LITR 4232: American Renaissance
University of Houston-Clear Lake
Student Presentation, spring 2001
Reader: Lacy Lakner
Recorder:
Robert Buffum
20 February 2001
"Narrative
of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave"
"Narrative" written in 1845 by Frederick Douglass, a former
slave, depicts his life as a slave, the horrendous conditions of slavery, and
the effect the common practice had on slaves and slave owners. Using objective 3
(equality and race), and the theme of dehumanization, the first passage on page
1781 shows how slaves were treated as nothing more than cattle, namely
"horses, sheep and swine." Here, the slaves undergo a
"valuation" to determine their worth, not as individuals, but as
laborers. Ironically, this degrading act shows how devalued the slaves were as
human beings, and in the eyes of the slave holder, slaves were nothing more than
property.
On page 1764, Douglass tells of his experience with his first Master.
This passage describes how hardened the Master has become, for he is able to
repeatedly whip a female slave devoid of any emotion, that "no words, no
tears, no prayers, from his gory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its
bloody purpose. The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped." This
passage illustrates slavery’s effect on the slave owner; that is, slavery
causes the one in power to become desensitized to the slave condition, and
develop a hardened heart. He loses his ability to sympathize and feel neither
emotion or remorse.
Slavery also had a profound effect on females, or rather, women married
to men who owned slaves. Douglass explains this in his passages on pages 1776
and 1778. Here, both women, Mrs. Auld and Mrs. Hughes, were women who "once
given the irresponsible power," became just as hideous as the men in their
treatment of slaves. Mrs. Auld’s angelic face gave place to that of a
demon," and Mrs. Hughes’ "lamblike disposition gave way to one of
tigerlike fierceness."
Interestingly, to this point, Douglass has used animal imagery throughout
the "Narrative" to portray the slave and slave owner. On page 1809,
Douglass employs several animalistic depictions, such as "a den of hungry
lions," "ferocious beasts," "the hideous crocodile,"
"wild beasts," and "helpless fish." An interesting class
discussion followed when asked for opinions on Douglass’ use of animal imagery
to comment on the slave condition. Charley pointed out that the images of the
lamb and lion were biblical. Dr. White pressed the class to look beyond the
surface for deeper meanings of the images used. He suggested that there was a
higher meaning attached to them, and that the images portray a dog-eat-dog
existence. Again, Charley pointed out that white people used biblical imagery to
explain or justify a given situation. William added that in folklore, the
oppressor is often portrayed as animalistic, a demon, one working on the human
consciousness to destroy the soul. Dr.White then wrapped up by suggesting that
in all, the animal images show brutalization of both slave and slave owner.
In essence, slaves lived like animals, were treated like animals, and
felt like animals, and yet, in reality it was the slave owners who were the
uncivilized beasts. Slavery had lowered the value of humanity for both slave and
owner, allowing neither to reach their full potential and become capable,
civilized human beings.