According to Plato the Soul is apart from the body. The soul cannot endure the pains of the body. As a slave endures physical harm their soul must not be affected. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass, once a slave is born or brought into slavery, they will stay a slave until death part them. As a slave one does not possess much since one has surrendered and devoted himself to pleasing their masters. That is why a slave must sustain their hardship and never render their soul or spirit.
At a young age Frederick Douglass, lost his mother. The woman who had brought him to life was still a stranger to him even at her death. When he was a slave he wasn’t capable of recalling any dates, like all slaves they were kept uneducated and ignorant. In his narrative, Douglass described the cruelty that slave owners have imposed upon their own slaves as well as others. Douglass describes the monthly allowance of food, which consisted of ” eight pounds of pork or its equivalent in fish, and a bushel of corn meal” (17).
The slaves were given their clothing yearly and the children were barely clothe due to their lack of work in the field. The slaves owned nothing but their spirit; they were deprived of any happiness or abundance of food. Many of the slaves passed their days singing, in order to render their heart from pain. “Every testimony [in their singing] was a testimony against slavery and a prayer to God for deliverance from their chains” (19).
The Essay on Rhetorical Analysis of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Rhetorical Analysis of “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass wrote many autobiographies, editorials, and speeches. His greatest ... of the life of Frederick Douglass. In this book he talks about his life as a slave and he makes numerous ... a young heart overborne with sadness, and a soul full of apprehension. (Douglass pg 27) He says this and these lines ...
Working in the fields was the hardest job a slave would endure apart from their punishments.
Douglass didn’t experience that wickedness of slavery right away. Rather, Douglass’ first job was with the Auld’s, a family that treated him like a human. It was at this instant that Douglass’ life would change for the better as well as the worse. At the Auld’s he learned to alphabet, which persuaded him to continue his education although deprived from it. In learning the alphabet his mistress “had given me the inch, and no precautions would prevent him from taking it ell” (31).
He realized education and knowledge was to his advantage, he was capable of reading newspapers and had “resolved to run away” (34).
Douglass had been one of the fortunate slaves, at the Auld’s, in Baltimore, he was never starved or whipped without cause. The city slave was much different form the slave who was inclined to work on the plantation. Douglass would soon realize this when he would have to work for Mr. Covey. Mr. Covey had the reputation of a “nigger-breaker” and Douglass was sent there with the intentions of breaking his spirit since the “city life had had a very pernicious affect upon [him]” (42).
Here he was severely beaten and it was here were he was “broken in body, soul, and spirit” (45).
Douglass was now a slave like the rest of the slaves, except with the knowledge to read and write. It would be that knowledge that would help him rise above and continue his hopes for freedom.
While at the ownership of Mr. Freeland, Douglass was educating others slave. Here for the first time in his life, he made friends. Within a few of his new slave friends a plan to escape was devised. Douglass and his companion were ready to proceed with their intentions of escaping until they were betrayed and at once apprehended by Mr. Freeland. He was now in the custody of Master Hugh, a member of the Auld’s. Master Hugh hired Douglass to Mr.Gardners, here he would learn “calking, and …learned the art of using [his] mallet and irons” which would bring in six to seven dollars a week to his owner (64).
The Term Paper on White Man Douglass Slave Slavery
... of slavery caused slaves to be denied their god given rights. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass has ... the discussions of Christianity when viewed with slavery. Sarah M. Grimke writes in Gorn Document 3, gratify the ... slavery to freedom (Douglass, 47). This revelation came upon him after hearing his master, Mr. Auld reprehend Mrs. Auld for teaching Douglass spelling. Mr. Auld ...
He was getting a dollar and fifteen cents a day for his labor, which only made his want fro freedom much stronger.
Douglass became a workingman; he paid Mr. Hugh’s for a room, board and supplies. He continued working as he devised his plans to escape. “On the third day of September, 1838, [he] left [his] chains, and was heading to New York as a free man (69).
At New York with his wife, Anna, he decided to change his name, in fear of being apprehended, from Frederick Bailey to Frederick Johnson to lastly Frederick Douglass. Douglas believed the North was not as prosperous because they lacked slavery and the production slavery brought in. But as a new man Frederick Douglass found a job, since the North was indeed very prosperous, and became a subscriber to the “Liberator”, which encouraged him to become the abolitionist he is today.
It is in the Preface by William Lloyd Garrison that we understand the means of having it written as a narrative and for its purpose. Douglass wants to use “his own style [of writing], employ himself, and let it be entirely his own production” as well as his own experiences (6).
As an abolitionist he writes this narrative to depict the cruelty of slavery. He also hoped to help liberate others who were still confined to their chains. It is actually hard to believe that a once uneducated slave would have been able to write such a profound narrative. But it was Douglass’ persistence that taught him how to read and write eloquently and it was that persistence that helped grant him his freedom.
In his narrative Douglass is compelled to give names of those who have helped him and even his root of escaping. But at the time that his narrative was published slavery still existed and it would only be proper of him to allow others to become free. He does briefly describe the gratitude that he has for those who have helped him through the Underground Railroad, but any more declaration would render slavery to remain (66).
Douglass hoped the book would help others keep their spirit and soul in tact, since he needed to become a free man.
The Essay on Frederick Douglass And Slavery
Frederick Douglass and Slavery Abolitionist Frederick Douglass was the most distinguished and influential black leaders of the nineteenth century. Douglass focused his writings on the harshness and brutality of slavery. He describes in many of his books accounts of his own experiences as a slave. A reader is able to perceive a clear image of slavery through Douglass' words. His writings explain ...
