Frederick Douglass Narrative

Words: 2034
Pages: 9
Open Document
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is an autobiography written by Frederick Douglass. The book explains the many twists and turns that occurred in Douglass’s life. The book begins with a timeline of major events from Douglass’s life. In chapter one, Frederick Douglass tells about the very early events in his life. He was born in 1818 in Tuckahoe, Maryland. He then says that he has no accurate account for his age because he has never seen the authentic records that possess it. The only evidence of his age came from the mouth of his owner in 1835, when his owner said that Douglass was somewhere around twenty seven or twenty eight years of age (Douglass 17). Douglass then goes on to talk about his family life. He says …show more content…
Not long after moving to Baltimore to work for the Aurd family, Richard, the eldest son of his old master, passed away. A few years after the death of Richard, came the death of his old master, Captain Anthony. With only Captain Anthony’s daughter and other son left alive, the property was being split between the two. Douglass was part of that property. Although he was enjoying his time in Baltimore more than he did anywhere else, he had to leave without a choice. Douglass was given to Lucretia and worked for her until her death. After she passed away, Douglass was sent to the only remaining family member, Thomas. He was now on his second wife and was living in St. Michaels. Master Thomas and Douglass came to realize that their lifestyles were too different (Douglass 58). After Douglass accidentally let Master Thomas’s horse run off, Master Thomas thought that something needed to be done. He sent Douglass to work for a “slave breaker”, a man named Mr. Covey (Douglass 58). Douglass was frequently awkward around his new owner, which would be the cause of his continuous whippings (Douglass 60). One day when Douglass and many other workers were in the field, Douglass’s strength failed him and he fell to the ground (Douglass 65). When Mr. Covey found Douglass, he kicked him in the side and demanded that he get up and continue working. Mr. Covey kicked …show more content…
He wrote the book, so he was able to record the many things that happened throughout his years. Because Douglass was the writer of the novel, the story is completely credible. He goes into full detail with every occurrence, and seems to include all of the information that he can remember from every story. Robert G. O’Meally wrote the introduction and the notes in the book. O’Meally is writer who graduated from Harvard University in 1975. He has written many books including Black Misery, the Book of Rhythms, and The craft of Ralph Ellison. O’Meally has also won the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts award in the United States in
Show More

Related Documents: Frederick Douglass Narrative

Frederick Douglass Narrative Essay

No wonder that the "slave's narrative" field was a dominant one in American literature during the slavery period. Some sophisticated slaves had used it a lot. It was one of the significant ways for them to prompt themselves. Right at the beginning of his argument, Douglass used a very strong statement: "I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it." (Douglass) This sentence, which is in the second paragraph of the book, clearly depicts the writer's…

Words 494 - Pages 2

Frederick Douglass Narrative Paper

Professor H. Forstyle Religious Arguments Against Equal Rights for All Frederick Douglass wrote his biography titled Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, with the intent to expose the hypocrisy of slaveholders and the immorality of slavery in the face of religion. He uses personal examples just as much as others’ experiences to exemplify these points to readers. Douglass depicts himself differently from other slaves’ experiences in that the more educated he became…

Words 2021 - Pages 9

Power In 'The Narrative Of Frederick Douglass'

the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads. No man is wise enough, nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power.” In the Narrative of Frederick Douglass there are many instances of someone's nature being worsened when he or she comes into power, specifically the power of becoming a slave owner. Many characters from the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, including Captain Anthony, Lucretia Auld, and Mr. Severe, have become vile, mean, and downright nasty because of newfound power…

Words 1605 - Pages 7

Frederick Douglass: A Slave Narrative

Frederick Douglass had a typical life of most black people during the 19th century with slavery being prevalent and said slaves who are crying out for freedom. He was born into slavery in Tuckahoe, Maryland roughly around the year of 1817 and has, "… no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it" (946). This slave narrative was written only by Frederick Douglass. A slave narrative is a type of literary work consisting of real life stories of enslaved Africans…

Words 171 - Pages 1

Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Narrative Essay

In addition, Frederick Douglass exemplifies the terrors of slavery in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Douglass’s narrative is not just an autobiography that seeks to only tell his life story, instead Douglass's reason also being to educate individuals concerning the terrors of slavery and what occurred. During this time in Talbot County, Maryland, killing a slave was not considered a crime. This meant that Slaveholders did not value the life of a slave and Douglass describes numerous…

Words 761 - Pages 4

Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Essay

Frederick Douglass’ s autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a look into the life of a slave. However, Douglass was not a typical slave and his life was not that of the average slave during the 1800s. Through educating himself he was able to become an exceptional leader in the abolitionist movement. Frederick Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, Maryland. The exact date and year is unknown, as records were not closely kept on slaves. His mother was Harriet Bailey and his father…

Words 904 - Pages 4

Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Essay

Frederick Douglass grew up as a black man and an American slave. Since his skin was a different color, he was treated differently than other people. He was forced into slavery and did not get the same experiences as everyone else. The two articles, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” and “My Friend Douglass”, both demonstrate how differently Douglass was treated and how he dealt with slavery. The first article describes Douglass in his childhood while the second article…

Words 713 - Pages 3

Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Appeal Of Narrative

As you can see, Frederick Douglass uses the rhetorical appeal of ethos, the rhetorical mode of narrative, and ______ in his narrative. Douglass uses these techniques to show how a man was made a slave and how a slave was made a man. Douglass finally turns into a man when he rebelled against Mr. Covey who abused and used his wrath on Douglass. Douglass act of rebelling against Mr. Covey shows that any slave can become a “man” if he or she chooses to fight back against the master instead of being…

Words 93 - Pages 1

The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass: An Analysis

mechanical beings made to be slaves for humanity, rebelled and killed their creators and in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, slavery led to the destruction of figurative humanity during that time. Though it can be argued that man’s development of institutions to work for him have been detrimental to humanity as a whole, through R.U.R. and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, it is shown clearly that man’s evolution through time provides stronger evidence that the institutions…

Words 1662 - Pages 7

Comparison Of Frederick Douglass Narrative And Chains

Thesis: Frederick Douglass’ Narrative and Chains are similar because they both prove that slavery harms not only the slaves but the slave owners too. Body paragraph 1 Frederick Douglass makes the point that slavery is dreadful for slaves. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick is working on a plantation when he sees the overseer “...whip a woman, causing blood to run half an hour at a time; and this, too, in the midst of her crying children, pleading for their mother’s…

Words 551 - Pages 3