Imagine going to work in fields of cotton and tobacco at the crack of dawn, only to be punished and beaten for no reason. Then after countless hours of torture, going back to a poorly made house that you must share with numerous people-- and on top of that-- have a limited amount of clothing and food as well as no beds. This was exactly the life Frederick Douglass, and other slaves, had to live. However, Douglass wasn’t like most slaves. He had a burning passion to become free and help slavery end all together. And he does accomplish these goals, “agitating” the ideas of slavery around the year 1845. This was when he published a book about his horrid life as an enslaved “beast.” When he wrote the narrative (which is titled Narrative of the
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But Douglass argues that these slaves, these people, were treated with utter disrespect as if they weren’t even human. When describing how slaves were overworked, he says, “There must be no halting… Mr. Severe, the overseer, used to stand by the door of the quarter, armed with a large hickory stick and heavy cowskin, ready to whip any one who was so unfortunate…” This piece from his narrative shows that not only were the slaves over worked, doing enforced labor from the earliest signs of daylight until it was pitch black in the night, but they were also punished very severely. This makes slave holders look very evil and cruel, especially after they claimed they treated slaves like humans. Another evil thing pro-slavery people did was when they began to realized they might have maybe been doing something wrong, they tried to convince themselves that they weren’t. According to Freedom: A History of US, “Southerns begin to say that God created some people to be slaves and some to be masters. They say black people aren’t as smart as white people.” Even though this quote was not taken from Douglass’s narrative, it still does a good job of supporting his argument. It illustrates how southerners had such a bad conscience that they brought God into the mix and said, “blacks are not as good whites.” This clearly shows how people who defended slavery felt and treated the slaves, no …show more content…
He decided to write a narrative about the horrors of his life, trying to get the attention of the white men in the North. He writes about how basic human rights were taken from slaves, on top of being overworked and treated cruelly. In addition, an online website, Freedom: A History of US, describes how the southerners had tried to say that they were blatantly better than blacks, according to God. Obviously, this is not true. These points, and other embedded in Frederick's narrative, had disproved the arguments of those who defended slavery-- that slaves were content with their lives and treated right-- by describing how horrible their lives really
But Douglass argues that these slaves, these people, were treated with utter disrespect as if they weren’t even human. When describing how slaves were overworked, he says, “There must be no halting… Mr. Severe, the overseer, used to stand by the door of the quarter, armed with a large hickory stick and heavy cowskin, ready to whip any one who was so unfortunate…” This piece from his narrative shows that not only were the slaves over worked, doing enforced labor from the earliest signs of daylight until it was pitch black in the night, but they were also punished very severely. This makes slave holders look very evil and cruel, especially after they claimed they treated slaves like humans. Another evil thing pro-slavery people did was when they began to realized they might have maybe been doing something wrong, they tried to convince themselves that they weren’t. According to Freedom: A History of US, “Southerns begin to say that God created some people to be slaves and some to be masters. They say black people aren’t as smart as white people.” Even though this quote was not taken from Douglass’s narrative, it still does a good job of supporting his argument. It illustrates how southerners had such a bad conscience that they brought God into the mix and said, “blacks are not as good whites.” This clearly shows how people who defended slavery felt and treated the slaves, no …show more content…
He decided to write a narrative about the horrors of his life, trying to get the attention of the white men in the North. He writes about how basic human rights were taken from slaves, on top of being overworked and treated cruelly. In addition, an online website, Freedom: A History of US, describes how the southerners had tried to say that they were blatantly better than blacks, according to God. Obviously, this is not true. These points, and other embedded in Frederick's narrative, had disproved the arguments of those who defended slavery-- that slaves were content with their lives and treated right-- by describing how horrible their lives really