In Section V of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, at the age of seven or eight, Douglass is chosen to relocate to Baltimore to reside with Captain Anthony’s son-in-law, Hugh Auld. Upon departing from Colonel Lloyd’s Great House Farm, he envisions Baltimore as a place of promise and enlightenment. Douglass’s relocation to Baltimore conveys the notion of cities in nineteenth-century America promising greater freedom in many aspects to the Black slave as opposed to the countryside. Cities had a certain extent of societal freedom for slaves, in addition to further literacy and affluence. He articulates, “Even the Great House itself, with all its pictures, was far inferior to many buildings in Baltimore. So strong …show more content…
Douglass describes Sophia from being an open-minded young woman, accepting of racial differences and promoting justice, to a narrow-minded woman with clouded judgment in regards to those of his Black race. As Douglass settles into his Baltimore style of living with the Aulds, Sophia takes it upon herself to teach Douglass his ABCs. Although that would seem normal for a White child, for a Black child during the nineteenth-century, that was strictly off-limits. Hugh Auld is swift to take notice of this, and immediately puts an end to the beginning of an education Douglass had been vying for for so long. Just as Sophia teaches Douglass just three letters of the ABCs, Hugh Auld goes on a tangent of racial slurs and detrimental stereotypes about Black people and their access to literacy to Sophia, which whilst disheartens Douglass, reveals to him the power of literacy. Hugh Auld says, “If you give a [slur] an inch, he will take an ell. A [slur] should know nothing but to obey his master — to do as he is told to. Learning would spoil the best [slur] in the world.” (Douglass, 29). Hugh’s baleful statements to the Black race as a whole in this moment signify the insecurities a White slaveowner in the nineteenth-century had towards the Black person receiving access to an education and literacy. As he articulates, learning would spoil the “best” Black slave in the world. Simply put, reading would open the eyes of …show more content…
I find this to be very sudden because Sophia shifts from being rather optimistic to displaying vices of anger and hatred towards slaves to the extent that she bans educational advancement for Douglass. I believe that Sophia should not have been easily influenced by her husband in regards to educating slaves and treating them a certain way, because when an individual wants to initiate change, they should stand their ground. Her viewpoints on slavery eventually fluctuate as time passes. Sophia does not stand her ground, and shifts to becoming an antagonist towards Black slaves. Douglass foreshadows this dynamic character change by stating, “But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon…I have had her rush at me with a face made all up of fury, and snatch from me a newspaper, in a manner that fully revealed her apprehension.” (Douglass, 28, 33). He vividly describes the sudden transformation of Sophia Auld, once again using a biblical lens, this time to demonstrate how the reality of slavery had altered her mindset on treating
Keeping slaves ignorant was a way that slave holders kept slaves submissive. If you have a person who isn’t knowledgable and posses understanding, then it makes them to be dependent on another person. In the text written by Fredrick Douglass, he explanins it felt to once had the opporunity to learn how to read and then have that right taken away from him. He was first taught by the wife of the slave owner, when he was about seven years old.
Hugh Auld thought that if a slave learned to read, he would learn enough to want to be free. Even though Sophia couldn’t teach him anymore, Douglass continued to learn.
Douglass expressed that during the time of his life when he had been sent to live with Mr. Covey he was broken in not only body, but in soul and spirit as well (Douglass 1210.) When Douglass says,”You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man,” (Douglass 1211) the theme of perseverance is most evident. After he had been broken down to almost nothing, Douglass rose from the ashes and fought back; he fought Mr. Covey with all of his might just as if he were fighting slavery itself in human form (Douglass 1214.) This highlights again the key differences of the struggles of a male and a female who are reaching for the same gift of freedom. His main fears were only whether he would win the fight, since to preserve his reputation Mr. Covey could never send him before others.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass After reading this short passage about Frederick Douglass, I know that he was very against slavery. He saw enslavers as criminals and tormentors. He wishes to be an animal so he wouldn't have to go through the agony of slavery. He also recalls having to move in with a relative of his slave master, Auld Hugh. Auld Hugh’s wife tried to teach Douglass to read and write, but Auld wouldn't let her.
As a young child, Frederick Douglass goes to live with a family and soon figures out that he will need to consider his options of how he will learn to read and write. The Mistress of the house was a very caring woman in the beginning, and was willing to teach Frederick to read, but that soon changed. When the Mistress’ behavior toward Frederick becomes more hostile toward his dreams of learning to read he comes up with a plan so he can hide the fact that he continued his learning. He figured out that he could trade the extra bread from the house to the under privileged white boys in his neighborhood in exchange for their help in learning how to read. He began to hear talks of abolition and reading about it in newspapers, and his became more curious to know what abolition was.
