This excerpts from the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an autobiography written by Frederick douglass himself, in which he testimonies about his life as a slave. This passage is a description of his parents, what he knows about them, and has been written when he was an older man, making it a very interesting for the reader to interpret this global perspective of a slave childhood. In american history, slavery has been a time of difference and opposition. In this particular excerpt, the author states one of the sides reflecting this opposition between slaves and the white population by describing his lack of knowledge about his mother, his separation with her, and the relation he had with the insufficient amount of information he know about his mother.
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Unfortunately, slaves alike Frederick Douglass didn’t have the chance of having a mother, and could wonder and ask themselves what a mother is. To introduce this unknown relation, the narrator uses personification : “the means of knowing was withheld from me”, to show that he could know have had the chance to know about his mother, but sadly did not. On lines 11 and 16, the author uses very simple words and simple sentences such as “I do not know” or “I never saw mother”. The use of simple language makes it more clear and understandable that his mother was completely unknown from him. Frederick Douglass also uses the word “Frequently” to introduce a description. This word changes the whole meaning of the sentence because it gives a general idea, not specific to his own case, presuming this is how he got treated and separated from his mother. This leaves us with an idea of doubt to support the point he made telling us that he wished he knew his mother
Unfortunately, slaves alike Frederick Douglass didn’t have the chance of having a mother, and could wonder and ask themselves what a mother is. To introduce this unknown relation, the narrator uses personification : “the means of knowing was withheld from me”, to show that he could know have had the chance to know about his mother, but sadly did not. On lines 11 and 16, the author uses very simple words and simple sentences such as “I do not know” or “I never saw mother”. The use of simple language makes it more clear and understandable that his mother was completely unknown from him. Frederick Douglass also uses the word “Frequently” to introduce a description. This word changes the whole meaning of the sentence because it gives a general idea, not specific to his own case, presuming this is how he got treated and separated from his mother. This leaves us with an idea of doubt to support the point he made telling us that he wished he knew his mother