Fredrick Douglass’ narrative is a dramatic testimony of human will. His story is intriging as well as compelling. This man lived in an era that we currently study with amazement. He saw and understood the institution of slavery and the white man’s ideology, behind it. The “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, was written by himself following his escape to New Bedford, New England. The version of this passage has some resourceful history as a foundation for the reader.
Explaining important transitions in Douglass’ life and how the abolitionist movement came about in the northeastern region of the American States. After England rid their country of slavery, the Puritans sparked a rejuvenation of Christian morals in America. The Jeremiads warned their fellow Christians of the evils of slavery and this initially started the abolition movement. Douglass’ narrative is viewed primarily as abolitionist propaganda however; it is clear that Mr. Douglass suffered the cruelties that he describes in his life, prior to escape. He meet an activists named Garrison and after hearing Douglass speak in Nantucket, Garrison hired him to give anti-slavery speeches across New England. Garrison was an extremist with many aspects of the early American government. Some of his views were so radical that he caused stagnation instead of progress with the anti-slavery movement.
The Essay on Huckleberry Finn Frederick Douglass Slavery comparison
Up until 1865, slavery and all of its violence and cruelty was accepted across the United states. The self-acclaimed “Land of the Free” was not a free land for slaves like Fredrick Douglass, or even Jim, a fictional character in the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Slavery depicted in the previously mentioned novel is very much cushioned when compared to the reality of slavery ...
Garrison and Douglass disagreed on certain ideologies centered around the anti-slave movement. Once Douglass escaped and received the Liberator for the first time, he then started participating in anti-slavery Douglass’ writing style in his narrative was a brilliant display of understanding your audience. He knew that his manuscript must be written in a way which would both draw sympathy towards the abolitionists cause and not offend the Victorian culture who would read it. The most profound idea that I found in this book came from his subtle analogies of the suffrage of women and slaves. From the beginning of his story he starts out with dark realities of slave women and sexual abuse from their masters. I think he saw women in slavery as a different entity than men in slavery. Perhaps he felt that they suffered more due to these extra duties which were demanded of them. His mistress in Baltimore was the first kind white woman he had ever met.
She taught him to read until her husband justified how important it was to keep slaves ignorant. Young Fredrick soon realized that slaves were not the only people who had become suppressed to the white mans word. He felt apathy toward his mistress for her world grew very hard and cold, once she had been introduced to the de-humanizing institution of slavery. Many wives of slave owners had little more rights than the slaves Douglass was a man before his time in all aspects. The mere capability to conceive these revolutionary thoughts were achievement enough for a non-free African American slave, of this era. Women’s rights had not even been a realistic accomplishment to acquire and so Douglass was discrete in his narrative when addressing this issue. Fredrick Douglass, his third chosen last name, was a protegee.
Did he come into these ideas and inspirations out of necessity or chance? Probably a bit of both. He is a hero of our country who struck courage into the hearts of many.
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