Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass: How Education Helped to Escape

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass offers a very unique perspective to its readers, as all of the accounts of the unjust brutality Douglass suffered are told from his point of view. 

One of the most pivotal moments that lead Douglass’s eventual escape is when he discovers that he must learn to read in order to, one day, escape. After overhearing a conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Auld, Douglass realizes that the white people will never teach the black slaves to read because, if they did, they would lose their power and complete control over the slaves. As Douglass recalls this story, the readers are able to go through all of his emotions and follow the stages of his new-found understanding. Though he is saddened to learn just how far slaveholders’ power and manipulation reach, he is also more determined than ever to learn how to read and is one step closer to his ultimate goal: freedom.

At a very young age, Douglass had already gone through many experiences that had enlightened him to the effects of slavery. One of these being when he was subjected to be ranked, as he was considered property that had to be divided between the surviving children of his late owner. He, along with many others, were forced to be evaluated alongside farm animals because the white men ranking them saw no difference in their needs for inspection. As the slaves stood there, voiceless and powerless, Douglass told how anxious they were. Their fate was being decided for them and they had absolutely no say in the matter, all they could do was pray they would get sent to a somewhat “fair” owner and wouldn’t be separated from their loved ones. It is here that Douglass realizes the lasting and savage effects of slavery.

One of Douglass’s more chilling accounts is when his chance of freedom slips through his fingertips. The anxiety and fear leading up the his attempted escape with Henry and John was palpable. After their upcoming getaway plan was revealed, they were brought to jail. They were now even further from freedom than before. Even worse is when they reached the jails and were pleased at what they saw. While here, Douglass lost hope that he would ever be free. A few days earlier, he had envisioned him himself to be a free man by now, but instead he was trapped in a cell with no clue what his fate was and no hope of ever being free.

A major reason why the Narrative of the Life of frederick Douglas is so moving is because Douglass is a reliable autobiographer who prevents credible information, which allows the audience to sympathize with him. Douglass often presents the idea that slavery itself has corrupted the people who were once good people. He also takes into account both sides of slavery, though he never defended it, rather he recognized that is was a horrible institutuion that was passed down, making it harder to stop the cycle. Douglass told many narratives of his time on different plantations, always a heart-wrenching tale that made the readers commiserate him, yet they never seemed to be exaggerated, as the horrors slaves endured daily are now well-known. He never complained or expected pity, Douglass just wanted to tell his story to the world, and, perhaps, gain some control over his life back.

The Holiday season tends to be the most cheerful time of the year, but that was not the case for Frederick Douglass and his fellow slaves. While they were given time off from work and encouraged to drink heavily, it was not out of kindness of the slaveholder’ hearts. Instead, they wanted their slaves to think that freedom wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, showing them only a downfall of having no limitations. After the slaves had just the smallest taste of freedom that they did not like all that much, they returned to the fields. The slaveholders manipulated slaves into thinking they did should not want to escape because freedom is not much better. This scene allows the readers to emotionally connect with Douglass. Many slaves dreamed solely of liberty their whole lives, but even that was taken away. These slaves lived horrible lives, being beaten, severely overworked, starved, and forced to live in inhumane conditions every single day. The one thing they had for themselves was a dream, but that was ripped away from them too.

One of Douglass’ main points of persuasion is showing the audience how slaves were showed not a single ounce of human dignity. From the very beginning, this is made clear. Very shortly after they are born, slaves are ripped away from their mothers for good. Douglass only saw his mother a handful of times after this and was not allowed to see her while she was dying. Also, slaves were denied they fact of knowing their age. Their slaveholders did that on purpose to ensure the slaves stay ignorant. At a young age, Douglass knew he was different from the white children because they all knew their ages. These acknowledgement of the inhumane acts of stripping slaves of their identities persuades the audience to emotionally connect with Douglass as they continue to read the novel.

The intended audience of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was white people, specifically those in the North. Those people had the power to abolish slavery, so Douglass wrote to show them how detrimental it was to society as a whole. It had obvious long-lasting effects on slaves, but also made the white slave owners evil, even if they were not before. The exercise of that much power on a daily basis was harmful to the slaves and slaveowners alike. Douglass shows this by sharing the story of Mrs. Auld, a once kind woman who taught Douglass the alphabet and then became a very cruel master. Because this book was intended for white northerners, the preface would have helped to give Douglass some credibility. Garrison and Phillips were very prominent figures in the abolitionist movement, so their encounters with Douglass would have spoken volumes to his character and reliability.

Douglass wrote the appendix to clarify his views on Christianity. At times, it seemed as though he was rebuking Christianity; however, that was not the case. In fact, Douglas was a Christian himself. He wrote that the slaveholders who claimed to be Christians definitely not. Instead, they used their religion as an excuse to do whatever they wanted to their slaves. Douglass parodied a hymn commonly sung in white churches that spoke of how truly immoral slaveholders who claimed to be Christians were. Since Christianity was a prominent religion at the time, especially amongst abolitionists, Douglass’ declaration of the inhumanity being forced upon slaves by so-called Christians would have struck an emotional chord within abolitionists, who would have strived to get rid of slavery, which was Douglass’ lifelong goal.   

Though the novel is full of terrifying experiences, many of them were made even more so to the reader because of the first hand accounts.