Frederick Douglass Narrative Analysis

In other words, slavery has been in the world since civilization began. (History of Slavery) The first mention of slaves was in Genesis 9:25 when Noah states “he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.” Noah wanted his youngest son to be the slave of one of his other sons. The Bible states that “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.” This commandment from the Lord was not upheld by the slave owners after the time of the Bible. The masters would work the slave from sun up to sun down seven days a

With this, he decides that after years of not knowing what slavery was, and years of having to hide in the shadows, Douglass was ready to shine light on the American Slave System. Frederick Douglass believes that slavery is terrible for slaves. In the narrative, Douglass tells the story of his early life as a slave. Douglass knew nothing much about himself. He did not know his own age, or who his father was.

“One who is a slaveholder at heart never recognizes a human being in a slave” (Angelina Grimke). This quote was created to show the effect that slavery had on not only the slave, but the slaveholder. The slaveholder would dehumanize the slave to the point where the human was no longer recognizable; instead, the slave was property. Throughout this autobiography, Frederick Douglass uses language to portray the similarities and differences between the two sides. He allows the reader to spend a day in the life of a slave to see the effects from it.

A similarity both of them have are the resistances against their slave masters by attempting to run away. One difference between the autobiography and film were the childhoods of the two main characters. While Roots and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass have numerous similarities, the differences of their childhood of the two characters, and the outcome of their lives and how it unfolds is more important. One similarity of the book and movie is attempting to escape. Both Kunta and Douglass failed miserably during their first attempt.

These texts draw parallels to the current state of media; both use a common channel to express differing portrayals. Simms’s “Caloya” and Frederick Douglass’s Narrative both utilize the antagonists, Mingo in “Caloya” and slave owners in Narrative, however, “Caloya” focuses on Mingo’s race and supposed natural tendencies to represent black men as sex hungry, while Narrative focuses on slave owners’ abuse of power to gain sexual favors to represent white men as sexually crude. Through these representations, each author creates an underlying portrayal of slavery: Simms portrays slavery as a necessary system

Jefferson wanted to abolish slavery but when freed they had to be removed from society since slaves took up most of Virginia’s population. In order to have a “disappearance” of an entirely black population Jefferson deported the future generation by shipping infants to Haiti. Jefferson believed deportation was the best solution because blacks and whites couldn’t coexist in America because of the nature of our color and intelligence. Blacks were “inferior” and were not capable of Christian virtue and salvation (Takaki 65). Many African Americans challenged Jefferson with evidence of what they are capable of but Jefferson refused to change his “opinion” (Takaki

Fredrick Douglass, a slave who escaped into the north and started a life for himself, wrote a narrative called “The Life of Fredrick Douglass” (1818-1895) about his life as a slave. In his narrative Fredrick Douglass says, “There was very little said about it all, and nothing done. It was a common saying, even among little white boys, that it was worth a half- cent to kill a “n****r,” and a half-cent to bury one.” (Douglass 4) Whites thought slaves were worthless. Southerners treat slaves as property when they are human beings. Slaves and slave owners during the time of the pre-civil war had laws.

They were most often treated like property. Most owners would do whatever they wanted to their slaves, causing the slaves to rebel and runaway. Filled with fear, endless hours of labor, ill-treatment, cruelty, and unfairness this cycle never really ended for a slave. Slaves were used as property, whose labor would only benefit their master’s profit. Instead, of houses and rest hours a slave’s day consisted of their work, then their own personal chores,and finally sleep.

Is freedom a self destructive and impractical system? According to George Fitzhugh, in his book, Slavery Justified, freedom is used to pull people down and further enhances human greed and suffering. Fitzhugh also speaks about the supposedly positive aspects of slavery while spouting logical fallacies that further prove his lack of knowledge and credibility. He describes the condition of slavery as a benefit to society. On the other hand, Frederick Douglass in his autobiography, The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, recounts his life story and how essential freedom is to him and fellow slaves.

Slavery is said to have existed long before the immigration began with some incidents being cited from the Bible. David Brion states in, Inhumane Bondage; The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World that “despite such degrading definitions, historically slaves found ways to retain their human dignity and resist total domination by their masters, through cultural adaptations, the formation of extended kin or social networks, and individual or collective rebellions” (Davis 231). This means that while the black community was subjected to slavery, men still found a way to maintain their dominance, and while the entire family was under slavery women still had to submit to their husbands and the male figures in society (Davis 243). In fact in such conditions, the social order still depicted that men were still in control and regardless of their race or origin women were under the rule of men. Many of the slaves found in America were shipped from Africa and while they were subjected to a new culture and religion, they continued to use the culture they inherited from their original homes where by men were the head of the family.

Although this was a system that functioned for a short time when it was most needed, the high interest rates thrown to the former slaves that suffered from them made the debt nearly impossible to repay, yet again leaving the African Americans under control of the white race. The contracts and rules that were included in these agreements put these newly freed slaves in almost exactly the same situations they had just been liberated from. Typical terms included in these contracts included things like: no conversation between “workers” is to take place during the day, one cannot leave during the day without permission, no raising cattle without permission, and they must be “cheerful” while working (Clark-Pujara

John Sekora notes Martha K. Cobb’s thoughts in regards to the formation of black literary tradition, when she says “the first-person voice presents the particularity of point of view that allows the narrator-protagonist the distinctive advantage of projecting his image, ordering his experiences, and presenting his thoughts in the context of his own understanding of black reality as it had worked itself out in his own life … it is a persistent defining and interpreting of personal, human, and moral identity, hence one’s worth, on the slave narrator’s own terms rather than on terms imposed by the society that has enslaved him or her (Sekora 484).” This is exactly what Douglass is doing in this text. In this narrative, he presents so many different

Throughout his narrative he continues to attack these points to encourage similar feelings of pity and acknowledgement “to enlighten white readers about both the realities of slavery as an institution and the humanity of black people as individuals deserving of full human rights.”. Douglas is keen in his choice of scenes as he is able to advocate the rights of African Americans. He advocates African

In our minds, however, we do not all live in the same America (Brown & Holt, 2000). The experience of traveling the Middle Passage may not been passed down in family stories but the history is horrific time. The Middle Passage is the transatlantic voyage slaves faced coming to America after being captured and forced to leave their homes. The behavior is today may seem barbaric for the isolation and cruel yet the ones who survived weeks on the ships came to America with strength and known as survivors after weeks on board of ships. The enslaved Africans were chained together by the hand and the foot, and packed into the smallest places where there was barely enough room to lie on one’s side.

Another quote that additionally proves the point of slaves not being equal is, “Our children are also taken from us by force and sent many miles from us…” This quote furthermore displays how slave’s children are taken away and sent far away. The children may never see their family again. These two quotes support my thesis statement because they show how slaves were not given the same rights as others, much like