Frederick Douglass was an African American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. Douglass wrote the novel “The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass” which depicted his life as a slave and enticed his ambition to become a free man. This novel helped form the big abolitionist movement. In the chapters of this novel, it explains important details like how he first learned to read and write, stays at different plantations, later in life events, leading up to his freedom. Douglass opens up the novel with a description of his family background. He doesn’t really know who his father is but it is said to be his first plantation owner. Which i think might be one of the earliest written knowings of mulatto children. …show more content…
He's born a slave on Colonel Lloyd's plantation, but as a child he's mostly spared the worst kinds of suffering. Later in age he does witness the terrible acts of punishment brought upon other slaves. He sees his Aunt Hester get beaten for something that is not really her fault, but he's too young to be whipped himself. So his first turning point is sort of simplistic, but also important, the realization that he is a slave and all that that entails. As Douglass becomes a young man, he starts fighting to actually be free. There was a certain incident when he talks back to his master. Following this incident, his master sends him to work for the most well known notorious "slave breaker," Covey. Covey tries to destroy Douglass's spirit. For a while it works, and Douglass breaks and is demeened to the state of mind of an animal. Thus forcing him to the lowest mental point in his life. Another epiphany occurs when he decides that he'd rather die than be treated like a slave anymore. So the next time Covey tries to whip him, he stands up to him. After a couple of hours spent wrestling with Douglass, Covey leaves him alone. Douglass vows never to be whipped again. And he never
This act of defiance marks a turning point in Douglass's life and gives him the courage and determination to eventually escape
Douglass loses his spirit, his intellect, his desire to learn, and his natural cheerfulness. He was thinking of suicide. He begs for God’s deliverance and then wonders if there actually is a God. In August 1833, on a particularly hot day, Douglass collapses from fatigue. Covey kicks him repeatedly.
His owner expresses no sympathy and instead sends him back once he is nursed to passable health. After returning, he has a violent encounter with his master. This time, however, he doesn’t back down and accepts mistreatment. He decides to fight back, and through the hard work of the fields can easily defeat all of his master’s attempts to dominate him. Reflecting on this, Douglass explains that he possessed a newfound peace.
This was the start of what came throughout the beginning of his life. As he continued his journey as a slave he had more horrific experiences that are intended to breakdown the slaves mentally and physically. One main example that Frederick Douglass used to show the negative effects of slavery on people were with Mrs. Sophia Auld and her change in attitude towards Douglass before and after her inception into the world of slavery. When Douglass first is sent to Baltimore to work for the family of Hugh and Sophia Auld, he is wildly excited and impressed at how well they both treated him. Neither of them had ever owned any slaves and treated him way better than he had ever been treated before.
Until harmed by an outside force, the purity of a human is solely dependant on their actions and decisions. In addition to slavery being a mental and physical hardship for slaves, it also has a lasting effect on their masters. The increasing effect slavery has on slave masters is observed by Frederick Douglass throughout his work; he also has first hand experiences of the physical and mental abuse conducted on slaves. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the way of life slaves endure on a day to day basis causes them to have a bewildered mental state, ultimately being brainwashed; however, Frederick Douglass finds a way to revert back to a human and defy the near impossible odds. When Douglass moves to Baltimore, he is acquainted
Frederick was a born slave from the place called Maryland. His life as young child he had to go through being a slave for being an African American. During that time a lot of slavery was going on towards the African Americans. Africans were considered slaves of the Americans. Through Douglass writing he talks about the struggles of being a slave through his life experiences.
Frederick Douglass was a great writer, but he wasn’t always. He was an escaped slave who used that in his speeches as a topic to gain the attention of his audience. His audience was a seemingly sympathetic one and got to them through rhetorical questions. Douglass wanted to convey the message that there are many changes that need to be made.
His year with Covey was a life changing experience. Under Covey, Douglass worked the land day and night in all weathers. For the first six months he was constantly beaten and severely punished to increase his productivity. He was whipped with sticks or cow skin. Douglass experienced an “epoch in my humble history,” and explains to readers that “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.”
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Rhetorical Analysis By Migion Booth Social reformer, Frederick Douglass was an African American man who decamped from slavery. He has drafted several books including Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Mr. Douglass writes about his perspicacity as a slave. Mr. Douglass repeatedly uses paradox, imagery, and parallelism to display how slavery was inhuman and heartbroken.
Douglass managed to overcome the maltreatment of his wretched slave owners through the eventual attainment of freedom. The injustice imposed upon the African-American slaves by their owners was the crux of Douglass’s motivation to escape this inhumane life. Adolescents in today’s society could use Frederick’s determination as an example of moving forward to better oneself or one’s situation regardless of
In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass's battle with his master Covey is a turning point in his career as a slave in that he resolves to no longer be docile and subservient as a slave. In fighting back against Covey, Douglass frees his mind from the psychological effects of slavery. Douglass's battle with Covey marks the end of Douglass being obedient and not questioning the word of authority like he was brought up to do. Douglass vows that "the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me." (Douglass, 83) By refusing the role of an obedient slave, Douglass also refuses the slave mindset and liberates himself.
Douglass tells about his own childhood and how his father might have been a slaveholder. He explains
In “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass narrates in detail the oppressions he went through as a slave before winning his freedom. In the narrative, Douglass gives a picture about the humiliation, brutality, and pain that slaves go through. We can evidently see that Douglass does not want to describe only his life, but he uses his personal experiences and life story as a tool to rise against slavery. He uses his personal life story to argue against common myths that were used to justify the act of slavery. Douglass invalidated common justification for slavery like religion, economic argument and color with his life story through his experiences torture, separation, and illiteracy, and he urged for the end of slavery.
He was born to a woman slave and a white man. He was raised primarily by his relatives and only occasionally met his mother, who died when he was a young boy. He never met his father, but knew only that he was a white man. During this time, he witnessed the first-hand horrors and mistreatment of slaves and spent many days hungry and cold. Shortly after the death of his mother, Douglass was sent to live with a man in Baltimore and his life became relatively normal for several years.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is Frederick Douglass’s autobiography in which Douglass goes into detail about growing up as a slave and then escaping for a better life. During the early-to-mid 1800s, the period that this book was written, African-American slaves were no more than workers for their masters. Frederick Douglass recounts not only his personal life experiences but also the experiences of his fellow slaves during the period. This book was aimed at abolitionists, so he makes a point to portray the slaves as actual living people, not the inhuman beings that they are treated as. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, slaves are inhumanly represented by their owners and Frederick Douglass shines a positive light