Paper on Frederick Douglass

Paper on Frederick Douglass

In the 1800's, slavery was a predominant issue in the United States, one that most Americans in the South dealt with daily. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass reveals much about American history during the time of slavery as well as expounds arguments for the abolition of slavery. As a historical document, it conveys information about the slave family, work, the master-slave relationship, and the treatment and living conditions of slaves. As an antislavery tract, it argues against commonly held beliefs about slavery's benefits and its morality, making strong points for getting rid of slavery. In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass reveals, through the story he tells "the core of the meaning of slavery, both for individuals and for the nation."(2)

Slave families were often torn apart by the master separating them. Douglass states that often mothers were taken away before the baby reached one year old. He believes this was probably done to break the bond of affection between the mother and the child. In Douglass' own case, he only remembered seeing his mother four or five times, during the night, when she had to walk twelve miles each time just to be able to see her own son for a little while. When she died, Douglass wasn't allowed to go to her burial. He was just told she was dead afterwards. Douglass didn't feel much hearing the news because he barely knew her. Douglass also wrote of how members of the slave family were always at risk of being separated. They could be sold at the master's whim, or when the master died, the slaves would be gathered with the rest of the property to be sold to different masters. Frederick Douglass tells how after his master died, the slaves were anxiously waiting to find out what their fate was going to be. He writes, "A single word from the white men was enough - against all our wishes, prayers, and entreaties - to sunder forever the dearest friends, dearest kindred, and strongest ties known to human beings." (72) The situation of the slave family was extremely difficult. As these examples show, any member of a family could at any time be separated from any other member. Controlling the family in this way, slaveholders took away the potential strength that the slaves could have had if they were allowed to have strong, lasting family bonds.

Frederick Douglass' narrative reveals a lot about the work of the slaves. Some few slaves worked in the master's house, some more worked in the master's production huts around the farm, but most of them worked in the field under the watch of an overseer with a whip ready in hand. The slaves would be punished, sometimes very severely, if they weren't working early in the morning. They could also be punished if they didn't work fast enough or well enough. After a long day of work, they would have to go to their huts and do their own cooking and washing. They could only sleep a few hours a night after doing all the work they had to do. When they were finished with their work they would fall down on their beds and "sleep till they [were] summoned to the field by the driver's horn." (48) Looking at the slaves as property, the master wanted to use them as much as he could to get his money's value. He didn't think of them as human beings who had needs, but as machines (unfortunately these machines had hearts, souls, minds) that would produce more riches.

Frederick Douglass' narrative reveals a lot about the master-slave relationship of the slaves. The master-slave relationship was a completely unequal relationship. The master had all the power and the slave had none. The master would often abuse this power. For example when Colonel Lloyd would accuse Barney (the old slave who took care of the horses) of doing something wrong, Barney just had to listen, be quiet, and accept any punishment. The slaves had no rights and they could never in any way contradict the master. Not only did they have to keep quiet while the master punished them, they couldn't even speak to anyone about what was really happening. One man was sold to a Georgia trader just because he had answered a white man's questions honestly about Colonel Lloyd's treatment. Slaveholders would send spies to check on the slaves, so the slaves learned to suppress any negative criticism they might have. They would claim that their master was kind even when he was cruel. Slaves would even fight with other slaves about whose master was greater. All of this led to the dehumanization of the slaves. They were put in extremely difficult situations and then they were forced to lie about those situations or suffer more.

Frederick Douglass' narrative reveals many details about the treatment and living conditions of the slaves. For the most part, slaves had difficult living conditions and unkind treatment. In the book, striking examples of the living conditions were when the children were fed. When Frederick Douglass was little, the other children and he raced to the trough of corn mush that the master had put out to make the children eat like pigs. This was an early training for the children in dehumanization. Another striking example of the treatment of the slaves by the master involved the fruit in the garden. The master put up tar around the fence to detect if any slaves had gotten fruit from the garden or tried to get fruit from the garden. "If a slave was caught with any tar upon his person, it was deemed sufficient proof that he had either been into the garden or had tried to get in." (52) Then he would most likely be whipped. These harsh treatments and many others like them, kept the slaves