Dehumanization is the process of making a human feel like they aren’t a human anymore, making them feel like they aren’t worthy. The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass has a lot of dehumanization from one slave to all of them. Slaves are systematically dehumanized as a result of their treatment, their daily life, and their inability to have their basic needs met. Dehumanization is a very big factor in this book and this represents everyone in this book, mainly the slave masters. In the book, the slaves don’t get the privilege to learn how to read. They don’t get to learn because of their skin color, this is a great example of dehumanization because just because they are a different color doesn’t meant they shouldn’t be taught to …show more content…
As Frederick arrived, she treated him very nice and didn’t really know how to treat him other than that. This is where Frederick struck gold, Sophie Auld didn’t know that you weren’t supposed to teach them how to read or write until her nasty husband told her how they should be treated and she turned into a cruel woman. Another source of reading was the little white boys that Frederick traded Bread with for their knowledge on how to read. The first quote I found in the book is coming from Frederick talking about Mr. Auld. “Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read. To use his own words, further, he said, “if you give a n***** an inch, he will take an ell.” A n***** should know nothing but to obey his master to do as he is told to do” (Douglass 6). This represents my example above because Sophie Auld doesn’t know how to treat Frederick …show more content…
Covey, and he is known for “breaking” slaves which means working them hard and getting them into shape. Mr. Covey puts Frederick through a lot of difficult work, and he just wants to stop learning how to write and read, and also doesn’t want to live anymore. Frederick talks about he no longer feels like a man, and feels like a little brute. This example shows that the dehumanization can make someone feel like they aren’t wanted anymore, it can make them not want to live anymore and that’s what is happening to Frederick. Frederick has no human rights and Mr. Covey doesn’t care with what he has to say because “black slaves” don’t matter and they are only used for working, and being slaves to the white people. My second example was talking about how Mr. Covey breaks slaves and turns them into acting right for the slave owners. Frederick says “I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!”(Douglass 10) . This quote I chose is talking about how Mr. Covey turned Frederick into a brute and that he was broken. Being broken in the slave world means to get the slave in shape, get them to not do anything bad for their slave owner. This method is used by the slave owners to get rid of their bad
Sophia Auld who “very kindly commend to teach me the A, B, C” (Douglass 1196) was a different type of slave owner as she was kind and did not punish Douglass. Once Mr. Auld finds out that his wife has been teaching him how to read, he demands that she stop, explaining to her that it was “unlawful as well as unsafe , to teach a slave to read.” (Douglass 1196) As he continues to verbally degrade educating slaves, Douglass listens closely. Though young in age, he was much smarter than he seemed and he soaked in the information he heard from his masters mouth.
Auld forbade Mrs. Auld from teaching Douglass. Mrs. Auld said, “If you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.” This shocked me because he prevented Frederick from learning and then said that it would make him useless.
Frederick Douglas was born into slavery around 1818 and spent most of his youth on a farm as a slave. He escaped north to New Bedford, Massachusetts to seek life as a free slave. He later became a speaker for the American Anti-Slavery Society and gave his firsthand encounter on this unjust system. Frederick Douglas argues that slavery was an institution that victimized everyone. Slavery was a horrible and cruel system that affected everyone physically and emotionally; even those who were not connected to the practice directly.
Mrs. Auld was a kind person who was unlike other white women. Slaves could look her in the face and she smiled, putting the slaves at ease. She taught Douglass how to read but Mr. Auld forbade it because he said that teaching slaves how to read would give them a way to escape. Slavery began to cause Mrs. Auld to become cruel. Douglass described this change as “That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage...and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.”
In his Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass describes in vivid detail his experiences of being a slave. In his novel Douglass talks about what it was like to move from location to location and what it was like to work long, hard hours with less than substantial sustenance. Eventually he escapes the clutches of slavery but not before he endured beatings, forced hard labor and emotional mistreatment. During his time as a slave he was tasked with various kinds of work and after he became free he worked as a speaker who advocated for abolition of slavery.
