Classic Slave Narrative Essay

The subject matter needed to be covered over the course of the essay draws from the book The Classic Slave Narratives edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The narratives contained in the book discuss in detail the lives and trials of the particular author who wrote each individual section. We were asked to cover the experiences in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. With both of these true life stories we are able to have a glimpse into the hardships men and women faced in the slavery circle. White males during this time period enjoyed a better quality of life than their female counterparts, so was this fact one that carried over into the lives of men and women who were slaves? The major themes …show more content…
The primary means of producing a good worker seemed to revolve around the ability of the slaveholder to cut their slaves down. We can assume that this had to be a serious problem within the world of slavery. It started out Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs’ narratives, proving that both authors knew it was an issue that needed to be presented. This also proves that dehumanization did not belong just to men or women. “What cared my owners for that? He [her father] was merely a piece of property. Moreover, they thought he had spoiled his children, by teaching them to feel that they were human beings” …show more content…
It was not just violence inflicted on themselves, but violence that they saw imposed upon their fellow slaves. Douglass experienced one of his first tastes of violence by Mr. Plummer. “...a savage monster. He always went armed with a cowskin and a heavy cudgel. I have known him to cut and slash the women’s heads so horribly, that even master would be enraged at his cruelty” (318). Jacobs recounts one of her first memories to be when Dr. Flint had slaves whipped until they were bleeding and had their wounds washed with brine to put them in even more excruciating