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Collectivism In Frederick Douglass

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Frederick Douglass, a former slave and slave writer of the An American Slave, Writer by Himself, shares his personal experience of being a slave. He was slave from the time he was born to about twenty years old. Unlike most slaves during his time, he was exceptionally intelligent. While he was slave, he established a secret Sabbath to teach his fellow slaves. In the paragraph above, he demonstrates an individualist and a collectivist personality. Throughout Douglass’ slave narrative, he discussed the inside and outside perspective of a slave. As a child and young adult, he would teach himself by going through his former slave master child’s handbook study books. During the slave period, it was illegal for one to teach a slave, and a slave …show more content…

He defines individualism as “the concept of giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals over group goals and defining one’s identify in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications” (2013). Douglass taught his fellow slaves as stated, “it was a delight of my soul to be doing something that looked like bettering the condition of my race” (Douglass, 1845). Douglass demonstrates to try to reach the highest level of intelligence, and starts to teaches his own race to improve the condition of the lack of intelligence from this community, and to protect his …show more content…

Myers defines collectivism as, “giving priority to the goals of one’s group (often one’s extended family or work group) and defining one’s identity accordingly” (Myers, 2013). Douglass starts his Sabbath school to better educate the slave community. He knew that his fellow slaves and himself would be at risk of abusive physical punishments, but he went through the risk of physical beatings in order better his own community. Frederick understood that slaves are not able to be learn academics, but he deeply knew that bettering the community would be to establish a Sabbath school. Not only would this improve the intelligence of the community, but lift up their spirits of a happier lives. Douglass challenge his community to act on education, by conducting Sabbath school sessions. In conclusion, Frederick Douglass was a man that wanted to better his own life and better the lives, who are a part of the slave community. He was both an individualist and a collectivist, due to the fact he wanted to educate himself to become more intelligent, and he wanted to educate the slave community to allow them to succeed academic, under the circumstances during the slavery

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Secondly, Douglass adds on to his speech by describing that the slaves are living a gloomy existence while the young Nation is celebrating its freedom and liberty which they don’t get to experience because they are a lock in chains. He uses ethos to appeal to the moral idealistic views of the fellow Christian man by bringing the question of God by saying “[...] and would make me reproach before God and the world (P. 5).” By expressing his views, Douglass and the audience unite under the set of clear morals that came from God who would disagree with the actions that they comminuted

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The idiosyncratic style Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass depicts the discriminatory actions of postcolonial slave owners in the southern United States, which reflects their greed for unpaid labor on their plantations. He employs the metaphor of the book that their masters prohibited them from owning by law throughout the memoir to demonstrate the avarice that drives white slave owners to turn a darker-skinned, intelligent being into a machine for personal benefit for centuries after the colonization of America. Also, the irony further displays the power of greed by expressing the slaveholder’s uncivilized method of forcing another human out of civilization. Furthermore, his use of a paradox of the use of pure religious beliefs to justify a slaveholder’s inhumane treatment reveals their rapacious actions that contradict the teachings of the church.

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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.

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On July 5th 1852 Fredrick Douglass gave a speech to the anti-slavery society to show that all men and woman are equal no matter what. Douglass uses ethos, pathos, and logos in his speech to make look reasonable. Douglass demonstrates ethos by speaking in first person that of which he had experience slavery: "I was born amid such sights and scenes"(Douglass 4). When Douglass spoke these words to the society, they knew of his personal knowledge and was able to depend on him has a reliable source of information. The anti-slavery society listening to his every word, considering that Douglass spoke with integrity, knowledge and emotions.

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The Narrative of Frederick Douglass is a very great perspective for people of today to understand what it was like to be a slave in the 1800’s. It tells the story of the slave Frederick Douglass and how he began as an uneducated slave and was moved around from many different types of owners, cruel or nice, and how his and other slaves presences changed the owners, and also how he educated himself and realized that he shouldn’t be treated so poorly It was at the point later in the book that I realized how some slaves might have felt during slavery in the 1800’s. When Douglass is sent away to Mr.Covey he is treated pretty badly but eventually he stands up to Mr.Covey and demands that he stopped being treated like an animal.

