Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass discussion

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an autobiography of Frederick Douglass, was written by himself. Douglass was born into slavery and was separated from his mother after he was born. He struggled both physically and mentally to escape from slavery and finally received his freedom arriving in New York in September 1838. Witnessing and being victimized by the cruelty and injustice of slavery, Douglass wanted to write his personal experience to convince others, particularly the northern whites, to take action against slavery as slavery was not abolished at the time he wrote the book in 1845. He learned over the years that whites kept the slaves uneducated to prevent them from learning the truth and the outside world in order to maintain their power. Slaves, regarded as a property to be bought and sold, were not only given unequal treatments but also inhumane ones. Douglass described the abusive and brutal behaviors slaves had to tolerate from their masters. At young age, his earliest memory of witnessing such brutal inhumanity was watching his Aunt Hester got tied up and whipped until she bled while the immoral master seemed to take pleasure in abusing her. Understanding the power of education is the passage to freedom, he found ways to educate himself, such as learning from little boys of what they learned at school. He even taught other slaves to read during the Sabbath school on Sundays. I enjoyed reading this autobiography; his narrative is candid. His firsthand witnesses and real-life experiences reveal the nation’s issues associated with humanity, equality, education, and freedom, and Douglass presented his audience the urgent need to terminate slavery and take part in the abolitionist movement. This book does not go into detail about his escape to freedom so that it would not endanger the lives of those who assisted him. He deliberately left out certain information to protect others’ identity. I would highly recommend this book to everyone as it is a powerful portrait of slavery, a true view of what life was like as a black slave.