“Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass

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“Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass
Summary

This autobiographical account by Frederick Douglass provides a firsthand view of the horrors of American slavery and Douglass’s journey to freedom and activism. An essay would delve into the major themes of the book, its historical and cultural significance, and Douglass’s profound impact on the abolitionist movement and American literature. Also at PapersOwl you can find more free essay examples related to Frederick Douglass topic.

Date added
2019/03/18
Pages:  3
Words:  869
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There are many aspects of explaining one’s way of life or life history of a person. For instance, life of one Fredrick Douglas has been narrated by several writers and artists of the past. However, he still addressed people and gave his own view of the life that he lived. He was a legend who lived in the early times of slavery. Fredrick Douglas was born was born to a black mother at the heights of slavery. Fredrick Douglas did however have a clear information about his age and neither had he seen any authentic records containing the information about his age.

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However, majority of these earlier slaves used to know very little based on their age. The masters of slaves then wished to keep them this ignorant.

Slavery was a common act in the early centuries. Most of the masters of these slaves were the white men who used the slaves as workers in their territories. Fredrick Douglas therefore found refuge in working for his masters as a slave. Fredrick Douglas says that, the white children were able to tell their ages, however, Fredrick Douglas and several other slaves could not tell anything concerning their age and time of birth. Fredrick Douglas first heard his masters talk of time was sometimes around 1835, when he was around 17 years. He was almost a grown teenage boy by then. Fredrick Douglas mother was black and therefore, Fredrick Douglas was somehow a black citizen.

Many slaves were children of the black who were being abused by the children of the white men by being forced to work in the territories of the white men and paid nothing in return. Fredrick Douglas father was a white man however. Her mother as I have earlier stated was a dark woman and is described as being even more darker than Fredrick’s grandparents. It is however argued that, Fredrick’s master was his father, however, it is not clear as there was no truth attached to the such claims. Fredrick Douglas separated with his mother long time ago when he was still an infant.

Children in the land that Douglas was born used to be hired for forced work in the plantations and the territories of the masters of slave trade. They could be hired to some firm far away from their places of residence and for this reason, it was not an easy task tracing back their homeland. They therefore ended up separating with their mothers at an early age. Fredrick therefore admits that he never saw his mother for more than five times in his lifetime so that he could easily identify her and have a good memory of her mother. His mother used to be hired by a master by the name, Mr. Stewart, who lived some miles away from their home. A slave had no freedom or any right at all. Therefore, it was a must that any person who was working under his masters had to seek permission first before attempting to do anything else.

This permission was seldom to get. One could seek permission and end up being denied by the masters. It was not an easy thing to deal with masters of slavery. Most times he could not spend with his mother and the times that Fredrick could spend with his mother were the nights. However, he could wake up and find that she had already left early morning. In this therefore, very little communication took place between Fredrick and his mother. However, as time went by, her mother passed on, and for this matter, death ended the little that they could have had while her mother was alive. Fredrick Douglas mother died when he was a young kid and enduring so much suffering and hardships in the hands of the slave masters.

Fredrick’s mother left him with the little knowledge on who her father was. The rumors that her master could have been her father were not very clear and above all, there was no evidence of him being his father. He could not easily come into terms with the double relations of the father and the same time being a master. Fredrick Douglas has had two masters. Anthony was Fredrick’s first master.Conclusion In summary, life in slavery was really difficult for those who were involved in it. It served as one of the toughest experiences that one could face in his or her lifetime, especially the children of the black men.

The masters of slavery were cruel men who could not entertain any non-sense from the slaves. Fredrick Douglas therefore thrived in an era of no justice and inhuman acts from the masters of slavery who were the white men. It is the high time that such acts of inhuman behaviors be brought to a standstill. Forcing people to work in farms can be a very discouraging act and above all, no pay in return. The life of Fredrick Douglas was characterized by all these slavery acts. He faced real slavery life since his early childhood.

Work Cited:

Trisnawati, Ririn Kurnia, and Rizki Februansyah. “Frederick Douglass Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: Between the Expressions of Unpleasant Feeling and Freedom Gaining on Slavery.” LITE? 4.2 (2008): 106-115.Surname

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"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass. (2019, Mar 18). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-by-frederick-douglass/