How The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Dehumanized Slavery

Douglass learned to read and write when he was living in the Auld’s household for seven years and being tutored by Mrs. Auld who taught him how to spell (Douglass 259). A lesson that we can all learned from Frederick Douglass enduring the Legacies of slavery in today's society is being able to face the world and to do what he did to fight for what we believe in as people of color. Instead of letting people use us as property and dehumanize colored Americans, because Douglass spent his life trying to get end slavery so that the world would be better off without colored people being held in captivity. It seemed like Douglass did not want others to go through what he went through as a slave not being able to be

Through Frederick Douglass’ autobiography you are able to see slavery in the 1800’s through a slave's point of view. When writing out his autobiography Douglass has the intentional goal to open people's eyes to slavery and its effects. Douglass wanted to show what the slave industry consisted of and how he managed to break free from the deadly cycle. I personally believe that through Douglass’ writing he was able to obtain his goal of enlightening his readers on slavery. Through Douglass’ writing we see how he witnessed of the hardening of hearts of his slave owners.

At this time in America, it was “unlawful, as well as unsafe to teach a slave to read” (20). Mr. Auld ridiculed his wife for beginning to educate her slave, and told her “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” (20). Education, the ability to read and write, would make Douglass “forever unfit to be a slave” and would only add to his ability to reach the freedom he realized is out there in the world he is living in.

Fredrick Douglass’s slave narrative purpose Fredrick Douglass was born into slavery. He went through many hardships and challenges before finally gaining freedom, and writing his slave narrative, Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass. William L. Andrew, a professor of English, said that the purpose of a slave narrative is “to enlighten white readers about both the realities of slavery as an institution and the humanity of black people as individuals deserving of full human rights.” Douglass portrays this message well in his slave narrative.

Learning to read and write was a skill in which Douglass took the utmost pride, however, it was a forbidden task. This served as yet another way to hinder the growth of an individual in the slave community. Douglass’s master, Mr. Hugh Auld, justified his reasoning behind forbidding intellectual advancement by saying, “If you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him…he would, at once become unmanageable…discontented and unhappy” (Douglass 48). Which in all truth, is exactly right. Slave owners were very afraid that if a slave gained too much knowledge, they would finally be wise enough to fight back.

In Frederick Douglass’s book, he writes accounts of his time in slavery and beyond. Throughout the book, Douglass writes about not only the physical hardships slaves endured, but the mental and emotional hardships as well. In Chapter X, Douglass describes a battle he had with a temporary slave owner named Mr. Covey. After the fight concludes, Douglass writes, “This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood.

All the terrible and inhuman things that Douglass describes are the practical and usual things that happened in his time, they are not extraordinary. His true stories and multiple details from his life give the reader an idea about the effects of slavery on the life of different people in the

In his article "Learning to Read and Write" Frederick Douglass portrays how he figured out how to read and write furthermore the difficulties he needed to manage in his state of being a slave since youth. We find that Douglass was in hand by the Hugh family for a long time. it's inside this day and age that he figured out how to read and write. At the beginning, Douglass was told to read by Mrs. Hugh, notwithstanding, a little while later she took identical approach towards slavery as her significant other and normally much more dreadful. Where as once she would support Douglass' learning, she immediately attempted to end it at any expense.

In Frederick Douglas, “Learning to Read and Write,” Douglass uses an empathic tone, and telling details to convince his audience about the humanity and intelligence of enslaved African and the evils of slavery. Frederick Douglass alternated experience with the elevated diction, imagery with emotion in order to illuminate abolitionists of the need for slaves to become free. Douglass essay is well put into effect, with the struggle’s he endured as a slave and as well as the accomplishments on achieving to learn to read and write in insuperable odds, during a period where slaves had disadvantage and prohibited from learning how to read or write. With a determined and ambition approach, he showed us how important he thinks it is for slaves to

In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave: Written by Himself, the author suggests that no one can be enslaved if he or she has the ability to read, write, and think. Douglass supports his claim by first beginning the book with saying he does not know dates and can not read or write and secondly, when his master forbade his wife from teaching Douglass to read. Douglass's purpose is to show that slaves are treated unrightfully and to get the prominent leaders in America's society to acknowledge the book and make changes by abolishing slavery. Based on this autobiography, Douglass is writing the leaders of America that have the power to make changes.

He describes the help as so: “With their kindly aid, obtained at different times and in different places, I finally succeeded in learning to read” (52). Unfortunately at times, he feels hostage to the fact that he has more intelligence than the other slaves. Eventually, Douglass comes to a realization that slavery and education are incompatible.

Deliverance from Blissful Ignorance With how readily available reading material is in today’s society and just how much our daily lives are saturated with text, it is easy to take our literacy for granted. For slaves like Frederick Douglass, learning to read was a tremendous challenge and did not always give the results they hoped for. In the Narrative, Douglass learns to read gaining clarity and understanding of many things, such as his standing in the world. It opened his mind to some of the truths of this world, however, not all truths are pleasant. Many people, Douglass included, have found themselves depressed, to varying levels, when the veil of ignorance has been lifted from their face and they are forced to accept the truth about the

Because of this, he successfully creates a contrast between what the slave owners think of and treat the slaves and how they are. Douglass says that slave’s minds were “starved by their cruel masters”(Douglass, 48) and that “they had been shut up in mental darkness” (Douglass, 48) and through education, something that they were deprived of, Frederick Douglass is able to open their minds and allow them to flourish into the complex people that they are. By showing a willingness to learn to read and write, the slaves prove that they were much more than what was forced upon them by their masters.

“Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass is a personal narrative which describes a specific time in his childhood when he was learning to read and write. Born as a slave in the pre-Civil War south, Douglass was not expected to be literate. However, through strong ambition, Douglass overcame restrictions and stereotypes placed on slaves and taught himself to read and write. Later in his life, Frederick Douglass wrote down this story in his book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 1845. Today, students and adults can enjoy this narrative on how he overcame the struggles of learning how to read and write.

In the book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass reveals his life as a slave and the valuable lessons he learned from his experience. Douglass wants the truth about slavery to be revealed and wants to eliminate the lies that portray slavery as beneficial. Douglass exposes the reality of slavery by criticizing the “romantic image” of slavery, showing the intellectual capabilities slaves had, and revealing the reasons why slaves were disloyal to each other. Douglass criticizes the southern, romantic image of slavery by exposing the harsh treatment and sadness that slaves endured. It was southerners who thought slavery as beneficial, because it benefited themselves and white society.