“If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master- to do as he is told to do. Learning will spoil the best nigger in the world. Now,” said he, “if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there will be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave.
Jahbril Cook October 30, 2011 Block 1 | B | In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the author/narrator is a slave who eventually escapes his captivity, taking it upon himself to seize his own freedom. Douglass’s sheer determination led him to shape his own destiny, leaving almost no aspect of the attainment of his ultimate liberty up to chance or outside forces. In order to gain an advantage among his fellow slaves and become the intellectual equal of his masters, Douglass taught himself to read and write. Becoming literate was a very important step towards becoming free because Douglass thought that he might be able to “write his own pass” to freedom someday (page 25). Later, Douglass does get to use his acquired literacy to write his own pass with the “protections” that he drafts, which act as a sort of forged contract, permitting him to go north, where he could live in freedom (page 51).
Narration works best because it sequences the events in Douglass’s life from the day he was a slave boy to when he was a free man. Narration helps the reader see clear sequences that Douglass witnessed separate from what was going on during this time period.
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
Douglass’s key demonstration of the corruption of slave owners is Sophia Auld, a woman who had never been a slaveholder before her husband attained Douglass. In the book when she first meets Douglass she is kind to him, but she in time becomes cynical and unsympathetic. She was corrupted when her husband said to her, “If you teach that nigger (Frederick Douglass) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no good, but a great deal of harm.
Harriet Jacobs for instance used the thought of someday freeing her children to drive her throughout the book and decide on what is best for them as a whole, maybe not immediately but eventually. She views slavery as worse than death, thus she feels disgusted that she brought her children into the world of slavery, “It seemed to me I would rather see them killed then have them given up to his power.” (Jacob’s 68) Frederick Douglass on the other spectrum of slavery was a man who had no children, and never had to suffer the physiological abuse of rape, and sexual harassment, but this did not make his slavery or his journey to freedom any easier. But it seems as though the small tastes of freedom he had experienced in Baltimore were the driving motives for Frederick Douglass. He always had a desire for more, “The fact that he gave me any part of my wages was proof, to my mind, that he believed me be entitled to the whole of them. I always felt worse for having received anything; for I feared that the giving me a few cents would ease his conscience, and make him feel himself to be a pretty honorable sort of robber” (Douglass 108) It is this ongoing understanding by both characters that they are unique and deserve much more, as in Frederick Douglass’ case these samples of freedom he was given were not taken as a sign of improvement but instead a reminder that he was a man and deserved
Frederick Douglass fights for his own rights in a way that makes bigger impact then violence and changed many peoples view on slavery. Douglass begins by telling us about his childhood and his first experiences with slavery. From a very young age Douglass is upset with the fact that he is not allowed to know his birthday but all the white boys knows theirs. He
He speaks of growing up without a sense of family, not to mention a sense of self. He describes horrendously brutal acts of whippings, beatings, and even murders. But he also describes freedom – an entitlement of the Declaration of Independence that this nation was built on, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Douglass speaks of the joy of working to earn wages that go to no one other than himself. He breaks free of the chains of slavery and joins the abolitionist movement as an eloquent speaker and writer.
He claims that the American culture has subjected the African Americans to slavery in hard labor and discriminatory treatment for a long time, without ever striving to understand them as human beings. On the other hand, the Old Negro has supported their oppressors by remaining submissive and enduring the oppression while making excuses for this kind of treatment. The idea of this scholar is that the African Americans have suffered for remaining silent and failing to stand out for their rights during the long oppression period. However, the new Negro is incompatible with the old one, as he is more assertive and determined to fight for an equal position in the society. The words of Locke echo the words of Hubert Harrison who initiated the New Negro Movement in 1917 that advocated for political equality in America.
“Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass” The “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass” written by himself and published at The Anti- Slavery Office in 1845, is a descriptive insight to how his life was during and shortly after slavery. The book takes us through different accounts of abuse, neglect and hardships that mold Frederick into the inspirational man he would soon become. It begins with Douglass as a young boy losing his mother and all connections to family and safety. He then recollects the numerous slaveholders he belonged to or worked for and how each of them treated their slaves, or as some of them thought, their belongings. Around his late teens, early twenties he begins to explore and highly consider the idea of escaping to the free states in the north.