Abuse In Frederick Douglass

NHD Outline *primary* (paraphrase) Introduction We had on the plantation an overseer, by the name of Austin Gore, a man who was highly respected as an overseer proud, ambitious, cruel, artful, obdurate. Nearly every slave stood in the utmost dread and horror of that man. His eye flashed confusion amongst them. He never spoke but to command, nor commanded but to be obeyed.

Throughout the narrative Douglass uses rhetorical imagery in order to provide readers with an insight to the true horrors of slavery. In chapter one of the narrative, Douglass speaks of the time when he would witness his aunt being tortured and beat by the master. He writes about seeing her “covered in blood” with “a whip upon her naked back”. Douglass uses and explains this experience in detail in order to paint a picture in the readers’ head and give them a firsthand experience to the harsh life of a slave. By using blood as an example of what he sensed, he is bringing in a word that is emotionally tied.

He shows in the narrative how whites owners of the plantations or overseers, treated plantation hands as chattels. They used violence to keep slaves ineffective, immobilized, degraded and less than humans, and maintained their status as pieces of mere property. Apart from being subjected to gruesome cruelties, blacks faced array of difficulties. Douglass portrays the difficulties of black slaves throughout his narrative. The oppression and exploitation of white masters were inevitable a life under slavery.

Overall, Douglass' narrative addresses the serious problems and misconceptions of slavery and it reveals the truths. Douglass urges his readers to not believe in the so-called romanticism of slavery, or that blacks are intellectually inferior, or inferior at all, or that their prospects are better as slaves. He begs that his readers discover the truths, by reading about them through his own life experiences. Within Douglass' experiences, he successfully debunks the mythology of slavery by disproving that there is anything positive about. Because Douglass reached freedom, he knows that it can never be attained unless it is fought for.

The auto-biography “An American Slave” of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass is about the life of a life of a slave who eventually became free due to his advantage of education. Douglass discussed his experience of being born into slavery and escaping and becoming the symbol of strength and hero he is known as today. He, in detail, explains how contradicting the Constitution and the actual society in that time period were to each other. Douglass’ purpose of writing this novel was to not only tell his story but to also express his attitudes towards the “American Promise” and the “American Individual”. In the novel Douglass used similes, metaphors and imagery to convey his personal attitudes about the American Promise and the American Individual

Dehumanization had been apparent for many centuries through numerous civilizations. Egyptians used slaves to build the pyramids working days at a tie under the blistering sun. In ancient Greece, the upper classes used slaves as entertainment, fighting exotic beasts to the death. These cultures all used slaves and kept them under control by dehumanization. Although terrible, the United States followed in the footsteps of these other powerful civilizations using slaves to propel their own economy.

Megan Swintosky Mrs. Nelson 5 January 2015 Honors American Lit Targeted Animal Imagery to Reveal Dehumanization among Slaves Is it moral to treat a minority with the same respect as livestock? In the 1800s, the time of Frederick Douglass, customarily, white people served precedence over black people, and enslaved them in inhumane ways. In the Narrative…, Frederick Douglass uses animal imagery of slaves and slaveholders to express the idea that superiority due to differences can lead to dehumanization, such as the idea that the enslavement of humans and animals both result in similar treatment, language, and behavior of slaves and their slaveholders. A strong example of dehumanization, animal imagery through language, was recognized and noted

Frederick Douglass’s life is living proof of the injustice that took place in slavery. His life exemplified dehumanization on a daily basis. Blacks were not shown as “humans” at this day and age, as Frederick’s life is an example of the cruel practices of slavery. His life shows the significance of the many struggles that were brought upon him and other slaves for human and civil rights. Douglass grew up on captain Anthony’s plantation with hundreds of other slaves.

The Detriments of Slavery In Narrative, Frederick Douglass describes his personal experience as a slave and how slavery is dehumanizing. As Douglass strives for freedom from slavery, both mentally and physically, he explains each of his masters and how they change throughout their lives of being slave holders. Douglas argues that slavery is not only physically and mentally detrimental to the slave but additionally, the slave owner. Both slave and slave holders suffer physically from slavery. For a slave, physical suffering is due to lack of necessities or being treated harshly.

In addition to the physical punishments imposed upon the slaves by their master, Douglass discusses the physical exhaustion slaves experienced in order to further connect the readers to the slaves as individuals. He explains the extensive hours of labor many slaves endured throughout their lifetimes by depicting the conditions he worked through. During his time with Mr. Covey, Douglass, “worked in all weathers, it was never too hot or too cold; it would never rain, blow, hail, or snow, too hard for us to work in the field. Work, work, work, was scarcely more the order the day than of the day” (Douglass 38). In this description, Douglass did not directly say his work was exhausting.

In conclusion, Fredrick Douglass intended to show the horrors of slavery. He wanted to share his story so that he could change their views on slavery. Douglass writes in a straightforward, blunt manner to convey his point effectively to the reader. He does this so the readers won’t see him as an unintelligent, piece of property instead they’ll see him as a reliable and smart human being.

Frederick Douglass believes America has been altered by a mass hysteria, slavery, thus affecting its ideals, values, culture, practices, or myths. At the time, no one knew better when it came to slavery. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass depicts certain instances where he exploits the American perspective of slavery rather than challenging it. To begin with, Frederick Douglass intertwines witnessing graphic events with his personal experiences to represent how slave owners exploited African American female slaves.