The slave era can be agreed it was a terrible atrocity upon our fellow man, and it cannot be brought into a light of just, but it did give birth to some true characters who we can look up to and live alike. The characters in both Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass are ideal examples of true characters as they pushed through slavery and gained freedom but did not stop there. Jacobs’ spent her freedom getting her families’ freedom and Douglass went on to help others escape and spread knowledge on the cruelty of slavery. The last thing, and most powerful thing this book left me with is that each slave was an individual unalike any other, and these individuals were in fact an individual, individuals who lived their life for the betterment of others and accomplished an impossible
This structure works in that the intended readers, in this case abolitionists, are exposed to the dominant ideology as well as being closed off from differing ones. Henkel points out different aspects of slavery, the ideology of the institution as well as Douglass' understanding and interpretation through his personal experiences. Henkel proclaims that "Slaveholding . . .
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.
Frederick Douglass’s Life Slavery is a huge topic that includes inspiring stories from slaves, and many heroes. The story of Frederick Douglass is no exception to that. Douglass was born a slave, and was constantly beaten and punished, but that did not stop him from making a difference. After escaping, he tried to do anything he could to stop slavery. He made many lectures where talked about his experiences with slavery, and also made a newspaper called “The North Star” that talked about abolishing slavery.
AP English November 15, 2013 Frederick Douglass Summative CSE Frederick Douglas wrote his narrative, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass to bring to the common person’s awareness the cruelty and torture dealt to slaves. He uses his life’s story as a slave wishing for freedom to expose gritty details about the slave trade and the slave owners behind it. With each chapter, he reveals more about the fate of particular slaves, the slaveholding culture of both the North and South, and a little about the persona he displays in the book, too. These points are made more relevant and more effective when used in conjunction with literary devices that include remarkable diction, imagery, syntax, and other devices. In fact, Douglass’ use of these in his narrative creates a stronger message that contributes to his purpose of educating the masses and advocating for the abolition of slavery.
Majority of the slaves shared their delightful experiences with their owners while the rest claimed the awful relationships with their masters. When the year 1865 had finally came and slavery had been written in a big period mark, free slaves were somewhat able to share the happiness and bitterness that they had been through. Indubitably, it was the most remarkable period time of the lives of the slaves. However delightful or not, the freedom that slaves were reaching for had finally arrived. The nightmares ended after the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln in the year of
I believe Frederick Douglass is a Transcendentalist because in his narrative he gives examples of poor treatment from most of his enslavers, showing that the meanness that was exhibited towards slaves was the norm, and slave-owners who were kind were the exception. He uses this narrative to show even more evil underside of slavery. He writes to educate white audiences about what really goes on at slave plantations, including more cruel and depraved behaviors. For example, he devotes several paragraphs in Chapter I to a discussion about white slave owners impregnating their slaves. Douglass often returns to the same theme, depicting slavery as dehumanizing to both slaveholders and slaves.
Douglass also spoke of one of the greatest crosses he had to bare that of learning to read. “As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy” (Douglass p. 214). It made Douglass more intolerable as his position as a slave. One reason Douglass didn’t escape earlier because he now lived with a double edged sword, one edge wanting to be free and the other edge that he stayed in slavery to fulfill his desire to
By doing so, it created one of the many disagreements between the North and South, the institution of slavery. When the Fugitive Slave Act was placed in the Compromise of 1850, it created even more hostility between the two parties. But it was in no comparison to the outburst that was formed from Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This book created a face for the slaves, it gave everyone an understanding of how slaves were treated and the injustice they suffered in reaction to the Fugitive Slave Act. “It transformed abolitionism, bringing the movement, whose extreme rhetoric many Northerners had previously viewed with disapproval, to the edge of respectability” (Goldfield 378).
This line and the whole medallion literally scream the teachings that we get from the quote. The great minds who initiated Abolitionism and others who later supported it clearly were able to identify the African slaves and realize that they are also human beings, they also have a family, and they also possess feelings, emotions just like any man. Whereas, the cruel and short sighted people who chained them, treated and used them as animals unfortunately could only look upon them as a piece of black muscular flesh to drive their carts. Henry Thoreau also observed Civil Disobedience because with his wisdom and experience he was able to see and identify an unjust government and refused to cooperate with it. These philosophies also greatly influenced many other notable figures, one of them being, the father of our nation, Mahatma