The Role Of Education In Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

As a slave child who grew into one of the abolitionist movement 's most prominent leaders, Frederick Douglass, by telling the story of his life shed light on many of the often overlooked tragedies of slavery.With firsthand and unfiltered experiences, Frederick Douglass’ narrative of his life in Narrative of the life of frederick Douglass an american slave presents many ideas of what it means to be a slave.These ideas include how hopeless life is from the point of view of current slaves and how tragic slavery is from the perspective of one who has escaped it. The story behind these ideas lies in the oppression of slaves by those using them to further their own position in society. Through the use of identity suppression of both individuals …show more content…
Thus after the first half of the story, Douglass becomes very much so a man of himself and drives the story forward as the central character of the narrative. One of the most noteworthy incidents was Douglass’ confrontation with Mr. Covey and Mr. Hughes in the barn. Coinciding with Mr. Aulds fears, after having been educated Douglass was no longer able to sit idly by and perform as a slave. Education gave him a voice and with that voice it was impossible for Douglass to allow himself to be treated as a lesser human that his masters. Rather than attempt to reinforce the idea that Douglass is inferior as a black slave,Covey begrudgingly accepts that Douglass is no longer someone he can control through the use of fear of violence. Lee also comments on the transfer of power from the slave owners to Douglass and how this was a threat to the “symbolic order” of the slave and master relationship. Through his time with Covey, Douglass proved that with education and the formation of a meaningful “sense of his manhood” could in fact change a slave 's position in life that had otherwise been stagnant to the uneducated masses of slaves still residing in the American …show more content…
Through Douglass’ own experiences it becomes apparent that despite widely held beliefs of the time slave owners knew very well that the slaves they presided over were every bit as capable of them if they were to be allowed to develop mentally and be educated. The development of his own identity after a period of educating himself through any means necessary Douglass was able to break free of that which dictated his life and later used his experiences to help other slaves as an abolitionist leader working to motivate