Frederick Douglass begins his autobiography in a traditional fashion, giving details of the names of his parents, information about his birth place, and early events of his childhood. He was in Tuckahoe, Talbot County located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Douglass remembers being sad and confused because he did not know his birthday and he was not allowed to ask. However, the white children knew their ages. He estimated that his birth took place on February, 1818, based on the overhead comment from his master, Captain Anthony. By discussing Douglass’ relationship with his mother, knowledge of his father, and experience with his first master.…
The book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass, is a story about Frederick Douglass’s life as a slave and how he goes on his quest to achieve freedom. Douglass was born into slavery and goes from master to master, and he finally sees the power of education when he reaches Baltimore to work for some new people. Here Douglass begins to learn how to read and write and he uses this to his advantage in hopes of becoming free one day. He manages to teach himself how to read in secret and then helps the other slaves become more literate. Eventually Douglass does manage to escape but he doesn’t stop there, he becomes an activist himself in hopes of ending all slavery one day. Through this book, Douglass reveals that learning is essential in order to achieve freedom, friends can help you to achieve your goals, and that slavery can have a very negative effect on a slave’s mind.…
Douglass shows how the power of slavery spoils people of religion. Douglass shows how when the “fatal poison” (Douglass 19) of slavery, which is caused by “irresponsible power” (Douglass 19), is put into the hands of religious people, they change for the worse. One example Douglass uses is Mr. Covey. Mr. Covey…
According to the narrative of Frederick Douglass, during the 19th Century, the conditions slaves experienced were not only cruel, but inhumane. It is a common perception that “cruelty” refers to the physical violence and torture that slaves endure. However, in this passage, Douglass conveys the degrading treatment towards young slaves in the plantation, as if they were domesticated animals. The slaves were deprived of freedom and basic human rights. They were not only denied of racial equality, they weren’t even recognized as actual human beings.…
in slavery” (Douglass 1792). Douglass flings, deflects and resists each point listening only to his…
Douglass’s autobiography is one of a personal fate and the other a documentation of the horrors of slavery. With his first recollection of his childhood, being the relentless whipping of his aunt Hester and the horrified of shrieks he heard with every blow of the whip. Living in Baltimore for about seven years he went with no hunger, then only to return to a plantation as an adult to suffer the gnawing pain of hunger. He knew the difference of what it was like to be treated with kindness and to live in the callous bondage of slavery. Douglass sought to bring a sense of order to his life by writing his journey from slavery to…
In the excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass’s sad tone helps the reader understand the effect that his literacy had on his thoughts and feelings toward slavery. Douglass describes how his mistress had given him “the inch” that he needed to learn to read and how he used bread to convince the little white children to teach him. He soon found the knowledge of how horrible his enslavers were. “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity” (Douglass 120-121). This quote describes how he is depressed because he had learned the truth of his enslaves and wished that he would forget the truth. Although learning to read was a great ability he had acquired, it was a curse that led…
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey (later known as Frederick Douglass) was born a slave in Talbot County, Maryland around the year 1818. He was an African American reformer, writer, and orator. Douglass was one of the few noteworthy heroes who arose from the evils of slavery and impacted the United States and the world in significant ways. After escaping from slavery, he became known for his astounding oratory skills and remarkable antislavery writing. He became an important leader of the abolitionist movement. Northerners found it hard to believe that such an incredible orator had once been a slave. To verify this, Douglass described the events of his life as a slave and his ambition to be a free man in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.…
Frederick Douglass was many things; he was a former slave, abolitionist, and impressive writer. Despite having his early years plagued by abuse and hardships like any other slave, he was able to overcome these hardships and was able to become a free slave by escape. What sets him apart from other slaves however, is that he was able to write with such power and become an example for his people. This is reflected in his autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. As Douglass recounts the story of his years as a slave and his journey to escape the hold of his masters he uses rhetorical strategies such as metaphors, personification, and polysyndetons to give the reader of his story a vivid description of what his life was like when he was still a slave.…
Slavery was against the Declaration of Independence. As a human being, freedom is essential and important element in one’s life. Without freedom, the consequence will be harm for both personal life and entire society. Douglass introduces in detail that slaves cannot have neither rights nor own wishes of doing things. In the text, “'if you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master-to do as he is told to do” (Chapter 6) indicates that masters did not want to teach Douglass knowledge along with read and write. Knowledge is an important key to open up the door of freedom and the necessary step to fright for independent. Many stores show once slaves are educated, their longings for truth will…
Slavery is an evil institution that, once established, robs not only the humanity of the enslaved, but also the morality of the slaveholder. It deprives the slave’s natural desire for knowledge, and hypocritically denies a man of his God given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, stated in the Declaration of Independence for the very country that enslaves him. Douglass uses specific examples, in the case of Hugh and Sophia Auld, Thomas Auld, Colonel Lloyd and Edward Covey, the slaveholders’ reliance on religion, and the harm caused to the slaves themselves, to show that although slavery is in itself a blatant disregard for human life, it also has drastic effects on the degradation of the slaveholder’s own morality.…
Frederick Douglass was a slave at one point in his life fortunately he was able to escaped and once he became a freeman, he was known as one of the most influential African American of his time, Douglass main goal after he escaped slavery was to promote freedom for all slaves, he published his first newspaper in Rochester, new York , called The north start it got its name because for run-away slaves they would follow the north star to freedom.…
Douglass’s journey to becoming a logical, educated man from an illiterate slave was a long and difficult one. He eventually learned how to read and write through teachings from a slave holder’s wife, Sophia Auld, Baltimore children, and learning by himself. It is evident in his narrative how smart Douglass is, and the logical presentation of it convinces readers of its legitimacy. An example of Douglass using logos is in chapter II when explaining how the singing done by slaves is done out of sorrow and misery, and not happiness as many people believed. “Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of the heart, and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears” (Douglass 9)*. Here, Douglass clearly explains to the readers why slaves actually sing in order to mend their sadness, not because they are happy. It is not logical to think that slaves would be happy enough to sing in their condition, and he explicitly shows…
In the narrative, Douglass describes the conditions of the Hamiltons’ slaves. He goes into detail about how Mrs. Hamilton whipped her slaves with a heavy cowskin. Not only were they whipped, but “they were kept nearly half-starved” (Douglass 332). These detailed descriptions of the cruel treatment towards the Hamiltons’ slaves. He uses details, further supporting his pathos. He vividly describes the day his brother was taken by Master Andrew; “...[Master Andrew ] took my little brother by the throat, threw him on the ground, and with the heel of his boot stamped upon his head till the blood gushed from his nose and ears” (Douglass 337). Both the description of the Hamiltons’ slaves and the detail of his little brother appeals to the pathos strongly supported in the narrative. If he believed that these circumstances were “normal” because of the lack of education, he might not have written it with so much emotion. These emotions justify that he was aware of these cruel punishments due to his knowledge.…
Richard Dawkins, Author of The God Illusion, said in his book, “There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point… The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it.” This entire statement pertains to the characteristics of Existentialism. Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible person determining their own life and development through acts of will. This philosophy has been shown in the books Tuesday’s with Morrie and the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass and the life story of Malala Yousafzai. The…