Narrative of Frederick Douglas

A detailed Summary of Narrative of Frederick Douglas

The Narrative of Frederick Douglass and Its Effects on the Abolitionists

Frederick Douglass' The Narrative of Frederick Douglass was targeted toward the Northern

Abolitionists. Being categorized as both a slave narrative and a novel full of emotional circumstances, Frederick Douglass succeeds in overwhelming the reader with sympathy and compassion for both himself and his fellow "brethren" (64). Frederick Douglass utilizes family relationships in order to enable the reader to experience the very definition of empathy; starting with his birth and childhood, proceeding to the value of the basic family unit, continuing with the irreverence toward the treatment of elders, and concluding by demonstrating that slaves were treated as if they were on the same level as farm animals.

Frederick Douglass presents family relationships starting at birth and progressing into childhood so that he may successfully solicit the reader's feelings toward slavery. Douglass never knew the true identity of his father; however, it was "whispered" (2) among the slaves that it was his own master. Douglass shows us how the "slaveholder in (numerous) cases, sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father." (2) This situation was

so pedestrian that it was "by law established that the children of women shall in cases follow the condition of their mother."(2) By this it meant that the bastard children were to be slaves despite their paternal heritage. The northern society despised adultery and interracial relationships; therefore, this law startled and aggravated the morals of the conservative northern whites.

"The Narrative of Frederick Douglass" has the main purpose of informing the northern abolitionist audience of the wretched slave treatment, the irreverence of slaveholders for the slaves and their family life, and the hypocrisy of slave owners. Douglass incorporates his emotions into the novel in order to give the reader his point of view. The "fiendish barbarity" (46) of the treatment of one person by another, in regards to the way the slaves were treated would not have been considered tolerable in the North; thus, the North was appalled and adopted Douglass' opinion that southern slaveholders were, indeed, the "most wicked of men." (24) Douglass realized that racism was also predominant in the North, so his motive was not to achieve freedom but only basic human rights. "Slavery was a most painful situation; and, to understand it, one must experience it, or imagine himself in similar circumstances . . . then, and not till then, will he fully appreciate the hardships of, and know how to sympathize with, the toil worn and whipped-scarred . . . slave." (64) Douglass uses these words, to ask his readers to envision themselves in his plight, enabling them to better understand the torments and tribulations he and other slaves persevered. Douglass disguises this propaganda as a novel which was meant to alter the relationship between two groups of people; a child's b

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Approximate Word count = 1185
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: People