Frederick Douglass, Narrative, Chapters 7-11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Frederick Douglass, Narrative, Chapters 7-11 Religion Comments from a Liberationist: The theme of religion and faith is prevalent in the second half of Douglass’s Narrative. The hypocrisy of the slaveowners is shown as they pretend to be devout, religious Christians, while in reality being cruel and heartless. The term “Christian” is never used to positively describe anything, highlighting the hypocrisy with the stark contrast. This religious pretense accompanies the fraud and deceit of the slaveowners, whether with the drunkenness of the holidays or Mr. Covey’s regular hiding and spying. Douglass also begins to question his own faith, pondering the existence of God as he experiences the worst slavery of his life with Mr. Covey. I found it very ironic that Douglass believes that more slaves would attempt freedom, “but for the strong cords of affection that bind them to their friends,” especially considering the fact that slaveowners try to sever all familial ties from an early age. Perhaps the slaves replace these family relationships with friendships, but how are the latter less dangerous than the former? I also found interesting Douglass’s mention of the concept of TOO MUCH freedom: “the disgust the slave with freedom, by allowing him to see only the abuse of it.” As part of their deceit, slaveowners actually use this freedom to further enslave them— freedom is portrayed to slaves as something dangerous, while bondage is safe. Similarly, Master Thomas urges Douglass to “depend solely upon him for happiness.” The known is secure. >I was unsure where to begin with my response to the close of Douglass' narrative. I'd like to respond to the question you posed on page 79 under chapter 11. Douglass was very strategic in his writing of the 11th chapter for he did not reveal in detail the nature of his escape; Douglass only revealed that he successfully made it to New York. Douglass again illustrates his great wisdom in writing this chapter because he did not want to hint or allow any help for a slave catcher to capture slaves that plan on running away as he did. FYS 16 (September 9, 2010) 1 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 Paranoia / What if FD weren’t educated? >Here are my questions and thoughts about the reading: ¶What can explain Mrs. Auld's desire to become even more violent towards young douglass? ¶At the bottom of page 43, Douglass expresses his distrust of white persons: "White men have been known to encourage slaves to escape, and then, to get the reward, catch them and return them to their masters." In this quote, Douglass further reinforces the correlation between paranoia and enslaved persons that was hinted at earlier in the narrative (chapter three). Could the institution of slavery function without paranoia? What qualities are necessary to that institution? ¶If Douglass had not been educated, would he have still attained as strong of a resolve to escape? In class we have explored the idea of ignorance as a quality typical to enslaved persons and how it helps to preserve the institution of slavery. How then might we explain those not so exceptional cases in which enslaved persons, without having been given an education as Douglass had, fled their masters and found liberation? Could we reason that there may be faculties of the mind that motive us to liberate ourselves? Escape After reading the final part of Douglas's autobiography, I was most shaken by the description of Douglas's capture and imprisonment due to his attempted escape. It was amazing to me how Betsy Freeland attacked Freddrick in front of everyone and exposed his escape plan to an extent. I really couldn't believe that she would suddenly call upon his race in a time like that. It also shocked me that the slave community turned against Fredrick so intensely while he was in jail. I guess I thought of him as a hero for making plans to escape while his fellow slaves hated him for his attempt. I still can't stop thinking about just how unfair the whole situation still seems. Animals / Christianity / Trust >In this reading I noticed Frederick Douglass' frequent use of animals to portray a feeling or describe a situation. The most common are lions or tigers and lambs. Often, Frederick compares the ferocity and position of the slaveholders to lions. The slaves, or those unlike the typical slaveholder, would be portrayed as lambs. In chapter seven he states, "the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness" (41). This transformation from lamb to tiger is of his mistress who soon learns the ways of a 'good' slaveholder. Another commonality I found in this FYS 16 (September 9, 2010) 2 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 reading was naming a place or person 'Christian'. Douglass gave way to a bit of cynicism or rather noted the hypocrisy of the situation by calling America a 'Christian' country. This idea of Christianity not being used in its proper form is also brought up when Douglass describes his master's conversion to Christianity. It is said that "after his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty" (49). His master uses the words and teachings of the Bible, as did many others, to confirm the correctness of enslavement. Also related to backwards Christianity is the refusal to allow the slaves to have their own Sabbath school. Ignoring the idea that slaves are not to be educated, the way in which the oppressors broke up the meetings was savage-like, they would rush in with sticks and stones. Such an act, with the expectation to be called a Christian, is absurd. ¶Another idea I found compelling was that Douglass could trust no man because of the wicked system. Every white man is suspected to be only interested in their personal gain; and even the black men could not be trusted, for they, too, will snitch or just talk too much and give secrets away. Although this was