The following discussion focuses on the life of slavery of Frederick Douglass in his book Learning to Read and Write

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Introduction

During the colonial period, many people especially the blacks and the poor people in the world were taken to serve as slaves in their colonies. Some worked in the mines, factories and also provided domestic services. Much of this work went through without any pay for the slaves. The following discussion focuses on the life of slavery of Frederick Douglass in his book ‘Learning to Read and Write.’

Discussion

This discussion will focus on the contrast between anger and protest with that of resignation and acceptance which are two kinds of feelings expressed by the slaves who felt excluded from the American society. The narrator was working as a slave in one of the families, and one of his main goals of life is to know how to read and right. His master was known as Hugh and he made sure that this did not happen for the fear that if he did know how to read and right, he would begin fighting for his rights.

From the narrative it is expressed that the narrator was being helped to understand alphabets by his mistress (Douglass 54). However this trend changed as Hugh warned her against doing that. He was not even allowed to read a newspaper as it is expressed “no reading was required even the newspaper.’

Anger and protest are correlated in the sense that once the slaves got tired of the harsh treatment they received from their masters, this made them protest by running away or others by committing suicide. From the narrative it is told that the narrator is contemplating escaping. This was prompted by the kind of anger that he was repressing in his heart after reading the novel ‘The Colombian Orator’ which talked about the origin of slavery and the pain that they went through. Pain and anger is expressed when he is caught in a dilemma of whether to kill himself or to rum away. This can also be seen as a protest.

On the contrary, resignation and acceptance were also experienced by the slaves. Resignation is the act of passively accepting the condition as it is since one can not change anything. The person is regarded as helpless and is at the mercies of his master. This is demonstrated by the statement by the narrator, ‘but I am a slave for life’ (Douglass 80). This sends some sense of resignation and acceptance. He was admiring the life of the friends he had created who used to teach him how to right. Going by this explanation, the feelings of anger and protest could not really help the slaves as they were not allowed to make any kind of such behaviors. They were not allowed to interact with others only when they were at work and therefore it was not easy for them to express their anger through protest.

The above can be supported by the narrator’s comment that ‘whites were known to help slaves run but later take them to their masters for a pay.’( Douglass 78) This shows that though the slaves could express their anger by protesting, they were not doing themselves any better. There are those who died in the process or found themselves back with much harsher treatment. Therefore, though both feeling of anger and protest and that of resignation and acceptance are present, the most dominant one among the slaves is the later since they have no much to do to liberate themselves.

Conclusion

Life of slavery is hard as there is no freedom to do what one wishes even to empower oneself through reading and writing. This is normally done to ensure that the slave does not get to know their rights so that they do not begin to protest.

Reference

Frederick Douglass: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave.

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Douglass/Autobiography/07.html by the SunSITE Manager. SunSITE Manager: HYPERLINK “mailto:manager@sunsite.berkeley.edu” manager@sunsite.berkeley.edu