The Hardships of Frederick Douglass The few scars on Frederick Douglass’ back told a story. A story that is cruel, inhumane, and unfaithful to mankind. Douglass had been through many difficult points during his life. In particularly, he had an early separation with his mother, he was sent away from his remaining family to work for Hugh Auld, he was taught illegally how to read and write, and he was sent to a new owner who was considered a “slave breaker”. Also, he had tried to escape with other slaves but failed. Frederick Douglass still had managed to stay put through all of this pure torture. Frederick Douglass was born in the year of 1818. Soon after, he was separated from his mother, Harriet Bailey, who was hardly able to visit. Later on, she had passed away when Douglass was around seven or eight. A while after, he had been selected to move to Baltimore. According to any slave, Baltimore or …show more content…
Hence, he was given to Captain Anthony’s son-in-law. Frederick was then sent to the slave breaker, Mr. Covey. A slave breaker is someone who mistreats slaves so that they will always do whatever they are told. One day, Douglass was ordered to drive an Ox-wagon even though he did not know how to control it. On his way to haul some wood from the woods the oxen acted up and he could not gain control. The cart was about to crash into a tree and kill Douglass but luckily he escaped his death. Obviously, he could not lie to his owner, so when he told him what had happened he said he was going to give him lessons. Instead of giving him lessons, he pulled out his cow-skin and was about to whip Douglass but did not. Another event that had occurred was that Mr. Covey went to attack Douglass but he had fought back. Frederick thought he was a goner, but instead, Mr. Covey simply walked away. This moment was key because for standing up to a master, a slave could be killed, instead, Mr. Covey just walked
Frederick Douglass published two similar versions of his fight with the ‘slave-breaker’ Edward Covey in the tenth chapter of his The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, and in the seventeenth chapter of My Bondage and My Freedom. By comparing the two accounts it is possible to see an evolution of his thoughts on abolishing slavery and person hood which occurred in the years which transpired between the two works, 1845 and 1855. In the first account which Douglass wrote at around the age of 27 he narrates a physical confrontation where he refuses to allow himself to be whipped. Douglass struggles for two hours with Covey and also fights off Covey’s cousin at the same time.
With this, Douglass is addressing the topic of slavery and whether to abolish it or not. And goes about telling the hardships he went through.
Douglass was sent to live with Mr. Edward Covey in January 1833. Thomas Auld considered Douglass as a reluctant slave, so he sent to a slave breaker, Edward Dovey. Covey was a poor land renter who took slaves and used them to work his land while receiving training and discipline. Covey was known for his inhuman and harsh treatment of slaves. Douglass constantly thinking of freedom, so he did not follow instructions of his new master.
Douglass encountered multiple harsh realities of being enslaved. For example, the ex-slave was practically starved to death by his masters on multiple occasions. In fact, “[He was] allowed less than a half of a bushel of corn-meal per week, and very little else... It was not enough for [him] to subsist upon... A great many times [he had] been nearly perishing with hunger” (pg 31).
In Frederick Douglass’s book, he writes accounts of his time in slavery and beyond. Throughout the book, Douglass writes about not only the physical hardships slaves endured, but the mental and emotional hardships as well. In Chapter X, Douglass describes a battle he had with a temporary slave owner named Mr. Covey. After the fight concludes, Douglass writes, “This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood.
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.
His beatings and lack of food were only part of his miserable daily life. Eventually Douglass was able to successfully escape this life and vowed to forever actively support the equality of all
PAGE 2 In the Narrative Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, he uses this text to explain his purpose in “throwing light on the American slave system”, or show it for what it really is, as well as show his position on how he strongly believes slavery is an issue that needs to be addressed and how it differs from those who defended slavery, with experiences from his own life to support his argument. Douglass uses experience from his early days as a young slave to throw light on the aspect of physical abuse. According to his narrative, Douglass states, “Master, however, was not a humane slaveholder.
While Douglass was living with Mr. Freeland, he had taught some of the other slaves who lived there with him to read. Teaching any slave to read came with some very harsh consequences but Douglass wanted to help other slaves learn to read so that when they became free they are able to acquire a job and are also able to “fit into” society once they escape or are set free from the hold of slavery. Also while living with Mr. Freeland, Frederick decided enough was enough and he needed to get out of slavery. Frederick and four other slaves stole Mr. Hamilton’s canoe and attempted to paddle up the Chesapeake Bay. Frederick knew how dangerous this trip could be if they were spotted and sent back to their master but being he had a very defiant spirit, he decided that it would be worth it to try.
Frederick Douglass Final Frederick Douglass demonstrates the importance of community and building bonds and trust. The slave community was unbreakable, they would do anything to help another slave. “That night I fell in with Sandy Jenkins, a slave with whom I was somewhat acquainted. . . I must go with him into another part of the woods where there was a certain root, which if I would take some of it with me, carrying it always on my right side, would render it impossible for Mr. Covey, or any white man to whip me”(Douglass, 80).
Frederick Douglass was able to stand up for what he believed in because he did not focus on the negatives of slavery. He was not a so called “normal” slave because he focused on education, versus working, which is what most slaves were forced to focus on. Douglass even took his slave life to another level when he attacked his master, Mr. Covey , an act of defiance and standing up for himself. Douglass notes that “it was a glorious resurrection” that was from “the tomb of slavery” , and after hitting Mr. Covey he felt as if he were in “the heaven of freedom” (Douglass). Douglass beats up his master, a clear sign of rebelliousness as well as courageousness.
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
The books he reads and knowledge he’s gotten has made him angry at other slaves with a lack of knowing what is going on. The life of slavery really just ruins your mind and thoughts, and makes you feel discouraged, but Frederick had the education piece in his life. In the text Frederick says, “I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free, I have no doubt but that I should have killed myself, or done something for which I should have been killed” (Douglass 54). With his newfound knowledge he starts to contemplate his existence. The hope of being free still pushes him, even if it may lead to death.