so, Douglass did allow himself to love. On page 61 he describes his love for his fellow slaves when under Mr. Freeland. Here it demonstrates that slaves do have the capacity to love because they are human beings. Despite the separation from a natural love of mother, father and siblings, there is still this funtion in which love of another can emerge. Due to this love Douglass felt towards some of his fellow slaves, he is deeply saddened by his separation from them (65). Various observations       Shocking how for Douglass learning how to read, something that is considered so valuable and enriching, became something he abhorred and wanted to know no longer. “I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity.” Comparison between Douglass and Master Thomas  Master Thomas learned how to read, write and had written over a number of copy-books in a matter of short time while for Douglass “after a long, tedious effort for years…” he finally learned how to read. What kind of inspection did Andrew and Lucretia do? “Silvery-headed age and sprightly youth, maids and matrons had to undergo the same indelicate inspection.” It also took more than a month to divide all the property. Slaves were ranked with animals. Masters are the source of corruption of themselves and slaves…forced slaves to steal. Ironic religious masters were the worst. (used bible lines to defend brutality) FYS 16 (September 9, 2010) 3 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154      I was appalled by Mr. Covey and how he took a married man to impregnate his woman slave. Contradiction: “irreligious” and “heavenly” (p.67) Was Sandy the person who spilled Douglass’ plan to escape? Master Hugh’s saying “if you give a slave an inch he’ll take the ell” comes to play again when Douglass is giving his weekly wages to Master Thomas and when Master Thomas gives him six cents Douglass says “I regarded it as a sort of admission of my right to the whole.” Did Douglass have an arranged marriage? > Chapter 7: ¶Frederick Douglass’s credibility would be severely damaged if he had made large claims about his cleverness because, in a way, he would be challenging the intellect of a white person. Only through a more humble route would he be able to downplay the idea that he outsmarted his white owners, which could have and would have ruined his platform. >Chapter 11: ¶By closing his narrative with his escape he would be ending with secrets and people do not like to feel as though something is being hidden from them. He had to end with a point, which would allow people to trust him even though part of his story includes secrets and deceiving notions. ¶In his initial experience as a fugitive you can see the skepticism he feels toward the world in general. With such a variety of outcomes at stake, it is not hard to believe that the dangerous and the dark are what come to his mind. ¶Having a wife materialize at this point gives Douglass the image of stability and reason, which adds a positive to his image. With this kind of stability he is better able to spread his story with the attention of the free world. ¶It appears to me that the reason for the sudden mention of Douglass’s full name derives from the idea that his real name is a part of an unidentifiable slave whereas now he has evolved into a more confident, free man and is able to accept the old and the new alike. Genesis >I think there seems to be a structural similarity between Douglass's Narrative and the Bible. ¶His attaining freedom seems to share the same pattern as one in Genesis of the Bible -Adam ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge, was damned by God, was expelled to the Earth, where Adam was ironically condemned to be "free." In the same way, Douglass FYS 16 (September 9, 2010) 4 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 was "enlightened" by gaining knowledge so that he was able to comprehend his condition as a slave(which cannot be justified) and tried to escape; when his first attempt to escape failed, he was called as "yellow devil(p.64b)" who deceived his fellows into trying the 'unjust' escape. ¶From this, I feel there is a strong connection between the concepts, as follow: God(especially of the Old Testament) , Authority ---- Bondage, Anti-knowledge Evil --- Knowledge, Enlightenment, Reason ¶Am I making a claim that is grand and vague too much..? Stereotyping > I find it interesting that Douglass even at a young age, does not generalize his beliefs in people despite the fact that those around in him a slave society do just that-generalize and stereotype blacks. Douglass called the white children's help in learning to read "kindly aid". He also went to great lengths to keep the names of those responsible for educating him secret so as not to "embarrass them" because he cared enough for their well-being. When his master remarried and was taken by his master's brother from Baltimore, he said the separation that was worst was the loss of "those little Baltimore boys" who encouraged him and continued teaching him. ¶He respects and cares for these white people- good, kind hearted people- and does not lump them in with the white slave owners who he was "led to abhor and detest..." He called these whites "robbers" and hated them for stealing him from his family. Douglass does not come to hate all whites despite his environment and all that he's been shown and instead seeks out the good natured individual, even if they are white. Education The reading assigned for today's class was a bit easier for me to read, if only because it dealt with a much happier outcome than that of his last account. What I would really like to discuss today is the power that can come with being literate. Several times in the reading Douglass mentions his being able to read and I think he was strongly trying to connect literacy in America to having power in America. Maybe I am misinterpreting this, but that was what I gathered from the reading. FYS 16 (September 9, 2010) 5