vs. Latin American Slavery: A Comparative Look at Frederick Douglass and Juan Francisco Manzano

Prompt: Douglass maintains that slavery dehumanized both the slave and the slaveholder. Quoting specific passages in the Narrative support this thesis with examples.

Douglass' cousin told him the city was beautiful and Douglass knew it couldn't be any worse than the plantation. When Douglass meets his new owners, he described Hugh Auld's wife, Sophia Auld, as having a kindly face. Douglass learned what might have been one of his biggest lessons as a slave from these overseers. Sophia, the wife of Hugh Auld, had never owned a slave before, therefore she treated him almost as if he were a child of hers. She taught him the alphabet and some other minor words before Hugh took notice of what she was doing. Mr. Auld told his wife "…it is unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read." (Douglass, p.78) Hugh goes on to say "A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master… 'if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever make him unfit to be a slave.'" (Douglass, p.78) Douglass overheard every word that hissed out of Hugh Auld's mouth. Sophia Auld had been lessoned in the ways of slave managing now. She discontinued her teaching to Frederick and began to treat him as the property they considered him to be. Douglass' mind frame changed completely after hearing Auld's words. He realized that education was the key in order to obtain his freedom, "…to wit, the white man's power to enslave the black man." (Douglass, p.78) Douglass continued to pursue his education on his own. He would trade

In Chapter Three Douglass recounts a time when a slave from a large plantation, unbeknownst to him, passes his master who then proceeds to ask about how his master treats him. The slave answers truthfully that he is unhappy with his living conditions, then two or three weeks later the master has the slave sold off to a Georgian trader. The fear of experiencing a similar fate results not only in slaves lying about the ‘kindness’ of their masters, but they become so overzealous that they’ll fight other slaves to prove their master is ‘better. This was a common occurrence in the life of slaves, but had not become an issue to Douglass until after he learned to read and found the book, The Columbian Orator. In the book Douglass finds a speech encouraging Catholic emancipation, as well as an exchange between a master and slave. The slave, having been captured for the third time, explains to his master his sufferings while living under slavery, which unexpectedly leads to the voluntary emancipation of the slave. Obviously, the odds of this happening is very unlikely, but the thought of speaking out against slavery was desirable to Douglass. Where before, any desire for freedom would quickly die out after arising in his mind, now the thoughts remained and building up inside him and making him angry at his captors. An effect which his current captor, Master Auld, predicted would happen when

Imagine that a slave is released from bondage after he is enslaved his entire life. The values and cognition of a slave will undoubtedly be different from that of an average person who has never been exposed to slavery. Slavery has an impactful toll on those that are enslaved and treated so brutally. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass exhibits the repercussions of slavery. Slavery dehumanizes both slaves and their slave owners because of the abuse of power and injustice that slaveowners and slaves witness everyday.

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

Douglass knows only that his father is a white man, though many people say that his master is his father. He explains that slaveholders often impregnate their female slaves. A law ensures that mixed‑race children become slaves like their mothers. Thus slaveholders actually profit from this practice of rape, as it increases the number of slaves they own. Douglass explains that such mixed‑race slaves have a worse lot than other slaves, as the slaveholder’s wife, insulted by their existence, ensures that they either suffer constantly or are sold off. Douglass considers that the existence of such a large population of mixed-race slaves contradicts arguments that justify American slavery through the supposed inferiority of the African race.

Sophia was the wife of slaveholder, Hugh Auld, who purchases Frederick as a young boy. Throughout the account, Sophia’s personality and demeanor shift drastically making her the ideal, dynamic character. During the time of his childhood, when Mr. Douglass first encountered the Auld family, he sincerely believed that they were kind masters and they were like a blessed gift from God. Sophia, at first, was very much so against the harsh treatment of slaves as she particularly treated them with immense kindness. In fact, she even took the liberty upon herself to educate a young Frederick Douglass when he was comparably illiterate to the average white-colored child. Sophia often found the horrid treatments of the slaves “disturbing” (Douglass 41). Before owning Frederick, Sophia and her husband never owned any bondservants. This was more than likely the reason for her unearthly kindness and equality to her slaves; she merely saw them as ordinary people, despite the color of their skin, and thought they should