Douglass vs Blake
Slavery of different forms has been in existence since the earliest accounts of human life. Even today slavery takes place in a modern form in many parts of Asia where people of all ages are 'employed' with low wages and working conditions that would be considered brutal by Canadian or American standards. In this sense Fredrick Douglass' Autobiography has a timeless value as he recounts his own experiences with slavery and the cruelty that accompanies it. William Douglass also writes of a type of slavery in his poems about the mistreatment of children from poor families in England, who are forced to become chimneysweepers. Although the settings of these two works differ completely, the themes of religion and death, and a feeling of hopeless dispensability are developed clearly by both writers. During the most desperate times in histories it is proven that more people cling to a religion for security. In both Fredrick Douglass' Autobiography and William Blake's Chimney Sweeper poems, religion has a constant presence. Both the children that are forced to sweep the chimneys, and the slaves in the southern United States are living in desperate conditions, and it seems that the only way they can justify their rough lives is throug
"Where are thy father and mother? Say?" "They are both gone up to the church to pray. He made the greatest pretensions to piety. (Douglass, Page 20) Both works however, have an underlying pessimism of religion as it can act as an outlet of guilt for the oppressors rather than a saviour for the oppressed. Fredrick Douglass has similar experiences, as slaves are bought and sold as objects, or pieces of machinery. These people would use religion to redeem their sins to God, as well as to redeem their conscience. This quote exemplifies the main problem with religion among Southern slave owners. This child's own father sold him into to chimney sweeping which would cause the boy to feel unimportant. Knowing the harm and cruelty of making children sweep chimneys is ignored because they feel like they are 'doing their part' by praying about the poor situation at church rather than taking a more active role. He, his friends, and relatives were all assessed on the same level as the animals of the estate. Blacks were imprisoned by their own race, while the children were imprisoned by poverty. The slaves living in the southern United States turned to religion for help because there was little else to reach out to. We were all ranked together at the valuation. Fredrick Douglass' autobiography offers an accurate account of the cruelty involved in slavery. In Blake's The Chimney Sweeper: When my mother died I was very young" the speaker is a child that was sold by his father and forced to sweep.
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Acceptance Essays
