Table of Contents
Frederick was born enslaved in Maryland but finally escaped in 1838. His mother was enslaved as well but they were separated very early and she eventually dies when he is rather young. Frederick is using this narrative to explain that blacks are not lesser, but the whites are making them believe so by taking away from their families, not allowing education, and making them believe that they have no power. He continues to explain that as a young kid he doesn’t understand why the white kids know their age and he doesn’t, but he knows he better not ask about it.
Education is so prohibited they would be punished for trying to learn anything as simple as their age. To fool the slaves, the masters gave them one holiday to give them something to look forward to and enjoy, even if they knew how bad their conditions were. If the slaves were asked, will say their life is fine to avoid punishment and this gives all the more reason for people who may actually be curious about their conditions, to believe that they are fine. The northerners also believed that the blacks were lesser than whites because it had been “proved” through religion and economic “facts”.
In this narrative, Frederick shared not only his own stories but things he heard and saw as well, he explained that these conditions harmed them physically and mentally. As slaves they feel like they should always be worried about being punished, which is mentally harming them, and they would be physically harmed for no reason, or would be whipped weeks later, so the slave wouldn’t even connect it to what he had done before.
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Through all of his suffering though, Douglass felt and knew that he wouldn’t be a slave forever and he thanks God for that sense of direction. Even though he went through many challenges we can’t even imagine, he still managed to make his way out of these horrible conditions to create the life he knew he deserved
Douglass seemed to understand the important factors of 1845 and the soft spots of the northerners. He mentioned things that he knew would motivate people to change their minds, he appealed to things such as family, mother-child relationships, home, religion, education, etc. And even Douglass simply now being able to share these stories, shows them that he does have the ability to do and have all of these things that they’re being provoked of. In fact, Douglass wanted others to have the same opportunity so much that he did not give away how he escaped.
He worried that the people who helped could get in trouble and the slave masters would stop others from escaping, and he wants everyone out of it so he will not take any chances. He explains the horrible conditions of slavery, but e does mention that the slaves in the city enjoy more freedom than plantation slaves because their slave owners don’t want to appear cruel or neglectful to slaves in front of non‑slaveholding whites. Douglass is “lucky” enough to be placed with this type of master, but in this setting he suddenly understands that slave owners gain and keep power over their slaves by keeping slaves from education and their own ideas.
In this household, Douglass realizes that he must educate himself to become free. But through his journey, Douglass gets many suicidal thoughts. He then meets sailors who tells them to escape, of course he trusts no white man and assumes they are trying to set him up, but the thought of escaping lingers in his mind. The narrative shares his own story of becoming a free man, and shows the true story of slavery. Douglass is making an impact on the misinformed community by telling stories of family separation, personal feelings of humans, and the physical abuse that they encounter.
Family/ Home
Douglass starts the narrative by explaining to us that slaves are being taken away from their families, which is a huge part of peoples lives at this time. He mentions that he does not know who his dad is but he might be his master, and his mother had passed when he was young. Douglass assumes that they are taken away from each other to break the bond of affection between mother and child. Having no family or affection affected him so much that when he received the word that his mother had passed, he hardly even cared.
When others are reading this it is hard for most of us to imagine not having someone to go to, and we can’t imagine how hard it must be for the slaves to have nothing and no one. Slaves never have an option of having a “traditional” home with a spouse, children or even friends, which all of the northerns probably take for granted. Slaves have no choice in anything and have absolutely no freedom.
Even when Douglass was sent away to Auld it didn’t even bother him, because he had no connections or family. He thought it couldn’t get any worse than he has already had. Douglass also mentioned that slaves are divided regardless of marriages, family, and friendships, making northerners think about the things they have and how they would feel if they were taken away from their families. Alongside with being isolated, the way slaves are treated is humiliating.
Humanity/ Personal Feelings
The slaves were viewed as property to the whites instead of a human being. He tells stories that when the elderly are too old to work in the fields, they are abandoned, including his grandmother who was left in a cabin in the woods. Douglass mentioned that the slaves would “cope” with music, but nobody sees it as coping because they think they are just enjoying themselves. After he is free he realizes it is horrible and they did have outlets, because they are human and real people with feelings. “I did not, when a slave, understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs. . . .”
Douglass explains that he did not know the real meaning of these songs while he was a slave, but now understands that the songs are a complaint about slavery. While listening to the songs he begins to understand the evil of slavery. Northerners who believe that the slaves are singing out of happiness are dead wrong. lave women are forced to “mate” making them victims of sexual assault. Masters would rape the slave women because it then provides them with more slaves. Slaves were also “rented”, including Douglass to Covey and Douglass tells us that Covey even owns one slave named Caroline, who he bought to be a “breeder.”
Covey hired a married man to sleep with Caroline every night so that she will produce more slaves for Covey to own. Slaves have no personal independence, they are sold, rented, raped, and even attacked. Douglass was attacked, and Auld takes Douglass with him to see a lawyer, but the lawyer tells them that no warrant may be issued without the testimony of a white man, basically saying that black men have no real say, even in their our injuries. This leads into all of the physical abuse that the slaves were put through.
Physical
The thing that most of us think of today while mentioning slavery, is the brutality and violence that the slaves went through. He explained how horrible it was watching his aunts whippings from a very young age, and he provides examples of female whoopings to appeal to emotions and see how cruel the masters actually were. Women and men were whipped, elderly were “disposed” of when they were no longer good for work, and children were deprived of every second of childhood. The slaves were given 1 pair of clothing a year, and if they rip they were naked until the next year when you got a new piece of clothing.
Slaves received 1 blanket but no bed and in the winter time it got so cold that his body is still affected as a free man. Along with the deprivation of clothes and food, slaves were whipped for things that they had no control of but the slaves didn’t say anything when being punished in fear of their masters. Douglass even witnessed slaves being killed and their masters were never questioned or charged for the murder.
Any human with a heart could understand why these encounters are so demonizing to them. Slaves were forced to work all day for nothing in return encounter horrible sights, and live in horrible conditions. They couldn’t even eat anything from the gardens they may have been working in, and if they were discovered eating, of course they were whipped. Even as Douglass begins making money at the shipyard for his hard labor, he must give it to Auld.
Analysis
After all of his hard work, giving up his money, and starting his education, he realized he wants out. He struggles and works extremely hard to learn to read and write and plan his escape, but slavery affected him so badly that as the date of his escape gets closer, he worries about leaving his many “friends” and about the possibility of failure. He carries his plan through and reaches New York City on the third of September.
Rather than feeling relieved Douglass is overcome with terror. He finds himself in an unfamiliar city, without shelter, food, money, or friends. He is surrounded by people, but afraid to speak with anyone for fear they will turn him in. After several months of being free , he earns enough money to subscribe to the Liberator, an abolitionist magazine and attends an anti slavery convention.
He is urged to speak about his experience as a slave and although he is nervous about speaking in front of whites, he soon talks with ease. Douglass reached out to the northern people and really appealed to emotions. His own story was not an easy path, he mentions being deadened by covey, and what seemed to be his last straw, a root gives him some courage to still fight and tell his master that he doesn’t want to be treated like an animal anymore.
Who would’ve knew that standing up for himself would work. Something for the northerners to think about his how Douglass tells us that his master’s wife, Mrs. Auld, was once a very nice women, but the evils of slavery has poisoned her and created a very cruel woman. Slavery hurt not only the slaves, but the masters as well.
