Name:
Course:
Instructor:
Date:
Reciting the Rhymes of the Dark Tale
Frederick Douglass’s biography on slavery is a revelation to this dark and twisted phenomenon that shrouded the world in the past. Reading the lines of this piece of literature, one gets the first hand experience on slavery and its brutality. This short prose has been written in a narrative style. The main character who is Douglass is the person telling his account of slavery. This makes the entire story emotional and realistic. Apart from slavery, we are made to understand several other issues that affected the world in the time when this story was told. There are real pictures of abolitionism, place of women, religion, and the American Civil War. Concisely, this story has given a historical account of life in the nineteenth century.
Slavery is an evil and an inhumane act. Slavery is not only disastrous to the slaves but also to slave holders. First, slaves are denied the right to live in a family. Douglass was separated from his parents at a tender age. His mother was not allowed to see his son develop into a mature man. This was in sheer disregard of maternal rights and children rights. According to Douglass, slaveholders could freely sell their slaves in total disregard of their family. It did not matter to them that one was living in a family. Slave owners could wake up and sell a father, a child, and even a mother. This slaves were left in a state of desperation and panic, not sure of what the future had in store for them.
Slaveholders did not allow the slaves to get enlightened. Education, according to Auld, would make slaves obdurate and thick. Therefore, education for the black was prohibited. It was clear to the slaveholders that if the slaves were allowed to continue getting educated, they would join civil society and question the legality of their masters holding human beings as property. When Douglass tried to get an education, he was punished and sent away by his master. However, his thirst for the book did not dwindle. He continued to seek education until he finally became an enlightened figure.
Slavery, according to this narrative by Douglass, is dehumanizing and unnatural. This vice had devastating effects on both the slaves and their masters. Indeed, the masters failed to give their slaves their identity. Slaves were denied their right to know their dates of birth and were treated like property. This made them fearful and resigned to fate. The constant brutality subjected to the slaves was a clear indication of the inhumane nature of slavery in the South. Individuality and self-consciousness were some of the things that the slaves were denied along with mistreatment.
The effects of slavery were not only devastating for the slaves but also the slaveholders. Frederick clearly shows how the life of the masters was affected by their practice of this heinous act. According to this narrative, masters had several affairs with their slaves. This led to the birth of children between slaves and their masters. Such a situation made the slaveholders miserable and even more brutal. This is because they could not own up to their mistakes. In aIDition, they were made to punish their own children. This treatment and humiliation of one’s blood was the epitome of the senselessness of slavery.
Apart from being forced to enslave one’s children, masters also created tensions in their homes. Those who went out with the slaves largely ruined their family relations. Most of them used religion as a shield and wall on which to lean against when confronted with the effects of slavery. However, this was not a solution since the masters continued to suffer inside. Slavery, according to Frederick, transformed good people into monsters. Sophia was a woman of pure and sacred heart. She was living in the north where slavery was not condoned. At first, she was kind to Frederick and even offered to help him advance his education. This she did with love and utter kindness. However, when her husband learnt about their cordial relationship, he immediately forbade her from educating Douglass. From then, tensions in Auld’s home began to build up. Sophia began transforming into a bitter and lethargic woman.
She begun to order and punish the girls for minor mistakes. She did not care at all. At one time, she whipped Douglass so hard that he could not believe his eyes. Her husband later became a man of faith and used religion as an escape goat to his brutality and inhumane nature. Therefore, it is clear that slavery was an unfair and unkind practice altogether. This is because it changed those who were peaceful into inhuman and rash individuals.
Douglass did not give up even after facing drawbacks. His quest for knowledge continued to augment, as times got harder. He continued to teach himself how to read and write, as he knew so well that education was the ultimate tool towards his emancipation. He and other slaves read the New Testament on Sunday until they were brutally intercepted. Douglass was later sold to Covey, who was famous for his brutality towards slaves. Covey psychologically destroyed Frederick and he almost gave up. However, in a dramatic turn of events, Douglass fought with him and defeated him in battle. From that day, Covey never laid a hand on him again.
This fight with his master awaked his long dream of freedom. He started plotting for escape. Murray, his fiancé, was the one who gave him the strength to make the first step. She was a free woman and from then, Douglass was encouraged that he too could be free if he was determined. One day with the help of Murray, he escaped to the north disguised as a sailor. He records that this escape to freedom could not be explained with words. He figuratively uses language to explain his state of mind and soul as a free man living in the north. Fredric compares his freedom to a rainbow, whose colors cannot be understood by a simple glance. From the time he escaped, Fredric started to see the reality of his long held dream coming to be amid the murky waters of life.
Once he got married to Murray, Frederick joined the abolitionist movement. The main aim of this faction was to fight against slavery in the United States. Douglass was an avid reader of articles on this anti slavery lobby group. He was also a regular person in meetings, which were held in Massachusetts. After narrating his story in one of the meetings, his story moved the crowd. He was immediately taken in as a crusader to talk on behalf of the slaves. This appointment was greeted with skepticism from the black and other members of the union. Most of them were of the opinion that he was making up the whole story. This is because his eloquence and knowledge defied his claim of being a slave.
This did not stop him from fighting against slavery. Fredrick resulted to use real names in order to authenticate his story. He narrated of the brutality and inhumane nature of slavery he had been subjected to when living under his slave masters. After he disclosed his identity, he was forced to flee as his owner would come looking for him. Therefore, Douglass moved to a European island. From there, he had made some friends while he purchased his freedom. This freedom allowed him to make a comeback and continue with his fight for liberation of the black people. Fredrick opened his own press known as the abolitionist paper, which he used as an avenue to sell his agenda to the people.
Fredrick’s fight and campaign became successful in 1861. This was the year of the American Civil War. Fredrick used his influence and the agenda of the war as a method towards freeing the slaves. The main agenda on the civil was to put an end to slavery. This made the North very happy and they supported the war through financing and volunteering to fight. At the same time, Fredrick asked the president Lincoln to enlist the black in the army. This was a good idea, as it would strengthen the North. Immediately, Lincoln issued The Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. This deal would see the black people joining the army in battle. This was a big win toward the freedom of the black people.
After the war, Fredrick felt that he needed to do more for his race. He continued his campaigns against slavery and agitated for equality, voting rights for black people, and women’s rights. According to him, women had been sidelined for a long time and they needed to be given a voice. However, his regard for inequality and impunity are clear in his novel. He has described slavery as a disease and a burden to the master and the slaves too. Fredrick notes that religion had been used to cover up for the evil that is slavery. Although he was a believer, he noted that Auld and Convey used faith as a tool to disorient the slaves. These two made religion a tool for distress and pain, which was against the teaching of Christ. Auld goes as far as using the money from slavery to support his church. This is seen as a sign of weakness as he tried to hide his sins in the church. Despite all these, Douglass did not give up or turn against religion. He married in church and never condemned religion for his misfortunes.
Moreover, he shows his contempt for freedom purchase and the treatment given to slaves. Douglass is a living proof that education was the only tool towards freedom. He has been able to fight for his people because he had an education. It is no doubt that the masters were afraid of Black Americans having an education. This is because it would make them aware of their rights and seek it just as Fredrick did.