History concepts and applications

Frederick Douglass' "Narrative on the Life of Frederick Douglass" is a ground-breaking autobiographical tale of Douglass' childhood of slavery, his struggle to escape, and his triumph over stereotypical restraints put upon him because of his color. Douglass uses his narrative to dispel the myths about African-Americans - myths that white slave owners typically circulated to justify their cruel treatment of slaves. He also exposes the white Americans who do not own slaves, as well as free blacks, to the savage and brutal world he grew up in - in an honest way that had never before been seen. Through this narrative, Douglass confronts the ideas of power, family, knowledge, home, violence, and having a sense of self. Douglass also attempts to warn Americans about the dire effects that slavery is going to have on the whole nation - white Americans as well as black.

The power a slave owner has over slaves is broad - Douglass explains how slavery itself narrows opportunities for slaves to have any sense of self. Like many slaves, Douglass did not know his birth date, which strips him of his own identity from a young age.

Slave owners purposely withhold this personal information, attempting to keep slaves from feeling human - they don't want slaves to have the power of human rights. To the slaveholders, they are just property, like cows, horses and sheep. The slaveholders utilize their power by keeping children away from their parents, too, because any sense of family would have given slaves security, and camaraderie - both of which could have caused rebellion against the cruelty of slavery. Douglass knew little of his mother, which prevented him from knowing about his history, his ancestry. Without that knowledge, he was powerless from a young age - which was exactly what the slave owners wanted. Knowledge truly would have been power.

For that reason, slave owners also actively controlled their slaves by giving them false information - almost like brainwashing. Slave owners would convince their slaves from a young age that their lives were not their own, and that they belonged in slavery - that slavery was right. By feeding them little opposing information, slaves were forced to grasp onto what their masters said, and believed it to be true. Some slaves actually felt loyal to their slave owners, much like battered women do to their abusers. Because they were secluded from the rest of the world, mostly illiterate, and uneducated - they didn't know anything else. Douglass' ability to learn, to expose himself to the world outside of slavery confirmed his doubts about the sanctity of slavery. He thought it might be wrong, and because he had the chance to learn to read, as well as experience kinder interactions with white Americans, he regained power over himself. Other slaves probably thought slavery was wrong, but without the ability to prove it to themselves, they were forced to accept their fates. Sophia Auld was the first sense of family that Douglass really had, and she provided him with the means to break out of the bondage of slavery. Because she was not a slave owner until she received Douglass, she treated him like a human, like a person. She taught him to read, and he didn't go hungry, and cold as he had before. Though it was short-lived, it was this teeny taste of kindness that gave Douglass the strength needed to plan his escape, and the self-esteem needed to teach himself to read, and seek knowledge out. His self-esteem was his key to manhood, and becoming the great orator and leader he became.

Sophia Auld provides Douglass with his first bit of knowledge, and with the foundation, he builds his learning upon it. Sophia, however, illustrates the effects that slavery has on the slave owner. White Americans without slaves sometimes had pity for the slaves, but never understood how slave holding, and the power that is entailed, would turn someone sweet-natured, and God-fearing into what Sophia Auld transforms into - a mean, power-hungry, bitter woman. Douglass not only wrote his narrative to expose the cruelty that slaves are subjected to, but to also let Americans bear witness to the negative effects that slavery caused on the slave holders as well. Slave owners were usually Christians, and used their corrupt interpretations to justify their cause - Douglass hopes to cause concern among Christians who didn't support slavery - their religious beliefs were being wrongfully used. It wasn't enough for masters to be kind to their slaves - slaveholding itself was wrong.

Douglass provides excruciatingly detailed accounts of violence throughout the novel. Douglass didn't exaggerate - he wanted to paint a truthful portrait of the senseless violence of slavery - a portrait that was played down in the media (or ignored all together) and certainly justified by many through their own distorted beliefs. Again, those who were not around slavery were sheltered to the true events that happened on a daily basis on a plantation - children who had to go naked because their clothes wore out, slaves receiving one blanket but no bed, masters producing illegitimate children who were then treated cruelly by the masters' wives, slaves being severely beaten - even children slaves - just to prove a point to the other slaves. And slaves that tell on other slaves are rewarded, again stripping slaves of any sense of brotherhood or family. White slave holders, on the other hand, stick together no matter what.

Douglass reaffirms his Christianity in the appendix to his autobiography in an attempt to not alienate Christian readers. He wants all Americans to read his book, and he doesn't want to condemn Christianity as the source of slavery. He again wants to unite all Americans against the evils of slavery, and maybe if they can see the threat that slavery is imposing upon their religious integrity, they might begin to see the truth instead of the lies.