Thursday, November 9, 2017

Doglass - Narrative of a Life by N. R.

Frederick Douglas a former slave and a passionate abolitionist narrates his astounding life story. Douglas talks about the physical abuse, deprivation and tragedy in his early years which helped him to grow into someone who spoke for his people. In chapter 1 he talks about being born as a slave , he had no accurate knowledge of his age. He, including many other slaves in Talbot county Maryland were not allowed to even make enquiries. His father was a white man which resulted to him having a lighter complexion compared to other slaves. Douglas is very sure that the father was his master Anthony. Furthermore, he also talks about how slave women was physically and psychologically abused, and the children they bore on the process were also enslaved and sold to other slaveholders. He witnessed his aunt get beaten up by his master, until warm blood trickled down her wounds. This bloody transaction was his impression of slavery.  In Chapter 2 the writer talks about the plantation house of his second master Colonel Lloyd. Slaves of high misdemeanor, becoming unmanageable or attempting to escape was brought immediately, severely whipped and taken to Baltimore to other slave traders. This was a threat and a warning to other slaves who would try to do the same.
 He describes overseer as another danger. The overseers are ruthless. The success of the overseer’s career was considered upon how severely he could punish slaves on the field. They were drunkards, swore profanely, cutting, raving, cursing the slaves in the most frightful manner. The hostility also included killing them. Chapter 3 describes an incident in which Douglas uses his master colonel Lloyd as an example of being honest slave was a potential threat. He would randomly ask his slaves about their master, and if the slave spoke the truth about the mistreatment, he will be severely punished. In Chapter 5 he expresses the joy he felt after his old master Colonel Lloyd decided to let him go to work for Hugh Auld brother of his son in law. He gives a vivid description of his journey to a bigger city Baltimore. Chapter 6 was about how he learnt to read. And he also described Sophia Auld (mistress who taught him alphabets and how to spell words) as angelic figure. When her husband found out, she had to stop immediately because it was unlawful to teach a slave how to read, that inspired and determined Douglas to learn. The following chapters tells us he took reading lessons from the white children in the neighborhood and learned to read from his master’s school book. The reading talks about his struggle to get freedom. He also mentions that a lot of white people saw a lot of potential in him and suggested that he should move to the north. And he cleverly tackled the situation without being tricked. The book was written on Fredericks Douglas’s perspective, so his voice was being heard.
Throughout our class discussion we did a very interesting activity. We had to pick 4 quotes from the 9 chapters.  And we had to stick the quotes under following categories (violence, family, resistance, work and control). This activity has enhanced our learning as through group discussion different people gave different examples of how the situations were back in the days of slavery. We can picture the situations more clearly. It reflects upon how white men felt threatened by literacy of the slaves. They are petrified by the fact that slaves are capable of rebelling against their masters and teach other slaves to read and write. We also discussed in class the dehumanization of enslaved people because the masters were ignorant not to record birthdates. As a slave Frederick was treated differently. Moreover words, talking and writing became his craft. We also concluded that slavery is not monoethnic.
Although this class answered most of my question, I would still like to know the perspective of Sophia Auld and the children who taught Douglas to read. Sophia was described as a kind woman in the beginning, I would like to know what were her other reasons to change her attitude towards Douglas. And I also keep wondering how Frederick Douglas managed to learn thing from children without getting told on by their parents.