Rhyannon Poto

A Block
American Literature
Ms. Hunt

Slaves suffered extremely high mortality. Black people were enslaved while those who
were only shades lighter than them, were the masters. Growing up in an environment
where there was major inequality between race and the treatment of dehumanization
was by far unpleasant. Fear was what motivated Frederick Douglass to be free, but it
was his education that allowed him to escape successfully.
Frederick Douglass was motivated by fear and suffering to make a change in his
life and education helped lead him there. Douglass feared many things such as death,
punishment and loneliness. As Douglass was getting older he seemed to become
unmanageable because he knew too many things. Due to this he was later taken from
the Aulds and placed with Edward Covey, also known as the slave breaker for a year.
Under Coveys brutal treatment, Douglass loses his desire to learn and escape.
Douglass says My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the
disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the
dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!. At
the start of Douglasss experience the most brutal conditions of slavery empowered
him to crave his desire to be free. Coveys tactics in remaking Douglass into a slave
consist mainly of incessant work and constant, brutal punishment. Thus Douglass
shows that Coveys brutality causes Douglass to lose intangible parts of himself,
including his ambition to become educated. As the days got longer it allowed Frederick
to understand that this valuable skill was all he had in order to survive and reach
freedom.

Learning simple skills helped Douglass open up more to his surroundings. This
benefitted him in a way that allowed him to understand what was happening. At the age
of ten or eleven, Douglass is sent back to live in Baltimore with Hugh and Sophia Auld
as his masters. Sophia Auld decides to teach Douglass how to read by having him
come to her weekly. Buy Hugh Auld orders Sophia to stop Douglasss reading lessons
because he feels education ruins a slave for slavery. Douglass overhears Hughs words
and gathers an understanding that white people hold the blacks in their power through a
series of strategies; mostly in particular that of depriving blacks of education and
literacy. These words by Hugh allowed Douglass to sense that slavery is a constructed
power strategy supported by deprivation and dehumanization from the whites. Hughs
words opened up Douglass to realize that he must become educated to become free.
Education was the most beneficial and valuable skill Douglass had.
The skill of reading and writing was so valuable to Frederick Douglass that it
allowed him to convince people that slavery should no longer exist. Later on in life
Douglass is hired to a man named William Freeland, one of the kindest Master
Douglass had. On Douglasss new journey of being surrounded by new people, he
started to educate his fellow slaves so they knew the purpose and importance of having
freedom. With the knowledge and education that both Douglass and fellow slaves had,
allowed them to plan an escape to freedom. Soon after their escape, he was put into jail
and then sent back to Baltimore with the Aulds to learn a trade. Douglass becomes a
caulker where he increasingly earns money. During those years of working, Douglass
saves enough money to escape once again. After fleeing to New York City, his took a
major positive turn, where he became successful. He moved to New Bedford with his

new wife, and here Douglass became lecturer for the American Anti-slavery
Organization. As an abolitionist, Douglass traveled and spoke nearly every day on the
inequality and brutality of slavery. This helped others who were suffering of slavery to
have a voice and realise that slavery is not something that blacks should be held to.
In conclusion, The narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass was about the
injustice and inequality of slavery. The reasons why Frederick Douglass remained alive
to tell his story and help others was the motivation of fear that gave him ambition to be
free, but it was his education that allowed him to escape successfully. Though many
people in todays world take the importance of simple reading and writing knowledge for
granted. As in Douglasss situation, this often overseen skill was what allowed many
others and himself a passage to freedom. Throughout his narrative Douglass was able
to overcome his mental, physical and emotional state of wanting to give up on life. He
was also able to understand things through his self-education and make decisions
which lead to him gaining freedom. Lastly he was able to achieve the ability to convince
people that slavery is the way of nature but the deprivation of whites against blacks.