Fredrick Douglass
Could any slave's life be characterized as a typical slave experience? Frederick Douglass's life as a slave was an uncommon one and cannot represent the institution of slavery as a whole. He did, however, in his Narrative create an important parallel from his life to that of any slave. When Douglass describes the lives, culture, and mental struggles of slaves a more political argument appears which pleads for a feasible end to the system of slavery.Born into slavery on a plantation near Talbot County, Maryland, Frederick Douglass began his life much the same as any other slave on a plantation. He was taken from his Mother before the twelfth month and was taken care of by his grandmother. Taking a slave child from their mother was common practice. This created a mental affect that according to Douglass only purpose was to "hinder the development of the child's affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child" (42). In order to illustrate this Douglass's tells of his reaction to when he learned his mother had died, "I received tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger" (43). This creates a sense that slaves
Just before this he makes an interesting political comment about the underground railroad. He makes the point that "slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. many of us were led to think that there was little to choose between liberty and slavery. Another part of culture described, which on the surface seemed like a benefit for slaves but in reality was just part of the "gross fraud, wrong, and inhumanity of slavery" that Douglass describes, is the December holidays (90). Those who escape through the underground railroad make life for the slaves who do not, all the more restraining and painful. Although this is not a point toward the argument against the system of slavery, it is a point made to show the ignorance of those not educated on the life of slaves at the time. The singing of a slave and the Holidays were all elements of slave culture. To the astonishment of Douglass some in the North thought that the song a slave would sing in the fields were signs of contentment. To add to this highly immoral act the murderer was never brought to justice. It is from there that he along with his close friends attempted their first escape. Another is the murder of Demby one of Colonel Lloyd's slaves. Though he admires what these men and women are doing to free slaves he claims it a "positive evil to the slaves remaining, who are seeking to escape" (107). Douglass was trying to tie in his experience as a slave to get across a political message about the feasibility of abolition. Not to mention the many other that occurred outside the life of Douglass.
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Acceptance Essays
