Frederick Douglass
...re was another way of living and were not inferior to the white man. Divine supports the idea that the white men felt they were superior to the blacks by saying, “Blacks, it was alleged, were innately inferior to the whites and suited only for slavery” (Divine 237). Douglass became aware that the efforts of the whites were to prevent a power struggle from ever occurring by preventing the slave from thinking that equality could ever take place. Douglass set his heart on becoming educated, allowing him to challenge the power of the white man. Douglass says, “ … given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell” (Douglass 51). Thus the desire for freedom was exited by his understanding of the whole and its functions. When Douglass was a plantation slave, he knew little of these facts and thus had no desire to escape, but as Douglass was gaining intellect he was breaking the chains of his enslavement. Along the way to gaining intellect, Douglass faced many obstacles, many of which were brought about by slaveholders, which brought him to his deepest despair in life. Mr. Covey is an excellent example of a slaveholder who would do everything in his power to prevent his slaves from thinking of freedom. His method was to work his slaves so hard that their spirit and aspirations were detached from them, seeming more like dreams than reality. The description of Douglass’ emotional state shows the tortured mind of the slave in a life of despair, “Sunday was my only leisure time. I spent this in sort of a beast like stupor … I sank down again, mourning over my wretched condition. I was sometimes prompted to take my life, and that of Covey, but was prevented by...