Knowledge And Freedom In Frederick Douglas's Narrative

Knowledge and Freedom in Frederick Douglas ' Narrative Frederick Douglas was born as a slave in Talbot County. He was not sure about his date of birth but he knew that it was 1817 or 1818. Douglas was born as a slave and faced the harshness and cruelty of his masters. He attained his freedom through knowledge, strong-will, and revolution. Douglas ' self education and knowledge were his weapons against the tyranny of white man. In the early stages of his life, Douglas did not understand what slavery means, but on hearing the slave songs, the spark of hatred toward his enslaved condition appeared, Douglas said "To those songs I trace my first glimmering conception of the dehumanizing character of slavery" (ch.2). The slaves were singing these songs as an expression of their deepest sorrow and longing for attaining freedom, Douglas said "Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy" (ch.2). Douglas also expressed his own condition of sadness and sorrow as he mentioned "The songs of the slave represent the …show more content…
On September 3, 1838, Douglas finally escaped to his freedom, he said "I now come to that part of my life during which I planned, and finally succeeded in making, my escape from slavery" (ch.11). Douglas did not write the details of his escape in order not to expose the method he used because the slaveholders would then be more strict, Douglas said "such a statement would most undoubtedly induce greater vigilance on the part of slaveholders than has existed heretofore among them; which would, of course, be the means of guarding a door whereby some dear brother bondman might escape his galling chains" (ch.11). For all we know, Frederick Douglas was born a slave and faced a lot of harshness and cruelty, and he wanted to attain freedom. He faced a lot of difficulties to achieve his goal, but with the knowledge he gained about freedom and