In 1961 the recognition of slavery hit Virginia. This would be the basis of the two stories Beloved and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. With out this statutory the two dominating main characters, Sethe (Beloved) and Douglass (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave) would not have been born. These two characters use traditional and non-traditional ways to express themselves. They, like many other famous heroes, fought for the underdog and they gave a voice to the speechless. Although there are differences in the outcomes of their lives, the characters Douglass and Sethe had similar characteristics like: fighting against slavery, struggling with their history, uprising from their masters.
             Many slaves of the time fought vigorously against slavery. Slave resistance came in many forms from the simple pulling away for the capturer to suicide. Douglass and Sethe were similar to the slaves of the time because of their resistance. Douglass had a physical altercation with the sharecropper that he was rented out to. Douglass describes the fight by saying:
             My resistance was so entirely unexpected, that Covey seemed taken all aback. He trembled like a leaf. This gave me assurance, and I held him uneasy, causing the blood to run where I touched him with the ends of my fingers. (Douglass 112)
             Uprisings consistent to this on were becoming a commonality among many other slaves. Jamaican uprisings initiated with "the slave promptly escaping to the mountains, where they continuously harassed planters by stealing, trading with slaves, and enticing them to runaway." (Franklin & Moss 55) Sethe joins this category of slave revolt when she injures and murders her children. Sethe would rather murder her not have the strength to fight slavery in the physical sense. Their sacrifice became Sethe's fight against slavery. In death her child could not bear the pain of slavery
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