Whew! Last blog of the day! I had to read this book as one of my first assignments for AP English, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Written by Fredrick Douglass, a freed American slave, an adamant abolitionist and a symbol of African-American freedom, he became a legend in American history. With his Einstein-esc hair and brilliance with words, Douglass inspired a nation with his strong words and set the nation on a course of freedom for all people. His first novel, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Written by Himself, became an instant bestseller soon after it was published.
Characters: Frederick Douglass: a slave in the 19th century/escaped slavery from his controlling masters/never knew his birthday or for certain who his father was
Mr. Hugh Auld: Douglass's last master/the master who attempted to take his wages that he earned/the last master Douglass ever had
Mistress Sophia: the originally kind wife of his master/allowed herself to be corrupted by slavery/was Douglass's master in Baltimore
Mr. Covey: the slave-breaker who was in charge of Douglass/almost made Douglass give up on his dreams of escaping slavery/master of Douglass for a full year
The Plot: Enter the world of the southern plantation. Enter a world of constant fear, oppression, sickness, and death. Enter a world where your word means nothing against the words of your superiors. Enter the world of slavery in the 1800s. Young Fredrick Douglass knows very little about himself; his birth mother was separated from him at a young age, his father may or not be the plantation owner, and he isn't even sure of his birthday. By the age of seven, he has experienced more horrific tortures and killings than most people see their entire life. Ferried from master to master, Douglass begins to see more of the world and as the evils of slavery become more obvious, he begins to strive to break out of his bonds. He teaches himself how to read with the help of urchin boys in the streets of Baltimore, and how to write with his master's spelling books. Along the way, the reader sees the evils of slavery through a slave's eyes, making it a revolutionary book that would change the face of America forever.
What I liked: It was so real. I know that sounds really redundant and not particularly intellectual, but it is the absolute truth. Every image, every word, every moment catapulted the reader hundreds of years in the past into a world so unlike our own. Douglass creates an image of his own personal hell, filled to the brim with demons so horrific; it’s hard to believe these creatures of the past could possibly be real. However, with every horror he presented, every injustice he was faced with, he never seemed bitter. I don't want to say that Douglass accepted his station, but in a way he did. He accepted that he would never amount to something greater if he allowed himself to be bullied into submitting. Douglass's strength was showing us how so many slaves lost their hope, and that he was one of the only ones who had enough strength to get beyond the oppression. Not because he wished to brag about it, but because he wanted to show us how remarkable and unrealistic it truly was: these slaves were not going to be able to save themselves, someone was going to have to help them. Without ever mentioning this theme, it cuts you to the core every time you turn a page; you feel the injustice almost radiating off the page and you are filled with a sense of disbelief that these events ever happened. Also, his projection of religion in the south was brutal and sickening. While he frequently references this in the novel, the appendix shows the extent of his disgust for these so-called devotees of God. For me, this was the part that hit home. How could someone who sings the praises of God enslave another, beat their brothers until they are senseless and sell families apart for the master's own economic benefit? If you read nothing else in this novel, read the poem at the end of the appendix.
What I didn't like: Douglass didn't tell us how he escaped from slavery when he was under Master Auld. I understand that he couldn't tell us because it could have alerted slave masters to other alleys of escape; however I really wished that I could have learned the secrets to his daring departure.
Overall: 10 out of 10. Books that change history don't come around very often. In fact, when you think of literature that changed the world I can think of a few pieces: the Magna Carta, Common Sense, the Declaration of Independence. In my mind, Douglass's brilliant novel ranks up there because it did exactly what these momentous pieces did: it changed the opinion of a population and forced them to examine themselves and who they really were as a people and how they were treating each other.
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