The Role Of Southern Christianity In Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

He compares his never wavering faith and hope which stay with him through the tough times he is facing to being similar to ministering angels who are known in the Bible to guide, comfort, and protect people. Thus he is accrediting faith and hope to be the two reasons why he saw the other side of suffering, or slavery, which presented itself in the form of freedom. This enlightenment of freedom is the result of the comfort and the invisible shield of protection that these two factors provided. The two conventions helped deliver this point by providing a valid comparison to biblical figures which provides an insight into both Douglass’ Christian characterization as well as helping provide a tone of determination and positive spirit to

As the whip lashed on yet another victim of slavery, a distinguished Christian man who attained a high standing in the church supported the scourging of the screaming slave by quoting verses from the Bible. Frederick Douglass spoke about his encounter with Christian slaveholders in antebellum America in his autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Douglass gave all of the following generations an idea of how the slaves lived under several types of masters. In this narrative, Frederick Douglass communicated the hypocrisy of Christian slaveholders; he found Christian men were harsh to the slaves through their power and with their rationalization of their sins. Frederick Douglass observed that Christian

In the autobiography Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, the author details the horrors and dehumanization of slavery in the south. Douglass utilizes paradox and powerful diction to illustrate his transformation from slave to man in mind, body, and spirit. After overcoming his oppressor, Mr. Covey, Douglass declares, “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.” Douglass captures the reader’s attention with use of word play and allusion, he clearly indicates the turning point of the memoir and his transformation from slave to man. Douglass uses an allusion to the Bible, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away

In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, written by himself, the author asserts that the Christianity of the slaveholders is hypocritical and used to justify their actions. Douglass supports his claim by, first, talking about the affairs that the white men had with female slaves. The wife’s knew about it but, did not think any of it since slaves were considered property. Also second, Douglass’s purpose is to point out the hypocrisy of slave owners who profess to be Christian in order to treat the slaves as not as people. Based on Douglass detailed writing is for people in power make a change in slavery.

The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass challenges and enhances information from the textbook America a Narrative History. In Chapter 13 of the textbook, the Second Great Awakening is mentioned, and the author talks about how large camp meetings were held, which resulted in many converting to Methodism. Similarly, Douglass, as his master attended one, mentions a camp meeting, where Douglass hoped his master would become kinder or emancipate his slaves, however, instead it made his master crueler. In addition, in Chapter 15 the conflict between a true Christian and a Southern Christian is brought up. In both the narrative and the textbook, the fact that slavery is endorsed by the bible is brought up as part of the pro-slavery movement.

Frederick Douglass Essay People everywhere dream of freedom. It is the right to make one’s own choices in life and being able to enjoy them which makes it such an essential piece of our lives. Frederick Douglass's book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave written by himself reveals many of the injustices that African Americans faced in the early 1800s under Southern slavery. Slaves were held in a system of absolute and total oppression; they were kept in ignorance of their birthdays, separated from family and friends, endured beatings from masters, raped, forbidden to be educated, and deprived of food, clothing, and sleep. This was the life Douglass experienced as a slave, but he eventually finds his way to freedom.

Also, in the same chapter, Douglass’ expresses his feelings for Mr.Freeland stating, “I will give Mr.Freeland the credit for being the best master I ever had” (Douglass 49). Douglass’ states that Mr.Freeland was not religious but he was the best master he ever had. It is ironic that non-religious slaveholders treat their slaves better than religious slaveholders. Therefore, Douglass notes the irony of religious and non-religious slaveholders: religious slaveholders being more cruel than non-religious slaveholders. Douglass perceives how slaves are treated worse than animals.

Douglass managed to overcome the maltreatment of his wretched slave owners through the eventual attainment of freedom. The injustice imposed upon the African-American slaves by their owners was the crux of Douglass’s motivation to escape this inhumane life. Adolescents in today’s society could use Frederick’s determination as an example of moving forward to better oneself or one’s situation regardless of

Here, Douglass exposes the Christian attempt to wash their hands of any guilt or wrong doing. Overall, Douglass exposes the truth behind this hypocrisy; when these slaveholders use God as a

During the time when Douglass wrote this book, there were several myths which were used to justify slavery. The slaveholder during his time justified this inhuman practice using different arguments. The first argument they used was the religion. From the narrative, Douglass says that slaveholders called themselves Christians which was the dominant religion by then.

“ I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, woman-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.” (Douglass 100) Douglass does this to show how hypocritical people in the South were being. Churches were teaching the Christian practice of being kind and compassionate while not actually practicing it themselves. Douglass argues that the actions of some people are against religion.

Douglass has shown how religious slaveholders are the worst especially when entertainment comes into play. The first being from one of his slaveholders Master Thomas, he whipped a young woman while reading a quote from the scripture to explain his reason for whipping her. The next example was with his other Master Mr.Covey, he would go to church and preach the word but come back beating slaves and going against the almighty God. The last example that is shown is again shown with Mr.Covey, he was guilty of compelling his woman slave to commit the sin of adultery. All of the examples illustrate that religious slaveholders are worst than non-religious slaveholders.

Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the  kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.

Douglass tells us this by saying that he believes anyone who is a slave owner cannot be a Christian. In his view, he believes being a slave owner violates the very principles of being a Christian. Auld quote he believes that the Christianity practiced by the Slave owners and the Christianity practiced by non-slave owners are two

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