Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave: Reflection

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The life of a slave is never an easy one, but the life of Frederick Douglass is an inspiration. We all know who he is, heard about him in history class, but his narrative is an eye opener to the horrors of slavery. Reading the book I could almost imagine myself in his shoes. I could see the plantations he worked on, and his various masters. I could hear the harsh words of Mr. Gore or the kind ones from Mrs. Auld. All the descriptions in the book were clear and captivating, and it made me want to put myself into those positions and think “What would I do?” While the book wasn’t long or very hard to understand to read, it was very well written and I enjoyed seeing a glimpse of what it was like be in another person’s shoes. Douglass grew up as a slave, and away from his mother. He hardly ever got to see his mother because he was separated from her as a child. He only saw her a few times throughout his childhood, and only because she snuck out and walked miles at night to see him. I could not even imagine not being able to see my mother like that. Douglass had to grow up and become mature at a young age. He stood up to his masters, and because of that was sent to a man who had the reputation of ‘correcting’ young slaves behavior wise. He had various masters throughout his life, some kinder than others, until he freed himself. He has the courage to teach himself how to read and write, and accomplish things in his life that other African Americans dreamed of. I thought that the whole book was well written, however the part that touched me most was the time that Douglass spent in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Auld. The kindness that Mrs. Auld showed to Douglass in the beginning was heartwarming. You could see that at first she was a kind woman, not yet sucked into the racism and cruelty of slavery. It was interesting to see the change in her. It seemed like her not

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