· The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Essay “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission”Eleanor Roosevelt. During the eighteenth century African people were considered “property” of their slaveholders and had no control over their own life. They were victims of psychological and physical brutal treatment Fredrick Douglass Essay Words6 Pages Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who altered America's views of slavery through his writings and actions. Frederick's life as a slave had the greatest impact on his writings A Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass Essay Frederick Douglass, born the slave Frederick Bailey in ~, details his most incredible biography through first person narration. He moved around from farm to farm and eventually arrived in Baltimore when his latter name and being started to take shape
Frederick Douglas Essay Examples Essay Essay on Frederick Douglas
Essay Examples. Frederick Douglass, a slave in America until the age of 20, wrote three of the most highly regarded autobiographies of the 19th century, yet he only began learning to read and write when he turned 12 years old. After an early life of hardship and pain, Douglass escaped to the North to write three autobiographies, spaced decades apart, about his life as a slave and a freeman.
The institution of slavery scarred him so deeply that he decided to dedicate his powers of speech and prose to fighting it. Douglass wrote three biographies about his life as a politician, slave, frederick douglass essay, and abolitionist. However, the historical value of these works does not remain as important as the quality of the works themselves.
Douglass influenced many famous abolitionists with his literary works, and this impact, coupled with his desire to write an expose about oppression in America, makes him a winning candidate, frederick douglass essay. In a look at his first and greatest work, Narrative of the Life, the following paper will demonstrate why Frederick Douglass deserves a place in the hall of great American writers.
At the time, abolitionist movements started gaining speed as popular parties in the North. In the North, pro-slavery white mobs attacked black communities in retaliation for their efforts. By the time Douglass escaped from slavery, intensions ran high among abolitionists and slaveowners.
Slaves published accounts of their harrowing escapes, and their lives in slavery, mainly with the help of ghostwriters. Although abolitionists called for the total elimination of slavery in the South, racial segregation still occurred all over the United States.
Blacks, freemen especially, found the task of finding a decent job overwhelming. White workers often did not want to work with blacks. The Fugitive Slave Law, passed inallowed slaveowners to hunt the North for their escaped property. Slavehunters often kidnapped freed blacks under the premise of the law.
However, the growing abolitionist movement provided room, board, and often the means for escape to hundreds of slaves. In contrast to the abolitionists, many blacks such as Garnet and Delany advocated a mass migration back to Africa.
The Civil War became the ultimate debate for slavery, but not segregation. Stormy times still lay ahead for blacks, and many aging abolitionists retired from their quests.
A few blacks entered politics, but never enough to form a solid voting bloc in state or federal legislatures. The age of passive resistance and civil rights appeals approached. From a young age, Douglass fought for the freedom, and later rights, of his fellow blacks, and never saw the desired equality between races, frederick douglass essay.
The material contained in them represents the time in which he lived, and also his reactions and observations of the period, frederick douglass essay. Then began one of the worst experiences of his life. He very rarely saw his mother, who lived on another farm, and records omit the name of his father—possibly because his master was his father, frederick douglass essay.
His mother died in late or earlyand he hardly developed enough of a bond with his mother to miss her. The same year, Colonel Lloyd sent him to a more lenient household as a present to one of his relatives.
Douglass grew into adolescence in Baltimore, and soon grew to hate slavery, because of his further education in the evils of the institution. Douglass read The Colombian Orator, a collection of anti-slavery speeches, and found them remarkably similar to his line of thought.
After discovering in late that a group of white people, called abolitionists, shared his views, he resolved to escape. After catching Douglass reading, his new master demanded to know how taught him. Master Auld sent Douglass to a Negro breaker to quell his rebellious spirit.
However, Douglass emerged from the transaction physically scarred but not mentally frederick douglass essay. The next few years he spent saving money for his escape in After finding several low key jobs in the North to support himself and his new wife, abolitionists invited Douglass to speak at a meeting.
From here, Douglass launched into a career as an ardent abolitionist. Frederick douglass essay escaped farther north into NYC inand there he discovered The Liberator, an abolitionist weekly edited by William Lloyd Garrison. To culminate a series of speeches frederick douglass essay his past, frederick douglass essay, he published Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself, in After the publishing of this book, Douglass became embroiled in the world of abolitionism, and he and Garrison split on several key issues, such as segregation.
He left the US temporarily because of his fugitive status, and successfully campaigned in Ireland, England, and Scotland for his white counterparts back in America. ByDouglass and Garrison were completely embittered and battled over religion, rights, and racial supremacy.
Twenty-five years later, he published yet another autobiography, Life and Times. He involved himself in the world of politics as a minister to Haiti, and marshal and recorder of Washington, frederick douglass essay, D.
He died in11 years after marrying a white woman to show his support of interracial marriages. Perhaps this last event shows his dedication to the idea of harmony among all men. However, he accomplished this feat through speeches which relied on, or later formed part of his books.
His influence also extended to such audience members as the Transcendentalist writers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. His literary style frederick douglass essay greatly the traditional spoken history of black slaves.
