Heroic Slave by Frederick Douglass.

¶ … Heroic Slave by Frederick Douglass. Specifically it will discuss the aspect of how the Virginia tavern represents the nation and the way Douglass' claiming Founding Father status for a black Washington proposes a new or transformed sense of American nationality. In "The Heroic Slave," Madison Washington represents freedom, and fighting for freedom, just as the founding fathers fought for freedom from the tyranny of England. However, it Madison had truly been a founding father, the nation's history probably would have been far different, because slavery would not have been allowed, and the country would not have undergone a Civil War.

Washington is clearly a well-spoken man with ideals and beliefs that he must fight to win. He represents the best of a nation's population, but he also represents the shadowy government organization that sets forth freedom and democracy as a goal, and then allows the institution of slavery to continue and even thrive. If he had truly been a founding father, he, and others like him, would never have allowed the institution of slavery to continue, and he is a constant reminder that the framers of the American Constitution did just that.

In a clever use of illusions, Douglass uses the Virginia tavern to represent the nation. He writes of the tavern, "The house is large, and its style imposing, but time and dissipation, unfailing in their results, have made ineffaceable marks upon it, and it must, in the common course of events, soon be numbered with the things that were" (Douglass). In other words, some of the bright glitter of a new nation has rubbed off the tavern, and now it is showing its true side, something old, decrepit, and out of fashion. The new nation, when first conceived, was shiny and wonderful like the original tavern, and it offered every promise and hope for the future. However, now that the tavern (nation) is getting older, and things for African-Americans have not changed, the nation has lost some of its glitter. So of course, has the tavern, making it representative of the nation and what is happening in the world of government, politics, and society.

In addition, the people who frequent the tavern represent a cross-section of American society, as well. They "debate" Listwell's occupation and purpose, even though it is none of their business, and then they settle down to gossip and drink, not really doing anything to help solve problems or find answers to questions like slavery. They are like the people of the nation, but they are like the Congress as well, because the Congress often debates issues to death, but never really does anything to solve them. In particular, they represent the issue of slavery, because Congress and those who created Congress debated the issue too, but never managed to come up with a workable or viable solution to ending slavery. Thus, the tavern represents the nation and the people inside represent the lawmakers, who are not doing their jobs.