Frederick Douglass Theme Analysis

Frederick Douglass employs three very important themes in his autobiography, all of which are effective at gaining the reader’s sympathy. One theme is his point that slavery is an impersonal system of dehumanization, in which slaves are treated like animals, plants, or even inanimate objects, but never like humans. He also shows how slavery corrupts the church and the legal system. White men are never subject to any legal ramifications if they hurt or even kill slaves. To help illustrate these themes, Douglass brings special attention to the slaves’ songs. He believes that most people were ignorant in believing that if the slaves are singing, they must be happy. Douglass, in order to gain the sympathy of the reader, illustrates some of the …show more content…
She is too old to help or make the slave owners any money, but she had given everything to her masters for all of her life. Instead of giving her support and help, the slave owners turned her away and left her to starve on her own. During “this most needful time…the time [for the] tenderness and affection which only children can exercise towards a declining parent (Douglass 29),” they built her a little hut in the woods with no food or water and left. This example is the most striking and most effective example of the impersonal system of slavery. Douglass also tells the reader that the songs slaves sing are about their sufferings. Throughout the book, Douglass quotes poems and songs about slaves’ sorrows, not their joys. Douglass even says that he sings only when he is most sorrowful, in order to drown out his pain. He explains the meaning of the songs soon after saying that slaves sing constantly to show the reader that slaves are never content, never satisfied, never happy. These two instances are the most striking and moving parts of the book; they are extremely effective at gaining the reader’s …show more content…
First, he describes, in detail, the shooting of Demby, a slave belonging to Colonel Lloyd. Demby’s overseer, Mr. Gore, shot Demby when he refused to come out of a creek to be whipped. Not only did the court never question Mr. Gore; he was respected for his toughness. Douglass describes Gore’s position in society as respected and famous. Second, Mrs. Hick, a neighbor to Douglass’s planation, beat a fifteen-year-old girl to death because the girl did not hear Mrs. Hicks’s baby crying during the night. Although her actions were gruesome, Mrs. Hicks was never prosecuted or even detained. Douglass, soon after these events, includes a saying among whites: “It was worth a half-cent to kill a “nigger,” and a half-cent to bury one (Douglass 15).” He clearly and effectively implies that slaves were considered less than human; they were property of others and could be killed without much question of the motives behind the