Frederick Douglass Narrative Analysis

The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass gives insight to the meaning of slavery and a personal story during the 19th century anti-bellum America. This narrative explores the personal experiences of one slave who had the courage to write about how he was treated and his remarkable life in his pursuit for freedom. During the anti-slavery movements of 1845 a vast majority of supporters came from the north consisting of some deeply religious individuals, and abolitionists. Abolitionists called for immediate release and emancipation of slaves while the rest supported slavery in every way it existed. When Douglass wrote this book slavery was still legal, but his larger goal was to abolish slavery and speak the truth for every slave
who didn’t have a voice. He managed to do so much more than expose the truth about slavery, for he impacted every individual who read his story, and left them with a lasting impression. This narrative gives attestation to the tendency within humanity to manipulate others in search for a greater sense of control through the examples of depriving slaves of an education, and taking away their natural rights. Slaves were denied the right to an education so that they could not rebel or rise above whites during the 19th century. Taking away the slaves education ensured that they would never be able to maneuver around rising up or forming a rebellion. Forming this rebellion meant that there was a possibility that the white man was no longer in complete control over the slaves. Empowering a person with an education gives them advantage over another who is not educated. Therefore the education the whites received brought in a hierarchy where members who were white automatically were more important than the blacks. The slaves thinking that education was the path to freedom led them to want it more than anything. For example, in chapter six Douglass was wrongly taught the ABC’s by Mrs. Auld. Mr. Auld found out and forbade her to teach him anything else saying it was “unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read” (Douglass 63). Before Douglass sets off on his quest to learn, he realizes that if he can read many more opportunities may come around that will give him a chance at being free. Douglass made friends with the white children on the street that not only taught him how to read but more importantly how to write. He emphasizes the fact that he believed that his path to freedom was learning. Modern day shows the same patters, when you take away something of value from a person it gives the other person more control over them. The American government has been a hierarchy since the beginning, always giving one person more power over the others. The person at the top will always have a way to manipulate the rules to keep the lower ranking individuals at the bottom. This is exactly why the white people were afraid of the slaves in a way and took away the slaves right to an education because opportunities included gaining some control and a possibility of causing harm to the white people. Not only did depriving slaves of an education keep the whites in control but so did taking away their natural rights.
The natural rights of slaves were taken away to ensure that the white people had control over them, thus making whites superior.
Depriving a slave of natural rights can be described as taking away moral rights, human rights, and civil rights. This mattered to both the blacks and the whites. Taking away these rights guaranteed the whites ultimate control of the slaves and therefore succeeded in manipulating others to get their way. Douglass was born into slavery so he doesn’t know yet that it wasn’t right to be owned, nor does he have his own say in the way his life will be controlled. He doesn’t know his birthday, nor does he know who parents are especially who his father is. No sense of having a father to a young boy would normally be painful and heartbreaking, but to Douglass he doesn’t seem to even take interest in finding out. He’d met his mother a couple times but, when she died he felt as if it was “the death of a stranger” (Douglass 43). The fact that he was so desensitized he didn’t even feel any pain or sorrow for his mother’s death is completely heartless. The emphasis on “stranger” increases the intensity that Douglass did not know what it was like to have parents, and he only knew what it was like to be a slave. This outcome is exactly what the white slave owners wanted. The ideal slave to them was one with little emotional attachment to a life with meaning so that controlling them would be easier. Relating back to the hierarchy, whites making the rules gives them an easy way to manipulate the blacks and thus gain a greater sense of control. Nowadays the ways that people control each other seems much more subtle but the greater goal in mind is always to be at the top. Human kind has shown the tendency to control others just to reach the top where there is an advantage. By taking away the many rights any person has including human rights, civil, and moral makes it a lot easier to get the control they crave. Desensitizing the slaves by taking away their
family was a maneuver that the white people used to create an emotionless setting where the only thing that mattered to them was pleasing their masters. The white people got exactly what they wanted out of them in the most efficient way possible, and that was by separating them from a family, a home, and something as simple as their birthday. This shows the hierarchy that still exists today and the relationship between control and robbing the slaves of their lives without a choice. In conclusion, depriving slaves of an education and taking away their natural rights supported by Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass shows that human kind has a tendency to manipulate others in search for a greater sense of control. Education was a path to freedom during the 19th century to many black slaves, and that having been taken away from them made them strive for it even more. Taking away slaves natural rights also proves that the white people had to manipulate their lives in order to reach that greater sense of control. Douglass’s narrative shows the hardship of slavery but it also reveals a truth to the nature of humanity that’s progressed into modern day.

Works Cited
Douglass, Fredrick. Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." Shmoop. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.