Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Slavery and Freedom
Teachers Guide (Penguin)
INTRODUCTION
The compelling autobiography of an extraordinary man born into slavery, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is also a powerful inquiry into the question of what it means to be human. From the opening sentences of the narrative, Douglass delineates the context from which this question emerges—the fact that slave owners typically thought of slaves as animals. Douglass does not know how old he is, and he quickly asserts that this is not unusual, since most slaves “know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs” (p. 47). It is instructive that this initial comparison of slaves to animals does not serve to express something about the minds of the slave owners; instead, it expresses something about the minds of the slaves that is the consequence of being born into an environment constructed and carefully maintained by their owners. In an environment that does not permit the idea that slaves are human, the only perspective available to them is that of their owners. Their own perspective therefore becomes an additional barrier to thinking of themselves as human.
Learning to read and write is essential to the process whereby Douglass comes to see himself as human. As he describes it, the acquisition of these skills is inseparable from the dawning of self-consciousness. Reading gives Douglass access to a new world that opens before him, but the strongest effect of his literacy is the light it casts on the world he already knows. His anguish is so great that he “would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing” (p. 84). It allows him to see his “wretched condition, without the remedy” (p. 84). Self-consciousness, the trait that most distinguishes humans from animals, produces such despair in Douglass that he confesses he often wished himself a beast.
Douglass portrays the breadth of slavery’s ability to dehumanize through his insights into the mentality of slave owners. Douglass suggests that if slaves are made rather than born, the same is sometimes true of slave owners. The mistress who began teaching him to read and write “at first lacked the depravity indispensable to shutting [him] up in mental darkness” (p. 81). Under the influence of her husband and, more generally, the institution of slavery, “the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness” (p. 82). The mistress not only stops teaching Douglass to read and write, but she is even more vigilant than her husband in preventing him from learning. The transformation of his mistress raises the question of how much of the behavior of slave owners toward their slaves was learned and how much was internally motivated. Douglass would have us believe that the mistress was the victim of her circumstances, yet the brutality other slave owners seemed to come by so easily makes it difficult to determine whether the behavior was learned or inherent.
Edward Covey undoubtedly counts among the slave owners who play the role as if born for it; his harsh treatment breaks Douglass “in body, soul, and spirit” (p. 105). Following his eloquent lament for the freedom he cannot have, represented by the ships sailing on Chesapeake Bay, Douglass writes, “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man” (p. 107). The first part of this statement could refer to the methods employed by Covey, if not to all the owners at whose hands Douglass suffered. The second part refers to the story that follows, in which Douglass resists the whipping Covey intends to give him for disobeying. They fight for two hours, with Covey “getting entirely the worst end of the bargain” (p. 113). Douglass is never whipped again, and he describes this incident as “the turning-point in [his] career as a slave” and says that it “revived within [him] a sense of [his] own manhood” (p. 113). Douglass emphasizes the importance of literacy in developing his sense of himself as human. Is he suggesting, though, that his refusal to submit to Covey’s punishment was ultimately more important than his ability to read and write in shaping his sense of self?
In a letter that prefaces the narrative, Wendell Phillips, social activist and friend of Douglass’s, recalls “the old fable of ‘The Man and the Lion,’ where the lion complained that he should not be so misrepresented ‘when the lions wrote history’” (p. 43). As Phillips observes, Douglass’s narrative is history written from the perspective of those who previously had no voice. The very existence of the narrative makes it a testament to its author’s humanity and, therefore, a document of revisionist history. However, what gives Douglass’s narrative its universal relevance is his acute awareness of the complexities of human psychology. He observes that slaves usually spoke of themselves as content and of their masters as kind, concluding that slaves “suppress the truth rather than take the consequences of telling it, and in so doing prove themselves a part of the human family” (p. 62). Douglass is ever mindful that our humanity encompasses our failings no less than our capacity for nobility.
ABOUT FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass was born into slavery in rural Maryland in 1818. Sent to work in Baltimore, he was taught to read by the mistress of the house and regarded this achievement as a turning point in his life. Another such point was his violent resistance to a beating by the man to whom he had been bound as a field slave at age seventeen. Three years later, he escaped to the North, married, and worked menial jobs until his debut as an orator at an antislavery convention in 1841.
