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Frederick Douglass Narrative

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Frederick Douglass Narrative
HISR 1103- Survey of American History

February 14, 2013

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass takes place in the year 1845 in Massachusetts. Frederick Douglass, a young slave knows no life outside of the many masters that will own him over the years of his life but dreams of one day escaping the restraints of slavery. Through educating himself and an enduring heart Douglass breaks away to freedom and leaves this narrative outlining the horrors that even the best slavery conditions brought.

The two men who wrote the preface to the narrative of Frederick Douglass are William Garrison, founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society and Wendell Phillips, president of the …show more content…
His transfer to the city opened his eyes to differing conditions there were from the country life. When Douglass spent his youngest years on the country side in Maryland physical conditions were much more painful than those of the city. The city is a place where even slaves were groomed to look more presentable and usually fed well. Mrs. Auld was the first person that brought this realization to light. She was said to be the kindest white woman Douglass ever met. He gushed about her kind heart until as he puts it, “slavery turned it to stone”. His writings of her prior to becoming entrenched with the power that slavery brought to many white people during this time showed how fond he was of her and she of him. She began to teach him the to spell until she was told by her husband that it was unsafe to educate a slave. “Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world”. This quote came from Mr. Auld who said that Frederick should know nothing more than to obey his master. This brutal teardown of Douglass’s confidence soon after turned in to motivation. Douglass became even more to find a way to gain an education by beginning with learning to read. He did in time learn to read which angered his masters to no end. He was banned from newspapers and books but managed to sneak in time to do so. Books opened his mind to deep thoughts and ideas. One specific word Douglass found interest …show more content…
The bloody beatings of Frederick’s aunt and his continuous mental exhaustion just enhanced my personal hatred for slavery. Douglass I believe to be one of the strongest book characters I have ever read. His intelligence and persistence kept me rooting for his ultimate success to freedom. Although the story ended well there were many brutal sections of reading that disturbed me. “The Breeder” story was my least favorite. Master Covey near the middle to end of the narrative was described to have bought one slave woman, Caroline and hired a married man to have sex with her every night producing more children to enslave because he wasn't wealthy enough to purchase more. This was by far the most disturbing story I read because of how little conscience white owners had during this period in
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