The Turbulent Seas of Slavery as Experienced by Frederick Douglass, Book Review Example

“I am fast in my chains, and am a slave! You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip! You are freedom’s swift-winged angels, that fly round the world; I am confined in bands of iron!” (Douglass 67)

It is in these words that the poetic Frederick Douglass metaphorically compares his captivity as a slave in contrast to the freedom of a sailing ship.  In the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave” Douglass adroitly and unabashedly conveys the blistering and raw essence of the slave experience in America. His writing is at once scathing and then prosaic eliciting the full scale of the complex turbulent emotions suffered in the life of slavery.  Frederick Douglass’s Narrative was the most influential writing of this time that greatly propelled and transformed the abolitionist movement.  In the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave” Douglass presents the full spectrum of the erasure of culture and degradation of the Negro slave in America ranging from social implications, religious irony, and the impetus of education in the road to freedom.

Frederick Douglass recounts his experience as a slave in chronological order beginning with his earliest memories.  Slave masters stripped the slaves of their identity by initiating the erasure of the African experience and culture.  The first step was based on the divide and conquer principle; where slave children were torn from the arms of their mothers and the protection of their fathers and shipped off to a separate plantation.  Husbands and wives were also separated to ensure the slaves reliance on the master and to curb rebellion.  Fred as he was called in his early life suffered the torment of having his mother, Harriet Bailey, torn from his young embrace with only the occasional visit from her as she stole away from her master’s house under the threat of a brutal lashing if caught.  She traveled twelve miles by foot only to feel his warmth as no real conversation accompanied these visits.  She had only seen her son four or five times when providence took her life in 1824.  Douglass had an independence of mind, and spirit thrust upon him at an early age as he was separated from the natural affection of family.  It was common custom for the slave master to separate mothers from their children before the twelfth month.  Slaves were given much the same consideration of a pet animal that is taken from his mother’s teat after weaning.  He had only limited and sporadic interaction with his siblings.  Douglass had very little in the way of identity; a culture kept from his knowledge, a mother who died too soon, a father more than likely a white slave owner, and distant siblings kept from his affections.  This quote from Douglass exemplifies the thorough erasure of all connection with something as familiar as a mother’s love in this recount:

“I was not allowed to be present during her illness, at her death, or burial. She was gone long before I knew anything about it. Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.” (Douglass 3)

A slave master strove at every opportunity to crush the spirit of the slave and afford him little time to formulate any close ties to others as slaves as a typical day of work was long and arduous leaving only a minimum time for leisure which was spent preparing for the next day.  Any perceived moments of cheerfulness were the meager scraps of humanity offered by the slave master, which were often just a cloaked means of oppression.  The slave mind had become so addled and deluded as to view a slave master who administered the lash without cruel intentions as humane even though the end result was the same.  The slaves would commend his perceived grace saying, “He whipped, but seemed to take no pleasure in it. He was called by the slaves a good overseer.”  (Douglass 12)  The altered slave mentality had become so downtrodden as presented by Douglass that it was comparable to an abused dog relishing in the small scraps of food absently left by its master.  This is evident in the passage where Douglass recounts the high esteem given by the slaves to be chosen to do errands at the so-called GREAT HOUSE FARM.  “A representative could not be prouder of his election to a seat in the American Congress, than a slave on one of the out-farms would be of his election to do errands at the Great House Farm.  (Douglass 12, 13)  The slave reliance and interconnectedness to the master was so complete and extensive that the slaves took pride in his care and would at times come to blows with other slaves who boasted of the superiority of their master.  This ironical relationship was the result of a systematic plan of oppression.

Religious irony saturates many of the passages of Douglass’s Narrative.  It usband and wifewereis said that some of the worst atrocities were committed in the name of religion and this is no less true in the case of slavery.  Some of the cruelest slave owners professed deep religious conviction, yet were somehow able to compartmentalize slavery as a separate entity that did not fall under religious scrutiny.  Douglass spoke of the kind generosity of spirit of Mrs. Auld, the wife of his slave owner in Baltimore Douglass said she:

“was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman.  There was no sorrow or suffering for which she had not a tear. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach. Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its in-fluence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness. (40)

Captain Auld professed by Douglass to be the cruelest and meanest master was reported to have increased in his depravity when he found religion.  Religion did not slow his cruel intentions, but rather gave him more excuse to perpetuate the most inhumane acts.  Douglass asserts this disturbing result:  “I believe him to have been a much worse man after his conversion than before. Prior to his conversion, he relied upon his own depravity to shield and sustain him in his savage barbarity; but after his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty.” (56)  The cruelty perpetuated in the light of religion was so pervasive that Douglass wrote an appendix to his narrative to address this prevalent topic.  Religion also presented an instrument of control for the slaves as explained by Ron Goodwin, “some antebellum whites believed religion was a satisfactory form of social control. Slaves were taught to obey their masters as the only way to receive a reward in heaven, even if it was not the white man’s heaven.” (Suite 101)  The American cultural experience as shaped by religion is so interconnected to religion and slavery to have forever altered the religious perspective in America.  “As the institution of slavery spread, so did this new American religion. As the institution of slavery deepened, so did the church’s insistence on the justice of the rich to the fruits of their slaves’ labor. America’s Christian fundamentalism, then, is descended from the religion of slave owners, slave traders, and slaves.” (Sunshine for Women)

Education was the impetus to freedom of mind for the American slave and for some it paved the road to physical freedom.  Douglass was in some respects relegated to his position as a slave, but as he taught himself to read and write and as result his bondage became more and more unacceptable.  He was no longer ignorant and became knowledgeable of the world around him and the abolitionist movement.  It is at this time that Douglass began to rebel and plan for his emancipation. Douglass asserts after his early exposure to reading as taught by Mrs. Auld, “I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty — to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom.” (36)  It was the moments spent in educational revelry that gave Douglass his greatest pleasure.  His best friends were those that shared his thirst for higher pursuits.  It was these same friends that were involved in the first failed attempt at escape.  Thoughts of escape weighed heavily on his mind and kept him vigilant and alive with the prospects of freedom.  A slave kept in ignorance can come to accept their lot in life if it is all that they know.  Education opens a slaves eyes and it can inspire life or death in the pursuit of freedom.  Douglass attained freedom and a new life, but there were other slaves that died in rebellion or in an attempt at escape.

“Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave” introduced the many layers of oppression, cruelty, and degradation at the hands of slavery.  Douglass’s experience was not particularly harsh, but representative of the common experience of slavery spanning from the South to the North.  His narrative was a revelatory and astute observation of the first hand experience of slavery and it forever changed the perceived view at that time and forever since.

Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, 1963. Print.

NP. The Historical Roots of America’s Christian Fundamentalism. Sunshine for Women, March 2002. Web. 30 May 2002.

Goodwin, Ron. ” Antebellum Slavery and Religion, Using God as a Mechanism in Social Control. Suite101.com. Web. 2010.