To expand his audience and to document the authenticity of his story, Douglass published his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, in 1845. The book was critically acclaimed and sold well both in the United States and in Europe. Douglass left for England later the same year, where he spent two years writing and lecturing. He returned to the United States after abolitionist friends purchased his legal emancipation.
From 1847 to 1863, Douglass published his own weekly paper, The North Star, leading to a break with his mentor William Lloyd Garrison. Douglass also produced a number of other periodicals, as well as two extensions of his narrative—Life and Times of Frederick Douglass and My Bondage and My Freedom. In 1848, he played a prominent role at the women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, and he was a lifelong supporter of the women’s suffrage movement. During the Civil War he was an adviser to President Lincoln and recruited blacks, including his own sons, for the Union army. He was appointed to several government positions, including recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia and United States minister and consul general to Haiti. Douglass died in 1895.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Why does Douglass believe “Slavery proved as injurious to [his master’s wife] as it did to [him]” (p. 81)?
2. After his confrontation with Mr. Covey, what does Douglass mean when he writes “however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact” (p. 113)?
3. Why is Douglass able to “understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs” (p. 57) sung by slaves only when he no longer is a slave himself?
4. When Douglass writes, “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man” (p. 107), what does he understand a man to be?
5. Douglass describes knowledge as “valuable bread” (p. 83) and the Liberator, an anti-slavery paper, as his “meat and drink” (p. 151). How does literacy sustain him?
6. How is Douglass able to maintain his religious faith when that of his owners is used to justify their treatment of him?
7. Why does Douglass consider holiday celebrations as part of the “inhumanity of slavery” (p. 115)?
8. Why does Douglass describe the sails on Chesapeake Bay as “so many shrouded ghosts” (p. 106)?
For Further Reflection
1. To what extent should a piece of autobiographical writing be regarded as “factual”?
2. Can literacy be a curse as well as a blessing?
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself
1. What purposes of this book are emphasized in its title? What function is served by the opening testimonials by W. H. Garrison and Wendell Phillips?
2. What does Garrison believe are the conclusions readers should draw from this book? Why is Daniel O’Connell an appropriate person to cite for an opinion of the effects of slavery?
3. What does Garrison believe are the most devastating effects of slavery? Is there evidence for this view from Douglass’s Narrative?
4. Why does Garrison cite two reports of cases of slave murder? According to him, can slaves testify at law against cruelties perpetuated on them?
5. What opinions about slavery does Phillips add in his introduction? Why does he believe Douglass’s publication placed him in jeopardy?
6. Toward what audiences do these prefaces seem addressed?
7. What kinds of brutality did Douglass witness when he was a child? How did they affect him later in life?
8. What is the turning point in Douglass’s life as a slave?
9. What role does literacy play in Douglass’s emancipation?
10. How is the white man a victim of slavery, according to Douglass?
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Chapter 1
Why do you think Douglass is so detailed in describing his home and its location?
What kinds of knowledge about themselves does he believe are kept from slaves, and why does he believe this is important?
What does Douglass regret in his memories of his parents? What qualities does he associate with memories of his mother? Why wasn’t he able to live with her?
What does he believe are some of the worse consequences of masters’ siring of children on their slaves?
What kinds of cruelty did Douglass witness as a boy? What may be the motivation of the cruel beating of Aunt Hester?
Chapter 2
What were the economic circumstances of Douglass’s master, Colonel Lloyd? What conditions does he describe on the plantations? How were the slaves housed and clothed? Under what conditions did they work?
What explanation does Douglass give for the singing of slaves? What features does he ascribe to the songs he heard? How do you interpret the refrain he reproduces? ("I am going away to the Great House Farm!/ O, yea! O, yea! O!")
What seems his attitude toward the desire of other slaves to travel to the Great House Farm?
Chapter 3
How did Col. Lloyd treat his stable keepers? What incident does Douglass narrate to indicate why slaves often gave seemingly contented replies when asked about their treatment?
What does Douglass think of the practice he describes of slaves fighting to defend the alleged virtues of their masters? To what psychological impulse does he attribute this?
