FREDERICK DOUGLASS: From NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

From NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS

2007

Frederick Douglas had several masters in his life . These people played an important role in his life . They made Douglass life better or worse depending on what they decided to do . In most parts , Douglass ' life is a life they can control . Therefore , while Douglass is a self-educated thinking man , his fate is still influenced greatly by what these people decide for him . Colonel Lloyd , Mrs . Auld and Mr . Freeland are three of these people who made the greatest impact

in Douglass ' life . They will be discussed in this essay

His first master , Colonel Lloyd , consider himself Douglass ' master and owner . For him , Douglass is his slave and property . Due to this belief he observed practices that are customary to masters like him . In their locality , slaves are considered to have no right to know details about their lives . They are not allowed to ask about their lives and doing so will be considered impertinent . They are to be separated from their mothers from their first 12 months onwards , except for a few visits now and then (p . 32 ) Colonel Lloyd adhered to these rules . Douglass was taken from his mother when he was young . His mother visits him , but very rarely . His mother died , but he was not allowed to visit him her while she was sick , and even after she died and was buried (pp . 31 to 33 Colonel Lloyd , like other masters , also withheld most information about Douglass from himself too . Douglass does not even know his exact age and birthday . All he had is an approximation . Furthermore , the fact that he is able to gather enough information so as to be able to approximate his age is a fortunate accident . His age , like al other information about him , his family and origin , were discovered by him through fortunate accidents of him being within hearing distance of people who happened to be talking about him (See for example

. 32 . Another custom in Talbot county , Maryland , where his first master live , is cruelty towards slaves such as through infliction of physical pain and giving insufficient supplies for sustenance . Although not explicitly mentioned and described in the essay , certain narrations and developments show that , like other slaves in that place , Douglass was also exposed to cruelty from his masters . When he first came to Baltimore , he was shocked at the relative kindness he saw from people . Slaves are still considered as someone who is not an equal , but cruelty is not resorted to lest one will gain a bad reputation of being a cruel master (p . 39 . This shows that he was not exposed to such kind of liberal treatment from his original master . He was also treated with cruelty . This has influenced him greatly because it is through this cruel treatment that he learned that he is a slave Of all the places where Douglass ' were sent , it is in Maryland were he experienced the most...