| The Quest for Freedom | | | Ed Beliveau | 2/2/2014 | My thoughts on the Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass. | Beliveau 1 Edward Beliveau Professor Gehring The American Experience Feb 2, 2014 Freedom There was much in the life of slaves that cannot be debated, like their inequality, their lack of education, and all basic personal freedoms that we all have come to rely on. In the narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass we see how his life of constant searching for knowledge and his physical rebellion to his overseers came from his own thoughts of what manhood meant and his perception of the psychological sources of the master’s power over the slave. Douglass does a great job of showing us the inequality
One story that goes in depth about these things is about a slave who worked his way up towards a house-slave. These slaves got to stay in the house, and more often than not, these slaves would be REALLY hated by the other slaves. Anyway, this slave, even though a house slave didn't just betray his fellow slaves to the master. This slave self-taught himself to read so that whenever the master and another helper were talking, he could understand them. You see, whenever the master and someone else were speaking, and they didn't want the house slave to know, they would spell out whatever they're trying to say.
However, he is later taken from the Aulds and placed with Edward Covey, a slave “breaker,” for a year. Under Covey’s brutal treatment, Douglass loses his desire to learn and escape. Douglass decides to fight back against Covey’s brutal beatings. The shocked Covey did not whip Douglass ever again.Douglass is hired to William Freeland, a kinder slave master. He could not escaped by his own power, and he had to gather his fellow together in order to escape.
Douglass begins his narrative with explaining that as a child he was unaware of how old he was and that as a slave, he was forbidden to ask. This was a major source of unhappiness for Douglass as a child, as all of the white boys around him knew their age. As this being the first thing that Douglass talks about, it is apparent that this lack of identity is going to be a big part of what Douglass focuses on. Douglass writes about how white slaveholders keep slavery alive by dehumanizing their slaves and keeping them ignorant. It also seems that ignorance is not only apparent in the slaves but in the slaveholders themselves.
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.
The slave dealers and owners would dehumanize the slaves to the point that they had no say so in their lives or any freedom what so ever. They were told where to live, who they can live with, eat, work, sleep and who they can marry. If they disobeyed any orders they were beat, whipped and even killed. With these hardships as a slave Frederick Douglass hated everything about being a salve and had hatred for his oppressors. He rebelled against his slave masters through learning to read and write.
In the passage, it talks about how Africans lost their freedom and branded like cattle. It’s honestly dumb how back in the past and even today, you’re judged by color. For that same reason, it causes inferiority to the rest. The source also states how they’re stripped naked and imprinted on. People shouldn’t be abused of just because of the lack of human sympathy.
For instance, the writer claims that the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin and its common predecessor who attacks the topic of slavery in order for the abolitionists to unite together and fight for the same beliefs, isn’t fair or moral since they were disrupting the peaceful state that the U.S was in and shifting the people apart even more. On the other hand, the other passage written by the Southern literary messenger of Richmond also opposed Mrs. Stowe;s tale but he/she had a very biased opinion towards the South so he/she just argued using his/her untrustworthy opinion and very little knowledge. For example, the messenger didn’t think that the author of the story should have put emphasis on the abolition actions since they didn’t deserve the attention and it was unfair for the South since they their opinions didn’t get noticed. 1) C-1 2) The Pro-Southern Court Speaks (1857) 3) Author: Roger Taney 4) Author’s Position: Against Dred Scott and his wish to become a free African American 5) Bias: The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has the authority to speak for what he favors and in this case, his bias leaned toward the South so he supported them by going against Dred Scott. The Court also must cancel the Missouri Compromise since it goes against the constitution so they couldn’t
Derrick Williams Prof. Sackley History 199 9/30/2011 “For my own part, I felt indifferent to my fate. It appeared to me that the worst had come (the separation of him and his family), that could come, and that no change of fortune could harm me.” Charles Ball was born into slavery. He encountered the same punishment and had to live the same hard and cruel life similar to any other slave. However, Balls story differs due to his never ending ambition to be active in his attempts to expose, change, and better the lives of slaves. As a young man, Ball was sold and separated from his wife and children to a slave trader.
Finally, he lists all the labor that slaves do, and he states that if a slave is not a man, then he would not be able to do all these things because those are the jobs of men. Douglass then opened up the topic of the law and religion. He explains that the nation is full of inconsistencies. He starts off by saying “For black men there is neither...” (Frederick Douglass, 268). This law makes it impossible for slaves to gain freedom.