Chapter 4
What violent events does this chapter record? Why do you think nothing was done to prosecute the murder of slaves?
How would you describe Douglass’s style? How does he show emotion in recounting the horrible sights he has witnessed?
Chapter 5
What were the circumstances of Douglass’s life in childhood? What was his relationship to his siblings?
What was his response to his removal to Baltimore? What sentiment did he hold about his future?
What seems to be indicated about Douglass’s character by his account of his childhood?
Chapter 6
What effect on the character of his new mistress Mrs. Auld does Douglass ascribe to slavery? What information does Mr. Auld unintentionally provide him?
How was Baltimore life different from that on the plantation?
Chapter 7
How does Mrs. Auld try to inhibit Douglass from learning to read and write? How does he succeed in attaining his aim?
What books does he read, and how do these influence his beliefs about slavery? How does he come to learn about the abolitionist movement?
What first suggests to his mind the possibility of escape?
Chapter 8
What happens to Douglass after the death of Captain Anthony? What treatment of his brother does he witness?
After his return to Baltimore and the death of Master Andrew Auld, what is done to Douglass’s grandmother?
Whom does Douglass regret to leave when Master Thomas orders him sent from Master Hugh’s residence? What kind of information does he seek before he leaves Baltimore, and for what purpose?
What are some general features of Douglass’s writing style? Which qualities help make it effective? Does the narrative create suspense?
Chapter 9
Under what conditions did Douglass live when with Thomas Auld and his wife at St. Michael’s? What behavior toward a lame woman slave does Douglass record?
In Douglass’s view, what was the disappointing effect of Mr. Auld’s conversion? What was the fate of Mr. Wilson’s Sabbath school for slaves? What effect may the behavior of professing Methodists have had on his later opinions?
What motivated Mr. Auld to send Frederick to Mr. Covey’s farm?
Would it surprise you to learn that years later Douglass visited Mr. Auld and bade him a kind farewell shortly before the latter’s death?
Chapter 10
How did Mr. Covey treat Douglass and his peers? What enabled Douglass to survive the incidents of the oxen and the beatings?
What psychological effect did Covey’s brutality have on Douglass? What thoughts or hopes encouraged him in his despair? (46)
What assistance in his plight did Douglass seek? What responses did he receive? Why do you think Mr. Auld refused to help him?
Why do you think Douglass included the incident of Sandy’s offer of the root? What seems to have been Douglass’s attitude toward this form of African folk practice?
How did Douglass regain his self-confidence? How does he add interest to his description of his long fight with Mr. Covey?
How does he analyze the fact that Mr. Covey failed to prosecute him for resistance? What lesson does he seem to have gained from this experience?
How does Douglass interpret the motives and psychological effects of the owner’s encouragment of excess among the slaves during holidays? Do you think his analysis may be correct?
What improvements does Douglass find in his labors for Mr. Freeland?
What were the results of Douglass’s efforts to teach his fellow slaves?
How did he and his friends resolve to emancipate themselves, and how is their effort failed?
Why do you think Mr. Auld sent the imprisoned Douglass back to Baltimore, rather than punishing him more severely?
In Baltimore, how was Douglass treated in Mr. Gardner’s shipyard, and how did he resist? Why was his master unable to obtain legal redress on his behalf?
What trade did he learn, and how did this alter his status?
Chapter 11
What reasons does Douglass give for not describing more of his manner of escape? From his other writings, how in fact was this escape effected?
What immediate considerations prompted Douglass to act? How did he plan to leave without arousing suspicion?
What aspects of his escape does he especially remember?
What part does his intended wife play in these recollections?
How does he choose his new name? Why may he have found it fitting?
What aspects of New Bedford life surprised him? What difficulties followed him in the exercise of his work?
What publication especially inspired Douglass? How did he commence his career as an orator and writer?
What is the effect of the book’s closure?
Appendix:
What clarification of his views about the relation of religion and slavery does Douglass provide in the appendix?
What effect might it have had on religious readers?
Do you think the appendix provides a useful addition to the narrative of his life?
As you think back on this book, what features of its content or rhetoric most impress you?