Whitehead's The Underground Railroad As An Allegory

In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass explains, in great detail, how slave master would use a variety of methods to dehumanize slaves located on their plantation. These methods involved both severe physical and psychological trauma. Nevertheless, Douglass remains diligent and finds a way to resist the harsh reality of being a slave. Because of his immovable desire to acquire knowledge to his fighting encounter with Mr. Covey, these experiences help shape Douglass to be the archetype of what it means to go from slavery to freedom. This essay will highlight the physical and psychological tactics used on slaves. In addition, the aspect of how Douglass resists the

Douglass uses vivid imagery to depict the gruesome and ungodly nature of slavery. For example, in chapter six, Douglass describes the death of his grandmother “…She stands-she sits-she staggers-she falls-she groans-she dies-and there are none of her children or grandchildren present, to wipe from her wrinkled brow the cold sweat of death…” (59) This quote helps the reader imagine the grandmothers death and how helpless she felt. The fact that the slaveholders made it impossible for her children to be there when she died, contributes to the inhumane image Douglass has already been painting throughout the

In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave, written by himself, the author argues that slaves are treated no better than, sometimes worse, than livestock. Douglass supports his claim by demonstrating how the slaves were forced to eat out of a trough like pigs and second, shows how hard they were working, like animals. The author’s purpose is to show the lifestyle of an American slave in order to appeal to people’s emotions to show people, from a slave’s perspective, what slavery is really like. Based on the harsh descriptions of his life, Douglass is writing to abolitionist and other people that would sympathize and abolish slavery.

Moans of anguish fill the air, a man has fallen down from intense labor and is getting whipped to get back up. The man tries to get up, desperately pushing himself off the ground, yet the whip lashing into his body gives him no such opportunity. Eventually he falls flat, never to get up again. The person who was whipping him shrugged, “He was a waste of food anyways.” This was the life for a slave in the South before the Civil War. Destined to work in chains until they weren’t of use to the owner. In this essay I will prove that the North learning of the harsh treatment of slaves through the Fugitive Slave

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.

However in the novel, The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead, freedom is just a dream every African American character desires. Whether enslaved or free they must navigate the impossible choice between slavery or racism. The stigma of colored people create this idea that Ridgeway believes "If niggers were supposed to have their freedom, they wouldn't be in chains. If the red man was supposed to keep hold of his land, it'd still be his. If the white man wasn't destined to take this new world, he wouldn't own it now." (Whitehead) Similarly, any white person who feels sympathy for the enslaved is confronted with the fact that if they choose to assist enslaved people, they will likely be killed along with their families.

4. The Underground Railroad was a secret system that assisted slaves in the South trying to make it to the free states in the North. Douglass was not critical of the system itself, because it has aided many slaves obtaining freedom. However, he is disapproving of openly speaking about knowledge of its existence. He claims that speaking about this system will only hinder the escape efforts of those slaves still living in captivity. Additionally, the more openly the escape method was talked about, the more closely the slave-holders monitored their slaves. The more in the dark the slave-holders remained about the escape methods used by the slaves, the better chance the slaves had of escaping. Furthermore, Douglass claims that

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl are both nineteenth-century narratives about Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs’s experiences born into slavery and as escaped slaves. The concept of gender makes each narrative have distinct perspectives’ of their version of what they endure during slavery and how it shapes their freedom. Even though both narratives have many similarities of educating the complexity of being a vulnerable slave, Harriet Jacobs’ narrative provides more reason that slavery is far worse for women than it is for men.

Slaves’ future lives all depended on who would “win” them and buy them. For Douglass, it was unbearable to observe human beings cry in desperation and pain. Frederick’s mistress was the only person, besides himself, that was able to experience pure dismay; causing them to ache together and understand the terror.

The Gateway to Freedom is an enticing novel that gives further knowledge of racial discrimination and the social inequality of blacks at the time of slavery and how the Underground Railroad combatted this through the different committees and activists of the time. This essay will focus on how the Underground Railroad affected family, economy and religion- the social institutions, those who operated the Underground Railroad were diverse and have different reason for following the abolitionist movement, and not all the committees are made equally.

During the Antebellum period, our young slave girl, in Harriet Jacobs’s novel Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, seeks release from the horrors of a “cruel, sadistic white plantation owner” (vii) in a cruel, sadistic world that sees her as nothing more than property. The psychological tribulation Harriet Jacobs endures makes her a sympathetic character for the abolitionist movement spearheaded by the north. She is faced and burdened with the issues of self-identity, self-preservation, and freedom, yet she is unrelenting in her determination to secure a life in which she has sole control. The outdoors gave the young protagonist, Chris McCandless, in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, room to explore and find himself before his untimely death. His qualities make him an admirable character (though he was sometimes naïve in his actions), and his death makes him a martyr to the cause

Society’s systematic dehumanization of slaves claims that their lives are not their own, but rather belong to their oppressors. For instance, Jacobs’s cousin Benjamin decides to escape from his masters who equate him and his people to “dogs, […] foot-balls, cattle, [and] everything that [is] mean” and taunts them by saying, “Let them bring me back. We don’t die but once” (27). By metaphorically comparing slaves to dogs and pieces of property, he reveals how little slave owners care about their charges. Rather than remaining under the control of such oppression, Benjamin decides to live and die on his own terms at the risk of capture and punishment, because

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the

Overall, the speaker of “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” reminds us that the system of slavery destroys lives. We see this notion play out in the narrative as the speaker talks of a female slave at Plymouth Rock. Here, we bear witness to her lack of respect for life that not only flaws her judgments as a mother, but perpetuates a sense of violence or

Douglass gives detailed anecdotes of his and others experience with the institution of slavery to reveal the hidden horrors. He includes personal accounts he received while under the control of multiple different masters. He analyzes the story of his wife’s cousin’s death to provide a symbol of outrage due to the unfairness of the murderer’s freedom. He states, “The offence for which this girl was thus murdered was this: She had been set that night to mind Mrs. Hicks’s baby, and during the night she fell asleep, and the baby cried.” This anecdote, among many others, is helpful in persuading the reader to understand the severity of rule slaveholders hold above their slaves. This strategy displays the idea that slaves were seen as property and could be discarded easily.