Group Essay on Frederick Douglass “That this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave system”, and that Frederick Douglass does in his eponymous autobiography. Douglass throws light by dispelling the myths of the slave system, which received support from all parts of society. To dispel these myths Douglass begins to construct an argument composed around a series of rhetorical appeals and devices. Douglass illustrates that slavery is dehumanizing, corrupting, and promotes Christian hypocrisy. Using telling details, Douglass describes the dehumanizing effects of the slave system which condones the treatment of human beings as property.
In Frederick Douglass’s book, he writes accounts of his time in slavery and beyond. Throughout the book, Douglass writes about not only the physical hardships slaves endured, but the mental and emotional hardships as well. In Chapter X, Douglass describes a battle he had with a temporary slave owner named Mr. Covey. After the fight concludes, Douglass writes, “This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood.
The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows the imbalance of power between slaves and their masters. In his book, Douglass proves that slavery is a destructive force not only to the slaves, but also for the slaveholders. “Poison of the irresponsible power” that masters have upon their slaves that are dehumanizing and shameless, have changed the masters themselves and their morality(Douglass 39). This amount of power and control in contact with one man breaks the kindest heart and the purest thoughts turning the person evil and corrupt. Douglass uses flashbacks that illustrate the emotions that declare the negative effects of slavery.
PAGE 2 In the Narrative Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, he uses this text to explain his purpose in “throwing light on the American slave system”, or show it for what it really is, as well as show his position on how he strongly believes slavery is an issue that needs to be addressed and how it differs from those who defended slavery, with experiences from his own life to support his argument. Douglass uses experience from his early days as a young slave to throw light on the aspect of physical abuse. According to his narrative, Douglass states, “Master, however, was not a humane slaveholder.
Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.
Fredrick Douglass meets Hugh Auld’s wife Sophia and he is surprised about how nice she is. She does not really know how to treat slaves because she has never had them. A slave with education is said to be a dangerous slave so they are not supposed to be taught. However it seems like Mrs. Auld did not know that, and she began to teach Douglass the Alphabet which is a big turning point in Douglass’s life as a slave. Mr. Auld figures out that his wife has been teaching Douglass, and he puts an end to it, and he tells her how dangerous it is to teach a slave.
Education Determines Your Destination Education is the light at the end of the tunnel, when Frederick uses it he discovers hope. In the story the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick goes through many struggles on his path to freedom, showing us the road from slavery to freedom. At the beginning of the book, Douglass is a slave in both body and mind. When the book ends, he gets both his legal freedom and frees his mind. The path to freedom was not easy, but it got clearer when he got an education.
In the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, on page 19 Douglass quotes “Mr. Gore was a grave man, and, though a young man, he indulged in no jokes, said no funny words, seldom smiled. His words were in perfect keeping with his looks, and his looks were in perfect keeping with his words. Overseers will sometimes indulge in a witty word, even with the slaves; not so with Mr. Gore. He spoke but to command, and commanded but to be obeyed; he dealt sparingly with his words, and bountifully with his whip, never using the former where the latter would answer as well. When he whipped, he seemed to do so from a sense of duty, and feared no consequences.
The American person has no true ideals, or beliefs that make him or her up. Americans are free to believe in what they want, think what they want, preach what they want, and most importantly say what they want . Authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, and Walt Whitman show in their texts such as “Self-Reliance” , The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass , and “I Celebrate Myself” that there is no true definition of the American identity. The American identity can be seen in the many aspects of peoples lives, and a a quality that many Americans portray is the ability to have individual thoughts and emotions as well as the capability to not conform to society because they stand up for their own individual rights. A
The books he reads and knowledge he’s gotten has made him angry at other slaves with a lack of knowing what is going on. The life of slavery really just ruins your mind and thoughts, and makes you feel discouraged, but Frederick had the education piece in his life. In the text Frederick says, “I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free, I have no doubt but that I should have killed myself, or done something for which I should have been killed” (Douglass 54). With his newfound knowledge he starts to contemplate his existence. The hope of being free still pushes him, even if it may lead to death.