“Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” (Douglass, 156) was written by Frederick Douglass himself. He was born in Tuckahoe; near Hillsborough in Talbot County, Maryland (Douglass, 165, p. 1). Douglass was born into slavery and like all other slaves barely knew his mother, his age or year he was born. Slaves were deprived of knowledge because their masters sought it easier to handle them if they were ignorant. Douglass wrote his narrative in the time slavery was trying to be abolished. His narrative has many aspects of his life and how all slaves were treated with no respect but more like animals. This leads to the theme of Douglass narrative, which is a message on how slavery was wrong, and that can be figured out
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It was a time when Africans were used as slaves to harvest plantations for white people. Africans and African Americans had the worse time of despair during slavery. They were not allowed to further their education, get married, have their mother’s affection, or have any rights. They were left to be whipped, tortured, raped, and used as savaged animals. The first time Douglass witnessed a horrible exhibition was when he was a young child by his first master Anthony (Douglass, 167, ch.1, p. 1). Douglass referred his experience as, “It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery…” (Douglass, 167, p.1). He witnesses Aunt Hester was taken into the kitchen and stripped from neck to waist. Where she was then tied her hands and hung on a hook. She was whipped by heavy cowskin until her red blood would be dripping down the floor. Douglass could hear Aunt Hester yell out amid heart-rending shrieks and oaths (Douglass, 168, p.1). This was a consequence for disobeying her master. That was the first but not the last that Frederick Douglass would encounter cruel intentions from white folks to harm Negros. There was a common saying, among little white boys, that it was worth a half-cent to kill a “nigger,” and a half-cent to bury one” (Douglass, 178, ch.4, p.1) How sad and immoral for a child to feel that way. To be raised ignorance as a means to perpetuate
It was a time when Africans were used as slaves to harvest plantations for white people. Africans and African Americans had the worse time of despair during slavery. They were not allowed to further their education, get married, have their mother’s affection, or have any rights. They were left to be whipped, tortured, raped, and used as savaged animals. The first time Douglass witnessed a horrible exhibition was when he was a young child by his first master Anthony (Douglass, 167, ch.1, p. 1). Douglass referred his experience as, “It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery…” (Douglass, 167, p.1). He witnesses Aunt Hester was taken into the kitchen and stripped from neck to waist. Where she was then tied her hands and hung on a hook. She was whipped by heavy cowskin until her red blood would be dripping down the floor. Douglass could hear Aunt Hester yell out amid heart-rending shrieks and oaths (Douglass, 168, p.1). This was a consequence for disobeying her master. That was the first but not the last that Frederick Douglass would encounter cruel intentions from white folks to harm Negros. There was a common saying, among little white boys, that it was worth a half-cent to kill a “nigger,” and a half-cent to bury one” (Douglass, 178, ch.4, p.1) How sad and immoral for a child to feel that way. To be raised ignorance as a means to perpetuate