Reaction Paper to Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Jackie Oseguera
Ms. Staffa
American History A
December 20, 2010 Reaction Paper The book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is a short book, but it has a very powerful message. The oppression faced by Frederick Douglass was horrifying, but he managed to overcome everything to become a hero. His life as a slave did not discourage him from giving up on freedom. I find that very inspirational. He helped many slaves gain freedom, including himself. He was separated from his family and taken to a man named Mr.
Severe. He lived on this plantation for a good part of his life. He also lived with Colonel Lloyd who was a wealthy slave owner. At the age of seven or eight Douglass leaves the plantation to go with his new master Hugh Auld. At first his life there is not that bad. Auld’s wife is very kind to him at first and starts to teach him the alphabet and some words, but when her husband finds out he gets upset and tells her to stop doing that because education ruins slaves. Douglass over heard that and realized that is how white men enslave blacks and understands what he has to do to gain his freedom. Douglass lives with the Auld’s for about seven years. He learns how to read and write. He makes plans to escape with some other slaves, but he fails because someone betrays him. Douglass suffers a lot when he lives on Covey’s farm. He loses his motivation and considers suicide, but after he defends himself from Covey and wins, he gains his reasons back.
In the end Douglass finally escapes to the North and ends up in New York City and gets married to his fiancé and dedicates his whole life to plead the case against slavery. This great book relates to our study of American history because of two reasons. The first one is because everything that happened to Frederick Douglass was in the United States. It is a part of our history. It shows us how much African-Americans suffered in our country that was
Ms. Staffa
American History A
December 20, 2010 Reaction Paper The book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is a short book, but it has a very powerful message. The oppression faced by Frederick Douglass was horrifying, but he managed to overcome everything to become a hero. His life as a slave did not discourage him from giving up on freedom. I find that very inspirational. He helped many slaves gain freedom, including himself. He was separated from his family and taken to a man named Mr.
Severe. He lived on this plantation for a good part of his life. He also lived with Colonel Lloyd who was a wealthy slave owner. At the age of seven or eight Douglass leaves the plantation to go with his new master Hugh Auld. At first his life there is not that bad. Auld’s wife is very kind to him at first and starts to teach him the alphabet and some words, but when her husband finds out he gets upset and tells her to stop doing that because education ruins slaves. Douglass over heard that and realized that is how white men enslave blacks and understands what he has to do to gain his freedom. Douglass lives with the Auld’s for about seven years. He learns how to read and write. He makes plans to escape with some other slaves, but he fails because someone betrays him. Douglass suffers a lot when he lives on Covey’s farm. He loses his motivation and considers suicide, but after he defends himself from Covey and wins, he gains his reasons back.
In the end Douglass finally escapes to the North and ends up in New York City and gets married to his fiancé and dedicates his whole life to plead the case against slavery. This great book relates to our study of American history because of two reasons. The first one is because everything that happened to Frederick Douglass was in the United States. It is a part of our history. It shows us how much African-Americans suffered in our country that was