Stephen Arnold Douglas was born in Brandon, Vermont, in 1813. He did not attend law school but he became attorney-general of Illinois in 1834. A member of the legislature in 1835, and secretary of state in 1840, and judge of the supreme court in 1841. He became a member of the House of Representatives in 1847. In 1854 Douglas introduced his a bill to the Senate that would let the states enter the Union with or without slavery. Fredrick Douglas warned that the bill was "an open invitation to a fierce and bitter strife". Meaning that it would cause more harm than good.…
I think the narrative of Frederick Douglas this book is a good book for my hero’ journey, because I should always know what was happening when slavery was around. I can learn about how slaves were treated also what they did to get there freedom. Also how slaves went through there hero’s journey even if they didn’t have any freedom. It can teach me to never give up and to persevere even if you are a slave.…
In Sharon McElwee’s literary analysis of Frederic Douglass literary piece, “The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, by Frederick Douglass,” Sharon breaks down the different key elements in Douglass’ story that make it so outstanding. Frederick Douglass is famous for his speech given during a time where slavery was still considered acceptable and was used by most wealthy white. Slavery was not viewed as cruel, but a valuable business that could earn them money. Although Douglass was not alone, his speech stands out among the others who were fighting for their freedom.…
The book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass, is a story about Frederick Douglass’s life as a slave and how he goes on his quest to achieve freedom. Douglass was born into slavery and goes from master to master, and he finally sees the power of education when he reaches Baltimore to work for some new people. Here Douglass begins to learn how to read and write and he uses this to his advantage in hopes of becoming free one day. He manages to teach himself how to read in secret and then helps the other slaves become more literate. Eventually Douglass does manage to escape but he doesn’t stop there, he becomes an activist himself in hopes of ending all slavery one day. Through this book, Douglass reveals that learning is essential in order to achieve freedom, friends can help you to achieve your goals, and that slavery can have a very negative effect on a slave’s mind.…
Slavery, the dark beast that consumes, devours, and pillages the souls of those who are forced to within its bounds and those who think they are the powerful controllers of this filth they call business. This act is the pinnacle of human ignorance, they use it as the building blocks for their “trade,” and treat these people no more than replaceable property that can be bought, sold, and beaten on a whim. The narrative of Frederick Douglass is a tale about a boy who is coming of age in a world that does not accept him for who he is and it is also told as a horror that depicts what we can only imagine as the tragedies placed on these people in these institutions of slavery. It is understood as a chronicle of his life telling us his story from childhood to manhood and all that is in between, whilst all this is going on he vividly mixes pathological appeals to make us feel for him and all his brethren that share his burden. His narrative is a map from slavery to freedom where he, in the beginning, was a slave of both body and mind. But as the story progresses we see his transformation to becoming a free man both of the law and of the mind. He focuses on emotion and the building up of his character to show us what he over time has become. This primarily serves to make the reader want to follow his cause all the more because of his elegant and intelligent style of mixing appeals. Through his effective use of anecdotes and vivid imagery he shows us his different epiphanies over time, and creates appeals to his character by showing us how he as a person has matured, and his reader’s emotion giving us the ability to feel for his situation in a more real sense. This helps argue that the institution of slavery is a parasitic bug that infects the slave holder with a false sense of power and weakens the slave in both body and spirit.…
I somewhat know of my African-American heritage and history. However, I still have a great amount to learn about the pros and cons of the African-American past. After reading about Fredrick Douglass, I have learned the discontentment and immorality of slavery. I also understand why Douglass wanted to be an animal.…
Even though Frederick Douglass wasn’t behind the end of slavery, he impacted the world by his never ending enthusiasm to be a free man. Despite the fact that he was a slave, he never stopped until he knew how to read and write, even though that is illegal. Douglass abolished slavery and promoted freedom. He went through many things to get where he was, and now his books have impacted many Americans and beyond. Frederick Douglass impacted the citizens of the United States by his autobiographies, his abolishment of slavery, and as a candidate with President Lincoln.…
Throughout Frederick Douglass’ work Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, written by himself, Douglass exposes the falseness of the certain beliefs that Southerners had about slavery. He used his book to show the cruelty of slavery. Douglass debunks the mythology of slavery by rebuking the romantic image of slavery, convincing the readers of his intellectual capabilities, and proving the promotion of disloyalty among slaves.…
