Frederick Douglass Community Vs Community Analysis

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Throughout most of the semester we have seen what happens to the individual when one ventures out of the “box” they call community and live for something else. This is prevalent in none other than the life of Mr. Frederick Douglass. In the book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave we see the repercussions Douglass and others go through while pursuing a different life outside the community in which they are forced to live. These repercussions are both positive and negative as well as physical and mental. Douglass is able to prove that through individuality and perseverance, one can overcome these obstacles and fulfill a better life outside the community. One of the first instances where we see an example of an…show more content…
Covey’s authority when he runs back to his old master, Mr. Thomas and tries to seek refuge. However, once Douglass reaches his house, he receives no support, and Mr. Thomas even threatens to whip him himself if he does not go back to Mr. Covey. I feel it is here that Douglass realizes he cannot simply seek support from his superiors. He realizes that no positive outcome can result for him or his community if he seeks to address his superiors. Douglas, like Thomas Payne, knew that he and his fellow brethren were being tyrannized and that action needed to be taken. Since it was impossible that their situation could resolve itself, Douglass needed to find a different way to separate from the…show more content…
Covey, he eventually goes on to stay with a much more lenient master named Mr. Freeland, whom Douglass considered “heavenly” compared to Mr. Covey. However, it was here that Douglass decided to attempt a true departure from the slave community. As Douglass put it, “I began to want to live upon free land as well as with freeland; I was not longer content, therefore to live with him or any other slaveholder.” He then engineered a plan to lead himself and some of his comrades to the safety of Northern soil. It is here that I think Douglass makes another significant step, that is when he creates protections for himself and his clan, or as I like to think of it, their own declaration of independence from the slave community. But, like all things thus far in Douglass’s life, things fell through, and he suffered the mean hand of a relentless slave system. Although Douglas had burned his fake protection papers in order to save himself and his allies, the declaration was still clear in his mind. Like a true revolutionary, he stuck to it and eventually experienced life unrestrained by the horrid slave community in which he came from. It truly is amazing how much Douglass went through in order to experience life outside of his own community. Though he never actually states how he eventually escapes, one can only imagine the level of difficulty he must have gone through and what a relief it must have been for him to escape the horrid slave
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