Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass

Résumé du document

Commentaire de texte sur une partie du célèbre livre de Frederick Douglass (un ancien esclave américain)

Extraits

[...] But sometimes they can be part of the lucky ones who know who is their sister or brother and work with them on plantations, but any owner was free to sell brothers from sisters, husbands from wives, parents from children. Moreover, slave marriages and family ties were not recognized by American law. Many large slaveholders had numerous plantations and frequently shifted slaves, splitting families in the process without ever feeling an ounce of guilt. All of this make of Frederick Douglass an abolitionist who wants to change things. [...]

[...] The text studied was precisely written by Frederick Douglas in 1845. Frederick Douglas was born into slavery maybe in 1818 but this is not sure. After several failed attempts to escape from his master, Douglass finally left covey's farm in 1838. Moreover, he will become the first African American nominated to be the vice president of the United States. His text is an extract of chapter 1 from his first book and memoir. He wrote this work to be a spokesperson for all the slaves and tried to enlighten American people. [...]

[...] "Frederick Douglass Biography", A&E Television Networks, April https://www.biography.com/people/frederick-douglass-9278324, Accessed 16 Dec Mettra, Mélanie, et al. Abraham Lincoln: The American Civil War and the Abolition of Slavery. 50Minutes.com NBC News.1800-1850s: Expansion of slavery in the U.S.,27 May 2008, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24714472/ns/us_news-gut_check/t/s-s-expansion-slavery-us/. Accessed 16 Dec Norton, Mary Beth, et al. A People and a Nation. International Edition Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass. [...]

[...] For anti-slavery campaigners, the violence was one of the worst aspects of slavery. They said that owning slaves turned men into monsters. The violence was not the only thing that hurt the slaves, there was also the separation of their family when they were children. Frederick lived it, "my mother and I were separated when I was but an infant" (l20). Like Frederick said the purpose of this strategy was to put some distance between the mother and his child (l23). [...]

[...] There are books like "Narrative of the life" which will help to make slaves forever free. His goal was to show the real conditions of being a slave because at that time a lot of people and especially Americans didn't believe that slavery was going so far. Furthermore, through this text Douglass, who was formerly a slave, shows to everyone that being a slave doesn't mean that they are less intelligent and cannot write a book. This contradicts the widespread belief at the time that slaves were unable to communicate through the standard conventions of American literature. [...]