book review of frederick Douglass, an american slave
...at. They received little food, few piece of clothing, and no beds. Those who had broke rules and even those who did not were beaten or whipped, and sometimes even shot by the plantation overseers. In this case, it was Mr. Severe and Mr. Austin Gore. Frederick Douglass’s life on this plantation was not as harsh as most of the other slaves were. Since he was only a young child, he worked in the household, instead of in the fields. When he was seven years old, he was given away to Captain Anthony’s son in law’s brother, Hugh Auld, who lived in Baltimore, Maryland. In Baltimore, Frederick Douglass enjoyed a relatively mild life. Usually, urban slave-owners were more conscious of appearing malicious or negligent toward their slaves in front of their non slave owning neighbors. Sophia Auld, Hugh Auld’s wife, had never owned slaves before, and therefore she was astonishingly caring to Frederick Douglass at first. She even began to educate Frederick Douglass on how to read, until her husband ordered her to stop, saying “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ‘ell’. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master-to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now, if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. H e would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy”. Eventually, Sophia Auld gave in to this state of mind of slave owning and lost her natural kindness. Even though Sophia and Hugh Auld became crueler towards him, Frederick Douglass still loved Baltimore. He taught himself to read with the help of neighboring boys. As he learned to read and write, Frederick Douglass became aware of the evils of slavery and of the existence of the abolitionist movement. He then decided to escape north. After the deaths of Captain Anthony and his remaining heirs, Frederick Douglass was taken back to serve Thomas Auld, Captain Anthony’s son in law. Thomas Auld was a callous man made harsher by his false religious goodness. Thomas Auld considered Frederick Douglass uncontrollable, so Thomas Auld rented him for one year to Edward Covey, a man known for “breaking” slaves. Edward Covey managed, within the first six months, to work and whip all the spirit out of Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass became a rough man, who was no longer interested in reading or liberty anymore. He was only capable of resting from his injuries and exhaustion. Finally the decision point came when Frederick Douglass decided to fight back against Edward Covey. The two men had a long two hour fight. This resulted in Edward Covey never laying another finger on Frederick Douglass. When Frederick Douglass’s year with Edward Covey was over, Frederick Douglass was again rented to a former slave owner William Freeland for two years. Though William Freeland was a gentler and just man than most slave owners, Frederick Douglass’s desire to escape north was renewed. At William Freeland’s, Frederick Douglass began to teach his fellow slaves in a Sabbath school at the homes of free blacks. In spite of the warning of punishments and violence they could had face, many slaves from nearby farms came to Frederick Douglass and worked industriously to learn. At William Freeland’s, Frederick Douglass also formed a run away plan with three fellow slaves with whom he was close to. However, one of the slaves gave up their plan and Frederick Douglass and the others were taken to jail. Thomas Auld then sent Frederick Douglass back to Baltimore, Maryland with Hugh Auld, to learn the trade of ship caulking. In Baltimore, Maryland’s trade industry, Frederick Douglass ran up against tense racial relations. The white workers had been working along with free black workers, but soon the whites had begun to worry that the rising numbers of free blacks will take their jobs. Even though Frederick Douglass was only a trainee and still a slave, he met violent plans of threats from his white co-workers and was enforced to change shipyards. In his new apprenticeship, Frederick Douglass quickly learned the trade of caulking and soon earned the highest salary possible; however he always turned them over to Hugh Auld. Finally, Frederick Douglass received consent from Hugh Auld to hire out his extra time. He saved his money and eventually made his escape to New York. In New York, Frederick Douglass feared of being brought back so he changed his name from Bailey to Douglass. Afterwards, he married Anna Murray, a free woman he met while he was in Baltimore, Maryland. They moved north to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Douglass became intensely busy with the abolitionist movement as both a writer and a speaker. The author, Frederick Douglass, accomplished his purpose, which was to allow one to read and witness actual life of a slave and to decide for one self how debauched slavery truly was. It illuminated the emotions, during the hysteria, through the words of the historical characters at the time. Fredrick Douglass himself was his own research. He described his childhood on the numerous plantations he lived...