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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.

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Douglass plans on obeying his masters in the beginning so that he won't have any problems with his masters. He then shows that he will do anything that he can just for the sake to know how to read and write. Lastly, he taught slaves the importance of learning how to read and write but doing this good deed he is risking slaves on getting in trouble because they are leaving the plantations and doing something that they aren't supposed to do. Frederick Douglass never got the feeling of equality when he was in the South, but once he set foot in the North, he got that feeling of equality. Gandhi would have never welcome the American society of this time because it’s against his moral

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When Frederick Douglass published his self-written narrative, people finally got a fully comprehensive view of the life of a slave. To debunk the mythology of slavery, Douglass presents the cold, hard truth, displays slaves true intelligence,

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Slaves obtaining knowledge or an education were then viewed as unmanageable. One can see that through Frederick Douglass’s gain of education; Slavery began to look more than an imprisonment and his mind would not cease to think. With this depressing state of mind, Douglass would begin to plot for ways to obtain his education. Despite living in a country were teaching slaves was unpardonable, Frederick Douglass began to incorporate various ways for his education. He would hide in a separate room and would be suspected by his mistress that he could be reading a book.

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In his narrative, Frederick Douglass explained the concept of manhood by emphasizing on how one should be acknowledge with their own identities and have their own possession of clothes, shelter, and foods as well as privileges that God has given them. Manhood is an important measurement for Douglass because every man discovers, have desires, and develop passions whenever a man looks into himself or by a mirror of reflection. Throughout his journey as a slave, Douglass observed and experiment the cruciality of mankind when one has the power to take control of their subjects. From Mrs. Auld’s amazing lessons, education has helped him not only able to read and write but also understand the reasons behind slavery existence (Douglass, pg 22-23).

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Frederick Douglass was born into slavery as the son of a white slave master father and a black slave mother in Maryland in 1818. He escaped from slavery in 1838 because of his literacy. It was only due to his ability to read, write, and think critically that Frederick Douglass was able to find his way form enslavement to freedom. Life before learning how to read and write for Douglass was bad because he wasn’t given enough to eat. “I was seldom whipped by my old master, and suffered little from anything else than hunger and cold” (Douglass 8).

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At last, Douglass brings the point of freedom and justice the one person has every right to him than any other, and no man has the authority to rule over

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The legendary abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass was one of the most important social reformers of the nineteenth century. Being born into slavery on a Maryland Eastern Shore plantation to his mother, Harriet Bailey, and a white man, most likely Douglass’s first master was the starting point of his rise against the enslavement of African-Americans. Nearly 200 years after Douglass’s birth and 122 years after his death, The social activist’s name and accomplishments continue to inspire the progression of African-American youth in modern society. Through his ability to overcome obstacles, his strive for a better life through education, and his success despite humble beginnings, Frederick Douglass’s aspirations stretched his influence through

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Because of this, he successfully creates a contrast between what the slave owners think of and treat the slaves and how they are. Douglass says that slave’s minds were “starved by their cruel masters”(Douglass, 48) and that “they had been shut up in mental darkness” (Douglass, 48) and through education, something that they were deprived of, Frederick Douglass is able to open their minds and allow them to flourish into the complex people that they are. By showing a willingness to learn to read and write, the slaves prove that they were much more than what was forced upon them by their masters.

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Douglass is a African American that was a slave and did a Narrative about his time being a slave and in his Narrative he “threw light” at the American slave system. African American slave Frederick Douglass lived through a time of racism and how slavery was a natural thing to do but was a very awful thing. And slavery is when families who had colored skin were separated and sold of to a person that can do anything to them, the slave is pretty much like the slaveholder’s property. And in this essay I will talk about how Douglass’s position differs from those who supported slavery and also I will be talking about How Douglass used his Narrative to share his position. How Douglass “throws light” on the American Slave system is by showing

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