Frederick Douglass: An American Slave
This essay will focus on Nancy T. Clasby’s article, Frederick Douglass’s Narrative: A Content Analysis. Clasby starts her analysis of Frederick Douglass’s Narrative by saying, “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man” (Douglass). This quote explains the story in a single sentence. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the most famous piece of writing done by a slave,.. Douglass narrated the life of slaves in impressive details. Throughout the story, readers understand the anger Frederick senses. The injustice of slaves’ masters not caring whether their children or family members were mistreated as slaves, and the unfairness of slaves being pulled apart …show more content…
“The slaves had been stripped of African culture and they were cut off from American culture. Added to this burden was the emotionally retarding effect of broken family patterns” (Clasby 245). Slaves suffered the consequences of “broken family patterns.” When detached from their families, their religion, education and government relationship aspects were lost. In spite of families being separated, Douglass remembers seeing his mother, Harriet Bailey, only four or five times. They only meet at night because Harriet had to walk twelve miles after her work and run back at dawn.
It was suspected that Harriet was the slave of Douglass’s father. The Narrative explains that slaveholders often impregnate their female slaves as a way to earn more profit. Masters profited from rape because it increased the number of slaves they own. As seen, Douglass knows his father is a white man, many people say that Douglass’s master is his father. According to …show more content…
They are treated a lot worse than other slaves. Mainly because the slave master’s wife is humiliated by their existence and guarantees they are constantly miserable.
To prevent recognizing the personality traits, their given birth name is changed. Frederick Douglass original name was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. As “mixed-race” their destiny as slaves is ordered. As a consequence, the slave children have retained almost naked; a process Douglass defines as “bestialization”, as they were replaced for civilization rituals. Being “mulatto” was very hard on him.
In conclusion, the system is very injustice for slaves; even though they couldn’t choose anything for themselves, they couldn’t complain either. Slaves had to be silent and receive punishments, especially those whose fathers were white men. After Douglass realizes the system is unfair, he decides to violently attack his master and leaves. He was able to learn to read, write, and run away from slavery. He learned the word “abolitionist” which means “antislavery”, this is a word that encourages him to run away and escape, causing Douglass to learn to write and read, generating “The Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass, an American
This essay will focus on Nancy T. Clasby’s article, Frederick Douglass’s Narrative: A Content Analysis. Clasby starts her analysis of Frederick Douglass’s Narrative by saying, “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man” (Douglass). This quote explains the story in a single sentence. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the most famous piece of writing done by a slave,.. Douglass narrated the life of slaves in impressive details. Throughout the story, readers understand the anger Frederick senses. The injustice of slaves’ masters not caring whether their children or family members were mistreated as slaves, and the unfairness of slaves being pulled apart …show more content…
“The slaves had been stripped of African culture and they were cut off from American culture. Added to this burden was the emotionally retarding effect of broken family patterns” (Clasby 245). Slaves suffered the consequences of “broken family patterns.” When detached from their families, their religion, education and government relationship aspects were lost. In spite of families being separated, Douglass remembers seeing his mother, Harriet Bailey, only four or five times. They only meet at night because Harriet had to walk twelve miles after her work and run back at dawn.
It was suspected that Harriet was the slave of Douglass’s father. The Narrative explains that slaveholders often impregnate their female slaves as a way to earn more profit. Masters profited from rape because it increased the number of slaves they own. As seen, Douglass knows his father is a white man, many people say that Douglass’s master is his father. According to …show more content…
They are treated a lot worse than other slaves. Mainly because the slave master’s wife is humiliated by their existence and guarantees they are constantly miserable.
To prevent recognizing the personality traits, their given birth name is changed. Frederick Douglass original name was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. As “mixed-race” their destiny as slaves is ordered. As a consequence, the slave children have retained almost naked; a process Douglass defines as “bestialization”, as they were replaced for civilization rituals. Being “mulatto” was very hard on him.
In conclusion, the system is very injustice for slaves; even though they couldn’t choose anything for themselves, they couldn’t complain either. Slaves had to be silent and receive punishments, especially those whose fathers were white men. After Douglass realizes the system is unfair, he decides to violently attack his master and leaves. He was able to learn to read, write, and run away from slavery. He learned the word “abolitionist” which means “antislavery”, this is a word that encourages him to run away and escape, causing Douglass to learn to write and read, generating “The Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass, an American