Slavery 's Toll On A Man

This turns out to be an ironic contrast to life at the Weylin plantation, where a slave who visits his wife without his master's permission is brutally whipped. Perhaps a more painful realization for Dana is how this cruel treatment oppresses the mind. "Slavery of any kind fostered strange relationships," she notes, for all the slaves feel the same strange combination of fear,

“…dragged from the house on his knees. His face was bloody and when he tried to speak he cried with pain.”

     It is at this time that Frederick Douglass learns one of the greatest freedoms of all. He is set free, in an educational sense. Douglass has been taught a few reading lessons form his mistress. Soon after his master discovers this, and commences the teaching at once. Soon thereafter, Frederick Douglass uses some smart tactics to resume his learning. He in a sense manipulates the children around him into teaching him how to read and write. This grand achievement taught Douglass something, as he says, “From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and

The introduction of Africans to America in 1619 set off an irreversible chain of events that effected the economy of the southern colonies. With a switch from the expensive system of indentured servitude, slavery emerged and grew rapidly for various reasons, consisting of economic, geographic, and social factors. The expansion of slavery in the southern colonies, from the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to just before America gained its independence in 1775, had a lasting impact on the development of our nation’s economy, due to the fact that slaves were easy to obtain, provided a life-long workforce, and were a different race than the colonists, making it easier to justify the immoral act.

He discloses the slave owner’s ability to control all of the material that slaves were exposed to using an anecdote regarding slave’s only exposure to freedom; during the holiday season, slave masters give their slaves a taste of supposed freedom to make them believe that freedom is actually more oppressive than slavery itself. Douglass explains that they promoted drinking and recreational activities during the holidays “to disgust their slaves with freedom” (Douglass, 84-85). The anecdote is used to prove to the audience that slave owners had complete control of their slaves and exploited this power to manipulate the slaves. By promoting a false reality during their time off and creating a false image of freedom, slave masters were able to effectively control their slaves' impression of freedom, so that they would believe that slavery was the better option. Douglass uses irony to further this point. In addition to manipulating the slave’s perception of freedom, slave masters also prevented them from gaining an education, a quintessential factor in gaining freedom. Thomas Auld justified this by saying that knowledge would only make the slaves “discontented and unhappy” and vehemently stood against Douglass gaining an education (Cite). Douglass applies irony to the situation by stating that Auld’s lecture was what had driven

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.

Douglass’ new found perspective of enslavement opens his eyes to the action he must take to liberate his fellow slaves. After his escape, Douglass discovers a newspaper called The Liberator. Through this newspaper, Douglass states he got “a pretty correct idea of the principles, measures and spirit of the anti-slavery reform” and because of this he “took right hold of the cause” (pg. 120). Douglass realizes that he must do more than improve himself in order to make a change. As a result, he joins the abolitionist movement. Had it not been for his base of self-taught knowledge, Douglass would not have had the opportunity to escape enslavement and make a change by joining the abolition

Frederick Douglass was so over slavery that he decided to escape from it and become free. Before escaping, he went to work for Mr. Butler who had a shipyard and from there he would try to run away. Mr. Butler never suspected anything bad from Douglass, so he would pay him twenty five cents. Working for Mr. Butler was not a bad experience for Douglass, Mr. Butler was a good master towards him. Douglass loved his friends and was sad he would have to leave them again. When the day came, he was more nervous than ever, since escaping from your

Slavery was brought to America in the 1600’s taking millions of Africans from West Africa. But in 1804 the North voted to abolish slavery but the South refused making states escape the union.Slavery in the South had an effect on the economy, but also on the slaves.Frederick Douglass, who was once a slave with his family in Maryland suffered greatly, but still pushed on and finally escaped and became a national leader of the abolition in the south movement.He made a narrative about his life as a slave and stated that the purpose of the narrative is to “throw light” on the American slave system.The goal of this paper is to discuss three aspects his narrative discusses that he “throws light” on, his position against the feelings of defenders of

All people have an impetus, either experience or dream to push them forward; for Douglass, his background of slavery and salvation drove him to spread his ideas by oration. Providence threw Douglass into life as the son of a Black slave and her White slave master. The Black slave woman, Douglass’s mother, died when he was just eight years old, forcing Douglass into a life without a true mother figure. Consequently, he

experience with slavery all the way up to his escape. Douglass was born into slavery. He experienced

As this was being done - by other slaves - Weylin stood whirling his whip and biting his thin lips” (92). The man being naked, alone, makes him more vulnerable therefore providing Weylin with the dominance and power over the situation. Weylin feels the need to overly assert his dominance in a way that can be viewed as unnecessary, but at the time was considered part of everyday life. Dana, being new to participating in the act of slavery, was frightened by the fact that one could be so cruel to another human being,“The whipping served its purpose as far as I was concerned. It scared me, made me wonder how long it would be before I made a mistake that would give someone a reason to whip me” (92). Weylin ordered the slaves to witness the beating, using the man as an example of what was to come if they did not obey his commands and perfectly complete the task at hand. The whip itself represents power and the use of it represents the abuse of that power; not only the use of the whip on slaves but Weylin used it on Rufus, his son, “But then I remember the stable and the whip he hit me with...mama said that if she hadn’t stopped him, he would have killed me” (26).This highlights that if power is left in the wrong hands, it can take a devastating toll on one’s life and family as well.

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.

defiance and pronounced a whipping as a fit consequence. He tied her hands with rope, hung her

The narrative begins with the tale of Jacob’s childhood. She tells tales of a childhood oblivious to slavery being allowed to enjoy the pleasures of child’s play. Her mother died when she was six years old and was left under the mastership of her white foster sister. On her deathbed, her mother’s white sister promised to protect her slave sister’s children. While, this was true during her lifetime, upon her death, Jacob’s expected that she would be freed. Jacob’s first painful realization that despite what appeared to be a good relationship, her mistress viewed her as a slave and did not free but bequeathed her to her five year old niece. From this point Jacob’s has a new master and mistress .