Frederick Douglass: Relationship Between The Master And The Slave

Douglass’s retelling of his early age is quite telling of the age of slavery. Douglass’s early life reflects the power relationship between the master and the slave. Douglass’s childhood also demonstrates the way in which the masters saw their slaves, which reflected the way slaves were treated. Douglass did not have a strong connection to his mother, and it was implied that his master could indeed be his father. Douglass’s lack of connection with his mother was because of their separation early in life. The separation of Douglass and his mother demonstrates a method of control and power which the masters had over their slave. Masters attempted to strip the sense of identify away from slave at an early age, stripping away their humanity. At …show more content…
This power relationship between the master and the slaves can also be seen through Douglass’s story of Aunt Hester. Douglass’s at an early age witnessed his Aunt Hester being brutally whipped by Captain Anthony because it was believed that Hester was interested in another man other than Anthony. With the relationship of Captain Anthony and Aunt Hester, he had power over her resulting in the belief that she was solely his to have, which resulted in a brutal whipping. Having power over another human being reflects the entirety of time of slavery, masters saw slaves as only property. Once a human being is identified solely as property, they no longer are seen as equal humans, resulting in the master doing with the slaves however they pleased. In the mind of a master who see’s a slave as property, a slave can be traded, abused, and in some cases put down like a common animal. The master strips any sense of humanity away from the slaves in an attempt to gain power over that other human being. Douglass, in his description of his early life, discusses several times in which slave were treated no different than