Examples Of Dialectical Journal For Frederick Douglass

Chpt 1
“I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition. I was quite a child, but I well remember it. I never shall forget it whilst I remember anything. It was the first of a long series of such outrages, of which I was doomed to be a witness and a participant. It struck me with awful force. It was the blood- stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass. It was a most terrible spectacle. I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it.”
Analysis: There is no way to convey the true feelings Douglass must have felt the first time he witnesses the terrible abuse inflicted the people he cares for. For this incident to be only the beginning is saddening.
Close-reading:

I was myself within the circle; so that I neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear...I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness. It is impossible to conceive of a greater mistake. Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy.”
Analysis: Song was a small more safe way for the slaves to express their true feelings about slavery and the injustices being experienced. To a younger Douglass as well as the masters the songs were seemingly incoherent and unintelligible. Many outsiders equated the slaves singing as a sign of their happiness. He indicates that the songs are, on a deeper level, an indication of the slaves deep unhappiness.
Close-reading: Douglass mentions that ‘as a slave’ he did not even understand the true meaning of the song. While in slavery he did not delve into what the depth of the songs meant it was only with distance and recollection that he reached his conclusion.

Chpt

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…My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact. I did not hesitate to let it be known of me, that the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me.”
Analysis: There are several turning points on Douglass's journey from slavery to freedom, but the fight with Covey marks his largest turning point. Douglass went from being completely broken to being reborn with renewed will to fight.
Close Reading: When Douglass stands up to Covey, the language and metaphors he uses to describe it tell a lot. “It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood” using words like ‘rekindled’ and ‘the embers of freedom provide a hopeful image. Almost as if he has been raised back from near death. This is the moment when he resolves that even though he's still a slave in the technical sense, he'll never again be a slave in his