His autobiography caused eyes to open to the true nature of slavery and greatly impacted the awareness of the public. Being a firsthand account of slavery, A Narrative of the Life... tugs at a reader more deeply than any fictional account, such as Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (although another influential book) ever could (Kohn 509). In addition, Douglass was the first to make a published account of his earlier life’s story and his descriptions of the emotional effects of slavery are evident of the careful thought and observation he took in writing it. Douglass’s Narrative of the Life... sold 30,000 copies in a few years and had a very large impact on American society due to the wide acceptance of the ideas he posed -- the general public seemed to appreciated his blaming of the institution and not its founders (Goldstein 470). Douglass ought to be given credit for the majority of the public shift from fighting against other humans to fighting against the corruption of an…
Frederick Douglass was many things; he was a former slave, abolitionist, and impressive writer. Despite having his early years plagued by abuse and hardships like any other slave, he was able to overcome these hardships and was able to become a free slave by escape. What sets him apart from other slaves however, is that he was able to write with such power and become an example for his people. This is reflected in his autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. As Douglass recounts the story of his years as a slave and his journey to escape the hold of his masters he uses rhetorical strategies such as metaphors, personification, and polysyndetons to give the reader of his story a vivid description of what his life was like when he was still a slave.…
The most explicit theme of the reading that stood out to me was racism in the form of slavery in the southern United States. Throughout the narrative, Douglass included excellent examples of how slaves are dehumanized, mentally and physically, by the slave system. In many ways, slavery and segregation were the main obstacles in his personality growth. One of the most powerful lines in the narrative was in chapter ten, when Douglass directly addresses the relationship between slavery and the denial of manhood when he says, ''You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.’’ Because slavery was bound up in denying full selfhood to both men and women, many slaves were denied the ability to perceive themselves as full human beings. Not only by the people but also by the science. The introduction of psychological thinking into the Jim Crow South produced neither a clear victory for racial equality nor a single-minded defense of traditional…
Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass: An American Slave is a narrative autobiography written based on Fredrick Douglass’s experiences as a slave. He wrote this book with the purpose of revealing the injustice institution of slavery and to make the statement “slavery is unfair.” Fredrick Douglass supports his arguments about slavery by using pathos, or the appeal to the emotions of the audience, where he attempts to persuade the audience through gain of sympathy. This emotional appeal to the audience can be best shown through the examples of the treatment of his grandmother, the separation between him and his mother, and the beating of his brother.…
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, written by Frederick Douglass describes the life of a slave in the mid 1800s living in the southern slave states of America. The theme of this story is to use knowledge as the path to freedom, use ignorance as a tool of slavery, and slaveholding is a forgery of religion. This story begins in the 1840s, when Frederick Douglass is born in Talbot County, Maryland. The narrative is a detailed, firsthand account of slave life and the process of self-discovery where Douglass recognized the evils of slavery as an institution. In my opinion, the narrative was very well written and it was a great resource when learning about the lives of slaves.…
Many great achievements can be traced back to overcoming disadvantages. Frederick Douglass was born a slave and he had no legal rights. He was taken from his mother shortly after birth, he was uneducated, and oppressed by society, but he did not let his disadvantages in life keep him from his ambitions. Frederick Douglass escaped slavery and became an acclaimed abolitionist speaker and published author. Richard Wright was born a Negro in the South during segregation. Although he was not denied an education, he was denied the same rights as white members of society, but he did not let his disadvantages stop him from becoming an acclaimed author, publishing several books. Helen Keller had different disadvantage in that…
While reading the Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass, I received an inside look on Frederick Douglass’ life as a slave and how he was mistreated. While serving his time as a slave, Frederick took this opportunity to learn how to read and write. The concept of this essay is to see if learning to read and write impacted or changed Douglass life in a positive or negative way. I will be answering to this quote in chapter 6, pg. 20 “… she very kindly commenced me in learning to spell words of three or four letters…Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her… that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read.”…