Narrative Of The Life Of Fredrick Douglass Essay

In Douglass’s narrative, titled “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”, Douglass demonstrates that slaveholding can have a negative effect on, not only the slave, but also the slave’s owner. Douglass illustrates this point in detail by telling us about the slaveholders he had throughout his many years as a slave. The author’s purpose is to show his reader that slaveholding causes problems within the owner’s family, it can have a detrimental effect on the owner’s mental and moral health, and it can cause the slaveholder to to become blind to the true meaning of religion. Douglass writes in a reflective tone for his readers of all ages to be able to understand the impact of slavery on all the people related to it. Slaveholding can cause problems within the slave-owner’s family. Douglass indirectly presents this point through telling his readers about one of his previous owner’s wives, Sophia Auld. Prior to she and her husband owning a slave, Douglass described her as kind-hearted and caring, but after owning Douglass for only a short time, she became
Douglass, through using examples such as Mr.Hopkins and Sophia Auld, makes the point that slavery had negative effects on, not only the slaves themselves, but also the slaveholders. It was destructive for slaves physically, mentally, and emotionally for the obvious reasons: being brutally beaten, mistreated, and not being given the credit they deserved. In many cases, for slaveholders, owning a slave was a self-destructive act, for, morally, religiously, and mentally, they had a twisted, unnatural view on life itself. Irresponsible power can cause any person to lose sight of what is right, and for many, this was exactly what happened, and Douglass proves this in his book, “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American