preview

What Is Frederick Douglass Subjectivity

Decent Essays

Slave narratives are works of literature written by ex-slaves and abolitionists which include personal accounts from enslaved Africans during the 18th and 19th centuries. Most authors characterized themselves as Africans instead of slaves, mainly because they were born in Africa. These narratives were mostly written to help support the movement of the abolition of slavery. They usually expressed a specific kind of storytelling as well as a specific purpose of writing that emphasizes subjectivity and interiority.
Subjectivity is how a single persons’ judgment is formed by their own opinions and feelings rather than by other people’s influences. Interiority refers to your inner characteristic. The classic slave narratives used both subjectivity and interiority because referring to the past is usually very subjective as it also brings out your inner self.
Once Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery he became a leader of the abolitionist movement. He quickly became a great abolitionist who wrote many autobiographies and toured internationally to speak at abolitionist lectures so he could tell his story and he would even use his body to his advantage on stage to show his scars which made his story even more powerful. …show more content…

This novel put him immediately in danger because of the fugitive slave law which didn’t end until 1850. This law required all runaways to be returned to their owners so it put Douglass in a risky situation. Many people questioned the legitimacy of his work because of how well it was written and at the time blacks were “supposed” to be extremely uneducated and it was unheard of for slaves to produce any kind of literature let alone such an amazing

Get Access