The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, the Dover thrift edition, published by Dover Publications Inc. in the United States in 1995, is exactly what the title displays, a narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. The book started out when he was born. There is not an exact record of his birth, but it was sometime around 1817 or 1818. He was separated from his mother, Harriet Bailey, moments after he was born, and he father was more than likely the white master, Captain Anthony. Captain Anthony was the clerk of the plantation owner, Colonel Lloyd, who owned hundreds of slaves. He called his large central plantation the “Great House Farm”. Lloyd’s plantation was brutal, but Douglass got is easy, being a child. Her served the house …show more content…
Thomas Auld then sends Douglass back to Hugh Auld. Auld tries to use Douglass’s yearning for education for his own gain. He teaches him the trade of ship caulking and sends him off to work in the trade industry. Douglass faces severe problems here. Whites have always worked side by side with blacks, but with the changing ideology towards slaves and African Americans, the whites fear that employers will soon prefer a black worker to a white one. Even though Douglass is not free, he is bullied by his white co-workers and is sent to another shipyard. As soon as Douglass gets a hang of how to caulk, he is soon the highest paid worker, but he always gave his wages to Auld. He makes an agreement to be able to work in his free time and be able to keep his own wages. He saves up and finally completes his plan of escaping. Douglass does not give any details of his escape, but he wants to give future slaves the chance of attempting it again. Douglass is afraid that he will be found, so he changes his name from Bailey to Douglass. He marries a free woman named Anna
Works Cited Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Doubleday, 1973. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas is Frederick Douglass’ autobiography that demonstrates an insightful journey from slavery to freedom through his experiences. Douglass’ journey is not only a literal one, but a figurative battle accomplished by both mentally and physically freeing himself.
Following the death of Fredrick’s, slave owner, Captain Anthony, Douglass was sold to the ownership of Anthony’s son-in-law. Douglass was later hired out to a professional slave breaker, a man who would beat and mistreat slaves until they gave up and did whatever they were told. Weeks later, Douglass began to fight back, consequently the beatings stopped. He then became under the ownership of the Auld’s. The Auld’s took Douglass back home with them to Baltimore, where he began to work on the shipyards.
After constant beatings Douglass “grabbed the farmer and threatened to kill Mr. Auld”. This shows how douglass wanted to be
Fear of education displayed by past masters made Douglass consider the benefits of becoming literate. Douglass had hateful masters from the moment he was born. These terrible masters stripped the enslaved of their blood, energy, and their hope for freedom. As Douglass is slowly learning to read from Mrs. Auld, his master enters the room, degrades Douglass, and treats him as any other property. Mr. Auld fears education for slaves so much that he believes “If you teach that n***** how to read, there would be no keeping him.
The Narrative of Fredrick Douglass displays the hardships of many African American experienced first-hand, and also his journey toward freedom and enlightenment. At the age of seven, he is introduced into the world of literature and storytelling, by nonetheless a white woman, Mrs Auld. But soon enough, the teachings have stopped since a educated black is no good in society. After Douglass old master died, Captain Anthony, there was a valuation of the property to divide the assets. This in turn, makes Douglass have a new master whose name was Thomas.
Despite the risk, the slaves value their education so highly that they attend Douglass’s school. Douglass’s first year with Freeland passes smoothly. Douglass remembers Freeland as the best master he ever had. Douglass also attributes the comfort of the year to his solidarity with the other slaves. Douglass recalls that
After Douglass had been through much pain and suffering, he had escaped through the underground railroad up North. He was a free man who didn’t have to refer to anyone and was able to do whatever he wanted to pursue with his life. Frederick Douglass must have felt like a new person after escaping because he could start his life over and forget his past, though it’s hard to let go of something that’s made you who you are. Douglass was punished sometimes more than the other slaves at one plantation since he was mulatto child, but he was able survive
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Summary The main character Frederick, starts by letting us know where he was born, which was in Tuckahoe in Maryland. We here that he didn’t even know how old he was, as the authenticity record of that number, has been hidden from him and the other slaves. That he couldn’t get to know his own age, like the white children could, was bothering him very much. At that point we get to know, that he was a slave already in the 1830’s when he was around seventeen years old.
In 1845, douglass wrote his autobiography—Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself— as a response to critics who argued that such a well-spoken man could never have been a
In chapter 3, Douglass talks about how Colonel Lloyd treats his horses: “This horse has not had proper attention He has not been sufficiently rubbed and curried, or he has not been properly fed; his food was too wet or too dry; he got it too soon or too late; he was too hot or too cold; he had too much hay or not enough grain” (Douglass 10). Douglass’ describes the obsessive attention that his former master, Colonel Lloyd, paid to his horses. If the slaves in charge of caring for the horses made any mistakes, Lloyd would beat them up. Douglass uses irony here to show that Lloyd treats his animals better than he treats the human slaves. He states that while the slaves got little to no food, clothes, and a bed, the horses get much better
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Rhetorical Analysis By Migion Booth Social reformer, Frederick Douglass was an African American man who decamped from slavery. He has drafted several books including Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Mr. Douglass writes about his perspicacity as a slave. Mr. Douglass repeatedly uses paradox, imagery, and parallelism to display how slavery was inhuman and heartbroken.
He changed his last name from Bailey to Douglas so slave hunters would not find him. He went as far away as Great Britain and Ireland touring on a journey speaking about his autobiography that included: Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and my freedom, and life and time of Frederick Douglass so he would not be seen or captured by his former slave owner. His early life as an activist abolitionist started in the early
As time went by, Douglass’s friends were let go, until only he remained. Finally, Captain Thomas Auld came and took him back to Hugh Auld in Baltimore. He told Douglass that he was to learn a trade. He was hired to Mr. William Gardner, who worked as a ship-builder, and would teach Douglass how to caulk. In the shipyard, White men and Black free men worked together, but after a time, the white workers grew tired of working together.
Fredrick Douglass does not actually tell us exactly how he escaped in detail to the North from slavery because he does not want to give any slave masters information. Which makes sense because, he would not like to be giving slave owners an upper hand on slaves that do try to escape. One of the most important factors to Fredrick Douglass gaining his freedom is when he moved to Baltimore. I believe that is where his quest for freedom began.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is Frederick Douglass’s autobiography in which Douglass goes into detail about growing up as a slave and then escaping for a better life. During the early-to-mid 1800s, the period that this book was written, African-American slaves were no more than workers for their masters. Frederick Douglass recounts not only his personal life experiences but also the experiences of his fellow slaves during the period. This book was aimed at abolitionists, so he makes a point to portray the slaves as actual living people, not the inhuman beings that they are treated as. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, slaves are inhumanly represented by their owners and Frederick Douglass shines a positive light