I found the article, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Revisited by Robert Stepto in the Howard University Press, to be very informative and interesting discussing the aspects of Fredrick Douglass’s autobiography. While reading this article, I discovered that Douglass possessed an authoritative voice in the abolition movement. Douglass, an escaped slave, is known for his amazing capability to advocate both written and orally. Douglass is considered to be the best visible social reformer of the period. In 1845, Douglass wrote his autobiography entitled, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Douglass’s autobiography is arguably the best one out of three other American slave narratives published during this …show more content…
Douglass had initially avoided mentioning his flight from slavery in fear of his capture and re-enslavement. Stepto states, “In 1855 Douglass published his second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom” (pg. 5). Douglass uses publication of his works to extend details of his life as a free man including extracts of all of his speeches. Douglass’s narratives sold over 18,000 copies in Germany. In 1881, Douglass published his last autobiography entitled, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Douglass limited his slavery experiences and incorporated the Civil War and postwar events. Douglass did not sell as many of this last autobiography as he had previously sold because society had progressed past any interest in slavery. It is a known fact that none of the other publications of the Douglass’s autobiographies could top the sales, nor garnered as much influence as the first autobiography written in 1845. Stepto notes, “Douglas was a prolific writer; speeches, personal letters, formal lectures, editorials, and magazine articles literally poured from his pen” (pg. 4). It is evident that the interest of the press in Douglass’s life as a slave contributed to his book
Picture this going through life without the ability to read or write. Without these abilities, it is impossible for a person to be a functioning member of society. In addition, imagine that someone is purposely limiting your knowledge to keep a leash on your independence. Not only is an American slave raised without skills in literacy, he cannot be taught to read unless someone breaks the law. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the reader is given a detailed explanation of why slave masters keep their slaves ignorant and the effects such a strategy has on the slaves’ lives. In his autobiography, Douglass describes how the knowledge he obtains has substantial positive and negative effects on his psyche. He is given renewed passion and hope for freedom while struggling with the burden of enlightenment of his situation. Ultimately, however, education shapes his fate, and he achieves freedom and prominence as an advocate for abolition.
Frederick Douglass, on the other hand, didn’t have the money to free slaves, but he did have the knowledge to convince wealthy people to help free them. He published three books in total and started two newspapers. His first book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, was an autobiography about his slave life. Ten years later, he published My Bondage and My Freedom, another narrative about his early life. In 1881,z he published the Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, his third autobiography also talks about the civil war, and his encounters with other presidents.
Throughout Douglas’s lifetime, he published several writings and delivered a considerable amount of speeches. However, Douglas’s best-known work is his first autobiography: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, published in 1845; which describes his experiences as a slave and was influential in promoting the cause of abolition:
The brutality that slaves endured form their masters and from the institution of slavery caused slaves to be denied their god given rights. In the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," Douglass has the ability to show the psychological battle between the white slave holders and their black slaves, which is shown by Douglass' own intellectual struggles against his white slave holders. I will focus my attention on how education allowed Douglass to understand how slavery was wrong, and how the Americans saw the blacks as not equal, and only suitable for slave work. I will also contrast how Douglass' view was very similar to that of the women in antebellum America, and the role that Christianity played in his life as a slave and then
The tone established in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is unusual in that from the beginning to the end the focus has been shifted. In the beginning of the narrative Douglass seems to fulfill every stereotypical slavery theme. He is a young black slave who at first cannot read and is very naïve in understanding his situation. As a child put into slavery Douglass does not have the knowledge to know about his surroundings and the world outside of slavery. In Douglass’ narrative the tone is first set as that of an observer, however finishing with his own personal accounts.
Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who altered America's views of slavery through his writings and actions. Frederick's life as a slave had the greatest impact on his writings. Through his experience as a slave, he developed emotion and experience for him to become a successful abolitionist writer. He experienced harsh treatment and his hate for slavery and desire to be free caused him to write Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In his Narrative, he wrote the story of his miserable life as a slave and his fight to be free. His motivation behind the character (himself) was to make it through another day so that maybe one day he might be free. By speaking out, fighting as an abolitionist and finally becoming an author,
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, depicts a vivid reality of the hardships endured by the African American culture in the period of slavery. One of the many things shown in Frederick's narrative is how slaves, in their own personal way, resisted their masters authority. Another is how slaves were able to create their own autonomous culture within the brutal system in which they were bound. There are many examples in the narrative where Frederick tries to show the resistance of the slaves. The resistors did not go unpunished though, they were punished to the severity of death. Fredrick tells of these instances with a startling sense of casualness, which seems rather
Writing in the favor of black people has always remained controversial from the very beginning. Critics regard such writing as “a highly conventionalized genre” indicating that “its status as literature was long disputed but the literary merits of its most famous example such as Frederick Douglass 's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass…are widely recognized today.” (Ryan:537) Despite of such severe resistance, writers like Douglass have penned down their autobiography to present the misery of their fellow beings.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was written in 1845 by Frederick Douglass, an American writer and orator. Douglass’ memoir recounts his time as a slave and his motivation to become a free man. Douglass first realized he was a slave when he sees his master brutalizing his Aunt Hester. He recalls,
Published in 1845, ‘Narrative of life of Frederick Douglass an American slave written by himself’ is still the most highly acclaimed American autobiography ever written. It was published seven years after Douglass escaped from his life as a slave in Maryland. It describes his experience of being slave and his psychological insights into the slave-master relationship. The main focus is on ‘How he learn to read and write ‘and ‘the pain of slavery.’ The goal of this paper is to bring more insight analysis of his narrative life through the most famous two chapter’s in which he defines, “How he learn to read and write” and “The pain of slavery.” To achieve this goal, the paper is organized into four main sections. First, author background and
Frederick Douglass was an African American writer, social reformer and a slave for most of his life. In the 1800’s, a time of slavery, Frederick Douglass produced an autobiography about his time being a slave. This autobiography was called The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, this was a novel about Frederick Douglass’s life as a slave. In Frederick Douglass’s writing, he expresses his point of view, but gets in depth of his stories by using literary elements for readers to feel like he did in slavery.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by Douglass himself, was about his
The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass can be referred to as a memoir and writing about the abolitionist movement of the life of a former slave, Fredrick Douglass. It is a highly regarded as the most famous piece of writing done by a former slave. Fredrick Douglass (1818-1895) was a social reformer, statesman, orator and writer in the United States. Douglass believed in the equality of every individual of different races, gender or immigrants.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass details the oppression Fredrick Douglass went through before his escape to freedom. In his narratives, Douglass offers the readers with fast hand information of the pain, brutality, and humiliation of the slaves. He points out the cruelty of this institution on both the perpetrator, and the victims. As a slave, Fredrick Douglass witnessed the brutalization of the blacks whose only crime was to be born of the wrong color. He narrates of the pain, suffering the slaves went through, and how he fought for his freedom through attaining education.
Frederick Douglass was born in Maryland in 1818 as a slave to a maritime captain, Captain Anthony. After decades of enslavement, Frederick Douglass escaped to the North and became one of the prominent members and drivers of the abolitionist movement. In an effort to provide an eye-opening account of the harsh treatment of slaves, Douglass wrote Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass detailed his life beginning from his meager early years through his escape to the North. In writing his autobiography, Douglass utilized a variety of techniques including the use of the three rhetorical strategies: Ethos, Pathos and Logos to create a powerful and influential argument against the institution of