The Comparison of the life of Frederick Douglas and the life of Harriet Jacobs throughout is enslavement; Frederick Douglass recollected specific events and tragedies. These events stuck with Douglass only enhancing his quest for freedom. After receiving his freedom as a young adult (supposedly for he didn't know his real age), Frederick
             Douglass went on to write this book where he tells us of these events, which fuelled his quest for freedom, the ultimate goal for every slave. In the beginning of the book we find out several things about Douglass, he was under the care of his first master, Mr. Plummer, as a child he witnessed the brutal whipping of his aunt. "He would whip to make her scream, and whip to make her hush"(18). Douglass promised himself that he would never forget the incident as long as he remembered anything. As a child, the constant beating of his aunt was the first of many heinous acts to which Douglass would be a witness too. Douglass saw that this was the fate of all if not every slave recognising it as the eventual outcome that would befall him he knew he had to escape by any means. Douglass also identifies the first realisation of the dehumanising effects of slavery upon his people with the songs, which the slaves sang. The songs "breathed the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish"(25). The slaves used song, intended for joy, to express the unimaginable pain they felt with the stripping of their god given freedom. They used songs to brighten up the dim dark life they had to live. It was not the words that so agonised Frederick's sprit but the underlying tone of distress that these very songs covered up. Hence, Douglass was deeply affected by the depressing, and sorrowful sentiment in these songs. They became a part of his very being and his determination to escape such a disheartening atmosphere increased even more.
             The debasing nature of a slave's life...