Dehumanization and Freedom in Narrative of the Life of...

Dehumanization and Freedom in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass The issue of slavery in antebellum America was not black and white. Generally people in the North opposed slavery, while inhabitants of the South promoted it. However, many people were indifferent. Citizens in the North may have seen slavery as neither good nor bad, but just a fact of Southern life. Frederick Douglass, knowing the North was home to many abolitionists, wrote his narrative in order to persuade these indifferent Northern residents to see slavery as a degrading practice. Douglass focuses on dehumanization and freedom in order to get his point across. Frederick Douglass emphasizes the dehumanization aspect of slavery throughout his†¦show more content†¦Today almost all children grow up knowing their parents. It is a crime to take children away from their parents under most circumstances. Reflecting back to slave times, taking the slave children away from their parents is dehumanizing to the parents and children. Douglass uses these descriptions in his narrative to convey how poorly slaves were treated. He never really finds out who his father is, but knows he could have been the master, regardless Douglass knows no matter whom his father is, he would still be a slave. Douglass also carves the vivid picture of dehumanization into the readers minds when he writes about the whippings slaves endure. When Douglass is a young boy, he witnesses for the first time a slave getting whipped, he took her into the kitchen, and stripped her from neck to waist, leaving her neck, shoulders, and back entirely naked. He made her get upon the stool, and tied her hands to the hook. Douglass hides in a closet, thinking that he would be the next victim. This is Douglasss first encounter with the extreme cruelty of slaveholders. She now stood fair for his infernal purpose...after soon rolling up his sleeves, he commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin, and soon the warm, red blood (amid heart-rending shrieks from her, and horrid oaths from him) came dripping to the floor (Douglass 42). As it turns out, the slaveShow MoreRelatedThe Life Of Frederick Douglass s The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick 1306 Words   |  6 Pagesneither good nor bad, but just part of Southern life going on for hundreds of years. Frederick Douglass, a slave who had escaped to the North, after years of abuse through slavery, knew that in order to stop slavery, he had to persuade all the people in the North to vehemently oppose it as much as he did himself. Through the â€Å"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass†, which he published in 1845, Douglass focuses on the process of dehumanization he and thousands of others went through while beingRead MoreFrederick Douglass s Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglas1674 Words   |  7 Pagespopular in the southern states, among these slaves, one slave in particular impacted the 19th century was Frederick Douglass. Although he was a slave for most of his life, Douglass eventually became a freeman, a social reform, writer, and an abolitionist for slavery. However, before he became a freeman, Douglass experienced a brutal life as a slave. He faced dehumanization in his early life, but accomplished what mos t slaves we not allowed to do; which is getting educated, by self-educating himselfRead MoreEssay on Frederick Douglas1606 Words   |  7 PagesPaper on Frederick Douglass In the 1800s, slavery was a predominant issue in the United States, one that most Americans in the South dealt with daily. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass reveals much about American history during the time of slavery as well as expounds arguments for the abolition of slavery. As a historical document, it conveys information about the slave family, work, the master-slave relationship, and the treatment and living conditions of slaves. As an antislaveryRead MoreDehumanization Of Slavery In Frederick Douglasss Narrative Of Life1354 Words   |  6 PagesStates emphasizes freedom vs. emphasizing the very real existence of chattel slavery. The issue of slavery in America was not as easily thought as black and white. Mostly, people in the North were opposed to slavery, while the South promoted it. However, many people were indifferent. People in the North could see slavery as neither good nor bad, instead a way of Southern life. Frederick Douglass, knowing the North was ho me to lots of abolitionists, wrote his narrative â€Å"Narrative of Life† in order to showRead MoreAnalysis Of Frederick Douglass Narrative1597 Words   |  7 PagesFrederick Douglass’ Narrative serves as an influential text which provides detailed examples of how slavery allowed a country and a government to justify the brutal dehumanization and oppression of an entire race of people. Using personal experience, Douglass explains how the slave institution not only dehumanized himself, but also how the process affected other slaves and the slaveowners as well. Douglass relies on a strong imagery relating back to animals to show this dehumanization process, whichRead MoreFrederick Douglass s Narrative Of The Life1516 Words   |  7 PagesGrant Sumner Dr. Wiewora History 101 04/25/2017 Frederick Douglass To Douglass, freedom is more than merely freedom from the lash and cruel conditions. It also encompasses intellectual and emotional freedom. He sees that true freedom exists in the ability to read and reason and is a mental state; Douglass feels that slavery is not only a practice, but a mindset maintained through those practices. In Douglass’s Narrative of the Life, he maintains that slavery is an abhorrent practice that strips theRead MoreDeep In The Forest Of Frederick Douglass’S Autobiography,1034 Words   |  5 Pagesforest of Frederick Douglass’s autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the caged bird sings on. The singing slaves in Douglass’s narrative are the caged birds of Maya Angelou’s famous poem, filling the air around them with desire: desire for a freedom so far out of reach—for â€Å"things unknown but longed for still.† In his narrative, Douglass expresses incredulity at the fact that onlookers could hear anything but the deepest sadness in these slave songs. Writes Douglass, â€Å"I haveRead MoreDehumanization In Frederick Douglass1795 Words   |  8 Pagesfurther increased the usage and value of slaves. Slaves were life-time, unpaid laborers who usually worked and lived in unsafe condition. In the early 19th century, the Northern states had already abolished slavery and were considered â€Å"free† states whereas the Southern states beginning from Maryland were considered â€Å"slave† states. In A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass highlighted a prominent, reoccurring theme of dehumanization in slavery by demonstrating the methods of dehumanizingRead MoreDehumanization Of Frederick Douglass1419 Words   |  6 PagesThe Dehumanization of Slaves and the Black Race of People in America, as Portrayed in the Autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an d the Television Show Roots   Ã‚  Ã‚   Since the beginning of American history, the black race has been the inferior race during times of slavery and times of freedom for black people. They have had to fight to be seen as legitimate first-class citizens, whether that be through slave uprisings in the pre-civil war era, the civil rights movement in the mid-1900’sRead MoreNarrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass : An American Slave1386 Words   |  6 Pagespsychological abuse, this â€Å"tumor† tortured every struggling people from day to night. As the insight of a dark history, Frederick Douglass’s â€Å"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave† demonstrates the dehumanization of an inhuman society and how slavery could make a man be a salve and make another man be an enslaver and how he resisted this dehumanization. In eighteen and nineteen centuries, the physical abuse which commonly were whipping, shackling, beating, mutilation, branding