THE NARRATIVE OF FREDRICK DOUGLAS: AN ANALYSIS.
The narrative of Fredrick Douglas has the tendency of skipping around issues and has no completely chronological order in the explanation and description of events. However, he starts with his childhood, giving a summary of how he and other slave children had no recollection of their birthdays at that time, something he still must guess for himself based on the rumors he eavesdropped from his master. The narrative is basically an autobiography attempting in a closed manner how slavery was in the plantations of the United States. It is a detail of his life from the time he was born to the time he escaped to freedom, embedding strong political message on the plight of enslaved people in that continent. In his narrative, it is notable that Douglas is attempting to show the people the ills of slavery in that they understand why it should be abolished. It is then very effective of him to tell the story of who was better at detailing the issues of slavery than a former slave? Even though he wanted to tell a personal history, he is keen to mention his prime goal which is the abolition of slavery.
The author of the autobiography comes out as a skilled and spirited man, who is out to prove to the critics that he can provide a well-documented and articulated detail about the ills of slavery and why it should then be abolished. Douglass progressed from the dehumanizing environment of slavery to become an empowered and educated young man. The narrator here is the author himself and as the title as just as the page tells the reader that the narrative is “written by Himself.” The author is the narratives main character, and he employs nostalgia by recollecting into his younger self. He conflicts with his life as a teenager and seems to emphasize on the things he would have done differently as he was growing up.
The tone of the narrative fluctuates in many dimensions; it interchanges from being cool, emotional, reserved and angry. Why would Douglas then manifest such a slew of tone in the narrative? This can be deduced from his desire to make the reader believe him and consider it as the truth about the what happened to him. One could wonder why he kept some bit of his life as to when he would have been happy especially when he got married, but he hides it from the reader. It can be deduced that he keeps his anger towards slavery very much hidden and hides the names of people who helped him escape from slavery. At other times, he is furious with the system which prompts the reader to be angry too, but however much he keeps his anger in check, it is easy for the reader to know how he feels. Then there is the time when he gets into an emotional outburst especially in his verbal as he overlooks the Chesapeake Bay watching the free white sails of the ships (Douglass 8.10).
There are several themes in that narrative one of the prominent ones is slavery. It features in every statement and connotation of the narrative, to convince people that slavery was wrong. Fredrick attempts to show people how it means to be free and how to would the slaveholders have justified the issue of slavery. The narrative according to Douglas, has two issues, in that there is legal freedom and the one which personal which comes from within.
The other theme is education, where he believed that all people were born with equal opportunities at hand, but not born free as everyone had to make him or herself who they were. He, therefore, puts emphasis on self -improvement, and education as essential issues of life. The wrong thing about slavery to him is that it prevents the slaves from improving themselves through education, and he is quick to note that education and slavery are opposites. He, therefore, works towards expanding his horizon through education, but to gain freedom, he must physically escape from slavery.
Also, there is the theme of family, where Douglass starts his narrative lamenting how he has deprived the privilege of enjoying a family reunion. He has no idea of who his father is and dreads the fact that it might be even his slave master. He barely has time to spend with his mother whom he has never seen during sunlight but in the night. He only remembers a handful of times before she died and was not even allowed to see her when she fell sick or attend her burial. He mentions how he witnessed her grandmother’s children and grandchildren being sold away never to be seen again. Therefore, he claims that slavery is something which prevented him from ever having a family and he notices that he only got married when he escaped from slavery.
It is obvious that the theme of suffering, in that slavery was very awful as it is described from Douglas’ perspective, when he was at a young age, he did not understand what slavery was until he witnessed his relative, Aunt Hester, being whipped simply because she was beautiful and her master had an interest in her. His real introduction to the brutality of slavery is when he goes to work for Covey. He vows to die rather that he let herself be whipped again and it is by that he gains strength to make the choice of journeying North.
In the narrative, there are several motifs which can be deduced and thy include, where there is the mentioning of victimization of women. This is even though women do not feature fully as characters, but he employs them as vivid images. His depiction of women mangled and emancipated bodies are meant to arouse outrage and incite pain from the reader in pointing out the brutality of slavery. He also depicts on how the slaves were treated as property. Douglass seemed to be inclined to show slaves frequently treated as sub-human beings and treated as slaves. In this case, slave owners are treated as mere animals without reason and therefore kept performing productive labor. He presents the treatment of slaves as sub-human as absurd and cruel when it is being performed by Christians.