While Mr. Auld criticizes his wife for her wrongdoings, Douglass discovers that “power over a white man would be through education” (32). Using specific diction of the word power, he enables the strength of intelligence and its valued quality. Witnessing Mr. Auld’s upsetting manner fabricates Douglass’s consciousness of education’s essential benefit to the captive world he is confined in. He discerns how much intelligence is admired by a white man, consequently their purpose for keeping their workers unintelligent. Slaveholders’ representation of an intelligent slave would only result in him being “unmanageable” (32) in their guidance and possibly put them in the same hierarchy as them, something they feared.
While he is owned by the Auld family, Mrs. Auld begins to teach Douglass the alphabet and some short words. Hugh Auld, her husband, orders her to stop this practice immediately. He claims that education ruins slaves, making them unmanageable and unhappy. Douglass later overhears Mr. Auld revealing his true intent in denying slaves an education; without education, slaves could never become free. Understanding Mr. Auld’s intent, Douglass writes “I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man” (257) Douglass understands that education
Fear of education displayed by past masters made Douglass consider the benefits of becoming literate. Douglass had hateful masters from the moment he was born. These terrible masters stripped the enslaved of their blood, energy, and their hope for freedom. As Douglass is slowly learning to read from Mrs. Auld, his master enters the room, degrades Douglass, and treats him as any other property. Mr. Auld fears education for slaves so much that he believes “If you teach that n***** how to read, there would be no keeping him.
Sophia was so nice to Frederick that she even began to teach him the alphabet and also was teaching him how to read. Douglass described Sophia as “a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings.” . This quickly came to an end when her husband demanded that she stop teaching the slave to read. From this moment on Sophia turned into a very different woman than she was before she became a slave owner. Her thoughts changed and she became horrific towards Frederick than she had ever been.
He starts out describing his new slave owner, Sophia Auld as “a white face beaming with the most kindly emotions; it was the face of my new mistress, Sophia Auld. I wish I could describe the rapture that flashed through my soul as I beheld it. It was a new and strange sight to me, brightening up my pathway with the light of happiness” (Ch. 5 ¶10). Douglass uses diction in “the rapture that flashed through my soul as I beheld it” to portray the effects of her gentle, compassionate personality. The word “rapture” eloquently expresses his feelings of joy and peace as he meets Mrs. Auld.
According to Mistress Hugh, “education and slavery were incompatible with each other” (Douglass, 33). Although Mistress Hugh had stopped teaching Douglass how to read, the seed of knowledge had already been planted. In the years that followed, his hunger for knowledge did not dissipate. Douglass devised various methods to learn to read and write in very clever ways.
Frederick Douglass was a slave in the 1800s who escaped captivity in Maryland and fled to Massachusetts. During his time in slavery, he learned how to read and write, which later aided him in telling his story to convince people to abolish slavery. In Douglass’s autobiography Narrative of an American Slave, Douglass argues that the knowledge of slavery transforms people in chapter six using convincing metaphors, vivid imagery, and revealing parallelism. In chapter six, Douglass uses metaphors to emphasize Sophia Auld’s change in behavior after experiencing the power of slavery.
Her husband instilled in her what he thought slaves were supposed to be. He made sure that she did not make them believe that they were anything more than what he thought they were. To Douglass, that made him want to learn even more. It sparked a new flame within him and made him want to prove Mr. Auld wrong. From the outside looking in, it is evident that the slaveholders were trying to keep the slaves away from anything good.
But, he then goes to show how her transformation came to be of a true mistress and how that kind of foolish power corrupted her. She was not a bad person, but being able to control over another human being transformed her from an angel into a demon. Douglass saw the change in her how “That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon” (38). This just shows how slavery affects not just the slave but the slave owners as well. This vicious cycle desecrates and destroys everyone involved.
Douglass uses deep characterization to show the change in behavior of slaveholders who have uncontrolled power. A good example of this is Sophia Auld. Before slavery took effect, she was a kind and caring woman who comprehended moral righteousness. She had never owned a slave before Douglass. Owning Douglass soon changed her into an evil slave owner when she realized the power, “the white man’s power to enslave the black man” that she had (Douglass 41).