The realistic passages of the narrative contain the same biting wit found in his most famous speeches. Susan B. He occasionally uses the rhetoric to cause the reader to reflect upon key points he wishes to make, frederick douglass essay. By all means, time did not subdue his vehement attitude towards the oppression of blacks. At one speech, the white- haired Douglass dropped the prepared oratory, and confronted hecklers with grand rhetoric.
In these rough times, Douglass ceaselessly campaigned for the rights of the oppressed, dying before giving a speech against the injustices of the new South. He embraced wholeheartedly the most controversial subject of his era in the and encountered resistance against his frederick douglass essay to attain a greater respect for his race as humans.
It merely serves as a backdrop frederick douglass essay display the events affecting his writing. Inclusion in the canon relies—or, should rely— solely on the literary merit, not on the political or historical weight of the author.
A recent revision of the American canon received much criticism from traditionalists. They complain the new editors include authors because of their race, not the quality of their work. To traditionalists, the past masters represent the necessary reading for college students, frederick douglass essay.
The present canon includes such authors as Shakespeare, Homer, Machiavelli, and Dante. In fresh look at American authors, a team of professors revised the canon to include more Americans they believe deserve credit. The traditionalists decry this act as political correctness, while the editors defend the quality of their work.
The canon still contains many of the past masters, but also outlines the works of more women, blacks, Latinos, frederick douglass essay, and native Americans. Although traditionalists question the worthiness of the new canon authors, the professors chose the authors because of their works, not because of their appeal to minorities.
To classify a work as one of great literary importance, we must first examine the elements required for a novel of literary, even historical, significance. The criteria for all American literature should include the three following items. Chosen as the most important by the researcher, these criteria do not necessarily reflect the views of all critics regarding order of importance. The need for a timeless theme in a canon frederick douglass essay reflects the rapid change occurring in American society.
The purpose of a novel remains the same: to inform the reader, and enlighten him about an important part of life. The societal impact of the novel remains a direct reflection of the importance of the work at the time. It measures the success of the author in conveying his information and theme to the reader.
The quality of the thought in the book reflects the originality of the subject matter. With original subject matter comes the creative thought accompanying the new frederick douglass essay. Creative new ideas concerning old subjects also qualify an author. The core of this criterion remains the insightfulness of frederick douglass essay author into the theme he chooses. However, his second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom, weakens when compared to the chosen criteria.
His first autobiography, Narrative of the Life also contains some weak points, but still warrants a place in the hall of great American literature. Narrative of the Life appears rudimentary when first compared to his next autobiography, yet it contains all the basic seeds of the other. Douglass furthered his education greatly during the ten years between the writing of the frederick douglass essay books, yet the sophistication apparent in the second autobiography does frederick douglass essay to boost its importance, frederick douglass essay.
The theme, subject matter, and impact of both works resemble each other too closely for the second to be considered a wholly original and remarkable work, because the initial creativity required for the first autobiography hardly compares to the second. Douglass reserves some extra details for the second book, but his creativity and subject matter remain mostly the same.
In Narrative of the Life, frederick douglass essay, Douglass displays a true talent for conveying his theme, and the subject matter concerning the terrible effects of oppression. The creative ideas concerning the subject of slavery created a massive impact, as briefly described before in the historical frederick douglass essay of this paper. With frederick douglass essay first autobiography, frederick douglass essay, Frederick Douglass touches upon three criteria of a canon work: a lasting theme, creative subject matter, and societal impact.
Although his second autobiography deserves recognition, it lacks the fundamental originality of theme frederick douglass essay subject frederick douglass essay of the first, and therefore does NOT deserve a place in the canon of great American literature. Frederick Douglass used his autobiographies as his main method of conveying his ideas to the public.
Hence, each one stands as a unique work. The first of his autobiographies, Narrative of the Life, gives an impression of realism and naturalism. Freeland the credit of being the best master I ever had, till I became my own master.
William Lloyd Garrison, before becoming embittered with Douglass, offered this opinion of the writer as he first read from his works. As Garrison notices, Douglass hardly minces words in his works, and wastes no letters expressing his thoughts.
In My Bondage and My Freedom, the author fully describes the injustices and includes more realistic passages. However, he still repeats the first years of his life as a reminder of his humble roots. Douglass smugly recalls all his political frederick douglass essay, and the mood of the book ends in one of elation.
However, frederick douglass essay, the author, as always, informs the reader with a straightforward style which pervades the book. This direct style becomes most apparent in his work Narrative of the Life, but nevertheless lies in all his autobiographies.
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A Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass Essay Frederick Douglass, born the slave Frederick Bailey in ~, details his most incredible biography through first person narration. He moved around from farm to farm and eventually arrived in Baltimore when his latter name and being started to take shape · The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Essay “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission”Eleanor Roosevelt. During the eighteenth century African people were considered “property” of their slaveholders and had no control over their own life. They were victims of psychological and physical brutal treatment · Frederick Douglass the most successful abolitionist who changed America’s views of slavery through his writings and actions. Frederick Douglass had many achievements throughout his life. His Life as a slave had a great impact on his writings. His great oratory skills left the largest impact on Civil War time period literature
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