Frederick Douglass: A Life Of A Slave

This is a narrative of a slave who freed himself. He went by the name of Frederick Douglass. The book was very brutal and intense. This gave great incite on what slavery was like on the plantation. It also covered what slaves as well as himself went through during slave days. It gave a feel for what life was like for people of color before the abolition of slavery. Frederick Douglass was not only a slave physically but he was one mentally as well. Although the book was very intense the experiences Frederick Douglass went through we're turning points in his life that helped him free himself and grow mentally. The book was personally a harder read for me because I disagreed with just about everything that the slaves were going through. Also, …show more content…
Although he was a child he was not aware of how old he was. Most slaves were not able to know how old they were. This was the slave owners way of keeping slaves in there place. Frederick seen all of the white kids able to say how old they were but he remembered he did not know his own age. Frederick Douglass remembered at a very young age he was unhappy and confused. He had no one to ask what his age was even if he wanted to. His mother was Harriet Bailey, she had died when he was very young, and his dad was unknown. However , he heard stories about his dad being his slave owner, Captain Anthony. Which would make Douglass half white. Since he was white and he was the slave son he got treated much worse than other slaves because the slaves wife would feel insecure about him. He only had one of two options. He would either be sold off or suffer day in and day out . Even though Douglass never got whipped when he was on Captain Anthony's plantation he witnessed very violent experiences of his aunt Hester getting whipped naked until her blood would drop on the floor. This expierence was his very first time witnessing a beating and it traumatized him. He hated being on the plantation and couldn't understand …show more content…
He had been sold from Maryland to Baltimore. This was going to be the beginning of Douglass's freedom but he didn't know it. Douglass was sold off to new slave owners that lives in Baltimore what he didn't know was Baltimore was a whole new world from living in Maryland. When he got there he realized that his slave owners were less cruel and more lenient with him. The area that Douglass was moving to had very few slave owners. So the people and neighbors were not use to brutal beatings and whippings. This kept Douglass slave masters from giving him whippings and beatings. Double his new slave master was aware of how a slave should be treated, his wife Mrs. Auld wasn't. He was treated as a human for the first time ever and even got exposed to the real reason he was not allowed to know little to nothing. He overheard the master telling his wife," if you give a Nigger a inch he will take an ell. And then you should know nothing but to obey his master to do as he is told to do". He also heard him say, " Learning would spoil the best niggers in the world if you teach another how to read there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. When Douglass heard this he knew what he had to do . While trying to keep his spirits up ,He knew what would be his way out. Even though Mr. Auld was tell Mrs. Auld all the reasons he didn't want