The other motif is a freedom which happens in the city. Douglass uses Baltimore to show the best side of being free and alternates between Maryland and Baltimore. He depicts Baltimore as the city of possibilities and is a more open society. It is in this section of the land where Douglas meets with whites who are opposed to the institution of slavery. Therefore, it becomes a contrast between the countryside and the city where the former is a place where people are under constant civilization from slaveowners. In the countryside, slaves enjoy the very least of freedom of mobility and personal choice.
There is also the depiction of symbolism, and it can be ascertained is the use of the white-sailed ships. He encounters ships with white sails during his lowest moments of life as he walks up the Chesapeake Bay when he is still under Covey. The ships appear as visions to Douglass wo later interprets them to mean that he is demoralized states. The ships which are moving upwards seem to signify to him the moments or possibilities of freedom from slavery to him. The white sails seem to show him of angels who mean his deep sense of needed spiritualism, or that freedom is required from spiritualism.
Douglas is offered a root from a tree from the forest by Sandy Jenkins, where is supposedly has magical powers, which could help slaves from being whipped. Douglas does not believe in the magical powers of the root, and one would be tempted to ask the why he took it despite being a Christian, but he accepts it so that he would appease Sandy. Douglas in the footnote indicates that it is superstitious for Sandy to believe in the powers of the root and it represents the ignorance and the typical slave population. In this case, the root is used as a symbolism of the traditional African approach to faith and belief. The area of symbology Is upon Douglas’ encounter with the Columbian Orator, which is a collection of poems, essays, and dialogues when he was around the age of 12. As he continues to be versed with the issues of slavery, he becomes enlightened on the plight on matters of slavery and its injustice. In this context, Douglas is more inclined upon the emancipation of Catholic and focusses of the master- slave dialogue about the matter. These are issues which help him to denote that slavery is wrong and unjust, both politically and philosophically. The Columbian Orator is here representing the Humans Rights as well as the power of articulation and eloquence. It can be deduced that there is an extent in which Douglas seems to believe that his life is an attempted replication of the Columbian Orator.
There are myriad ways in which matters of allusions are weaved in the narrative. Douglas in the narrative comes out as Christian and a spiritual man; he, however, labors to express his pain on the aspects with teachings of Christianity, which he pits in contrast with the hypocrisy of the slave owner’s religiosity. He decries the pretense of the purported pious people and the corrupt church which benefits from the alms and giving’s from the proceeds acquired by slave labor. He lambasts the church for supporting the institutions and the injustice done in slavery, and he is quick to call the fake Pharisees based on their abhorrent words and actions. It is important to note that Douglas to locates the authenticity of Christianity in the community of the blacks.
The allusions used here are such as the philosophical and literary references in different areas of content. He uses the play of Hamlet written by William Shakespeare in that “rather bear those ills we had than to fly others, that we know not of” (Shakespeare, William, and George Richard Hibbard 10. 25). He also uses allusions of John Greenleaf Whittier “the fair well of a Virginia slave mother to her daughters sold into the southern bondage,” also the (appendix 2) “clerical oppressors.”
There is also the use of Biblical references where he uses the book of Matthew 25: 35 "I was hungry, and he gave me meat; I was thirsty, and he gave me drink; I was a stranger, and he took me in.”, Also, there is the use of the Gospel of Luke 12: 49, where he “"He that knoweth his master's will and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.". He also draws inspiration from the story of Daniel in the lion’s den especially where he uses the book of Daniel 11:5" I felt like one who had escaped a den of hungry lions"; (8.5): "I had escaped a worse than lion's jaws." There is also the use of historical references such as the mention of Napoleon Bonaparte (Douglass 9.2), Patrick Henry (Douglass preface 4, 10. 26), the Underground Rail Road (Douglass 11.2) and the African Slave Trade (Douglass 7.6 and 1.6).
In conclusion, creates a very emotional narrative on the plight of slaves in the hands of slave owners in the plantations. Giving vivid imagery of the lives of the people in the plantations is an invite of the reader to feel his life in his boots. It is an appeal to all those who was inclined to slavery that there is no justification whatsoever for the dehumanization of black people by the slaveowners. Standing up and engaging a two-hour fight with Covey is a message brought home by Douglas that freedom is not given but won and even calls confronting one’s biggest fear.
Works cited.
Bruce, Dickson D., and James C. Hall. "Approaches to Teaching Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass."African American Review, vol 34, no. 4, 2000, p. 728. Penn State Press (Project Muse), doi:10.2307/2901446.
Douglass, Frederick. "Narrative of the Life of." New York: Signet (1968).
Shakespeare, William, and George Richard Hibbard. Hamlet. 1st ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008.
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