Douglass - narrative

2005-01-24T13:38:00.000-08:00

In the piece written by Douglass, his life of slavery is illustrated vividly. By him having been a slave at one time, and writing about his experiences, this allows the reader to become more involved. You become involved with the emotional and physical pain the slaves are in constant fear of, as well as, involved with the way of life the slaves grow up in. If the slaves were not getting beat, they were watching someone getting beat. This is a way of always beating the slaves down (emotionally and physically). In Douglass's narrative, he tells of how the female slaves are getting mistreated. He tells in the beginning of how he was only with his mother for the very beginning of his life, and how he rarely got to see her. Later in his piece, Douglass tells how some of the women are raped or used to make more slaves for the master's plantation. By using stories about what happened to the women early in the narrative, it pulls the reader even stronger in the path of sympathy towards the slaves.

Another common theme I saw through out Douglass's narrative was education and being educated. Douglass struggles hard to learn and become educated, even though it was illegal and highly looked down upon from most whites. Douglass did what he could to learn as much as he could, including exchanging food to other starving boys in exchange for some teaching. The major turning point in Douglass's life was when he first got involved as a slave for Mr. Hugh Ault. At first, Sophia Ault, Mr. Ault's wife, began to teach Douglass and almost act as if he was her child. When Mr. Ault found out about this teaching that his wife was conducting with Douglass, he quickly orders his wife to stop teaching him. Mr. Ault tells his wife that education ruins slaves and just makes them unhappy. This comes as a revelation to Douglass who hears Mr. Ault say this. Douglass sees this as the strategy whites use to enslave blacks. He realizes that slave owners keep power over slaves by depriving them of education and ideas and that he must become educated to become free. The idea education is the means to freedom is a major theme in the narrative.

Jason Krugh

Douglass - narrative