The Narrative on the Life of Fredrick Douglas, an American Slave was a story in which Frederick Douglas illustrated struggles within his lifetime and how the causes of these struggles is slavery. He drew a very clear picture of his definition of slavery, as well as freedom. Slavery meant not allowing the enslaved to think for themselves, thus allowing them to be manipulated into not desiring freedom at all. Douglass defined freedom as the ability of free thinking, acquired by knowledge and education. Frederick Douglass’s use of his personal meanings of slavery and freedom in his writing were exercised to hasten the abolition of slavery in American society in the 19th century.
Frederick Douglass defined slavery as a permeating system of oppression and abuse that is forced upon people of color, in such a way that they cannot fully understand the atrocity or determine ways to overcome it. Douglass made a very strong argument that a slave’s lack of knowledge is the reason for the …show more content…
Frederick Douglass used his own life experiences to highlight the effects of slavery on society and how he discovered the pathway to freedom. He discussed how slavery was the deprivation of knowledge from slaves in order to manipulate them into thinking that slavery was the only option for them. Throughout his lifetime in slavery, he was exposed to various events that helped him form an idea of freedom. Douglass believed freedom was achieved by granting knowledge and education of the tyrannical practice of slavery to slaves so that they might be able to break through its bonds. Douglas’s definitions and meanings behind them were critical for the advancement of abolition during this time, such that abolition might not have happened in the manner it did without