Slaves must seek knowledge and education in order to pursue freedom. It is from Hugh Auld that Douglass learns this notion that knowledge must be the way to freedom, as Auld forbids his wife to teach Douglass how to read and write because education ruins slaves. Douglass
His lesson concludes that even though he values friendship, leaving friends behind is sometimes the right decision. Many slaves preferred to stay enslaved rather than leave to a strange place. Garrison played a major role in his life where he helped Douglass raise money to purchase his freedom. In the preface William Lloyd Garrison, present Douglass Narrative as an argument against slavery. He speaks about Douglass own work being truthful in the way that Douglass Narrative affects readers in an emotional way.
The enslaved weren’t allowed to know their name or even their own family. The only thing that they need to know was how to obey their master. Douglass’s old master, Mr. Auld, told Douglass learning how to read and right only ruins a slave. He said that educating a slave will only make them unmanageable and unhappy. Frederick Douglass tells his life story through his autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
It was considerably less dangerous to work individually in escape plans than in large numbers. Although, if slaves did stay in the south, if freedom was reached, would more than likely be short lived, due to some masters seeking extraordinary efforts to recapture their property (by using dog's and professional slave catchers). Some runaways were often helped along their way but coupled with sheer determination of their masters, their efforts were again, like their ancestors, in vain. Recaptured slaves were often harshly punished. More often than not it was a battle of wills between the slave and their master – and due to politics being dramatically unfavourable against the blacks, the masters would often abuse this political freedom in their punishment.
The purpose for Frederick Douglass to write this essay is to tell the American people the disgust in slavery, which have caused both mental and physical damage in a person's mind. “The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers” said Frederick Douglass. In paragraph six Douglass uses powerful but depressing diction to express his inner rage and bitterness towards the white people who stripped away his freedom, liberty, and equality away. The use of “Abhor” and “Detest” emphasized the hatred and anger Douglas have toward the white people who “stole them from their homes, and [forced them] in a strange land reduced them to slavery”. As Frederick Douglass continues to gaining the ability to read and learn the truth about the society, his hatred towards the whites grew even
Douglass has no “respect” because he is thrown into a world of slavery where he must tolerate the disrespect being shoved at him. It isn’t until his fight with slave-breaker Edward Covey that the beginning stage of “respect” starts to make its way to him. The fight is where I can see Douglass start to transform. He writes "You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man" (47). Brewton also brings to my attention that Douglass “devotes greater space in his first autobiography to the portrait of Covey than to any other character, black or white.” I think this is because the fight with Covey is a pivotal turning point for Douglass.
My first example on how deleting our humane feelings caused harm is Document 7 by James Ramsay called, “Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies”. The article speaks about the punishments done to slaves for misbehaving in their eyes and committing mistakes. The white men would beat them with sticks, breaking their bones, chain around their necks, etc. All this was done to cause fear within them. All these people thought since Africans are slaves, it’s okay to treat them as beasts.
The two readings that I will be comparing and contrasting is Learning to Read and Write by Frederick Douglas and The Lonely, Good Company of Books by Richard Rodriguez. Both of the readings deal with two young men whom both had a passion to read and write. In Frederick Douglas’ essay, he explains all the difficulties he was faced with when he learned to read and write in the 1830s. In that era it was rare for African-Americans to read and write, nonetheless having the urge to learn that Douglas had. Most importantly Frederick Douglas was a slave which meant that it was against the law to have reading and writing privileges.
This meant that Douglass was on his own to educate himself. However, with these words Douglass finally saw his “pathway from slavery to freedom” (29). Learning suddenly became a way towards freedom because it would give him a sense of right and wrong. He learns the evils of slavery and understands that he doesn’t have to live this way. Douglass now knew the steps he must take in order to become a man of society, not a man of slavery.
Treachery and Virtue in “Oroonoko or The Royal Slave” Treachery and Virtue are two things that often times do not go together. They in fact contradict one another completely. However, in Oroonoko these two themes play a very important role in the development of the story as a whole. They are the basis for this paper and they teach the reader that if a man’s word is not his bond and he allows himself to be consumed with only self gratification, then that man will abandon his virtues and often become a treacherous person. Because this novel was written during a period in history that dealt with the injustices of slavery, this paper will take on the aspect of a sociological criticism.