Example research essay topic: Read And Write Frederick Douglass - 1,059 words

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Setting a Nation Free Any anti slavery book published in 1845 was considered radical and daring, but for a black man and a fugitive slave, at that, to have done it was near suicide. Luckily, Frederick Douglass, the author of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, was able to flee America by way of Great Britain after the book was released so that the United States could have time to embrace it. It was a story all too common in the United States at the time, but nearly unknown except by those to whom were involved, and even then, only the slaves knew the full story. Frederick Douglass knew his escape would have been in vain if he could not make others aware of the atrocities taking place in the south at the time. So, with utter disregard for the consequences of his actions, he revealed to the world the horror that was slavery. Douglass spends much of the novel addressing the most obvious aspect of slavery, which is the cruelty.

The novel opens with Douglass talking of being sold from his mother at a young age and then several years later, after hearing of her death, being utterly unmoved as though it had been a total stranger. Although done subtlety, this part of the book hits very hard to the reader, because a reaction like that of Frederick to the death of ones parent is almost unimaginable. He says that his master may have been his biological father (a common occurrence on slave farms) and, the same as in his case, slaveholders sold away children from their mothers too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable. (Pg. 21) By this act many slaveholders had the double relation of master and father. (Pg. 21) The story is saturated with accounts of severe beatings too numerous to site. Douglass goes from hearing the beating late at night as a small boy, to experiencing the whippings first hand as a young man. The discipline of slaves was known by the people of the north, but the extent of mutilation and brutality was something unheard of and was an important point Douglass makes sure not to take lightly.

Unlike the media and entertainment of today, this book does not leave the reader desensitized to the violent images printed on the page before them. It can be said that Frederick Douglass may have held back in his accounts of the beatings he and the slaves had to endure, but his point of slavery's unrivaled cruelty comes across undiminished. Misconceptions about slaves, slaveholders, and slavery's conditions are all addressed for Douglass audience. He points out how one can quickly be manipulated by the exteriors of slave life. I did not, when a slave, understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs... They told a tale of woe which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension. (Pg. 29) The songs aforementioned may have caused slave owners and outsiders to believe slaves were content with their lives and, at times, did the same to the slaves themselves.

It wasnt until Douglass could look at that life from the viewpoint of a free man that he could see what the songs really meant. Douglass looked at other tactics that were used to manipulate slaves, the public, and even things that slaveholders did to put themselves at ease about the injustices they were involved in. White men have been known to encourage slaves to escape, and then, to get the reward, catch them and return them to their masters. (Pg. 55) Many tricks, just as diabolical as that, were used against slaves and those types of occurrences were what contributed to Frederick Douglass and other slaves trusting no man once they escaped the shackles of slavery. Rebuttals are made to the defense of slave holders that Douglass could foresee would come after his book was read.

So, he quickly falsifies any attempt a person could make at trying to make a slave owner look charitable or kind in his treatment of his property. The holidays are part and parcel of the gross fraud. (Pg. 82) The holidays given to slaves at the end of the year was merely a way of subsiding any feelings of discontentment the slaves might have had and the slaveholders would use the time to get the slaves drunk so they would seemingly feel happy and not be able to dwell on their sorry state. Frederick Douglass also points out that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes. (Pg. 84) he reveals the phony facade beneath the mask of religious life many of the slaveholders hid behind. The hypocrisy between mixing religion with slavery would be appalling to religious people anywhere; which, at the time, was most everyone.

Another powerful point that is made regarding the manipulation of slaves is seen when the slaves are evaluated for property value and put with the animals all holding the same rank in scale of being. Little things like that robbed slaves of any dignity or self-worth they may have had. Slaveholders manipulated themselves into believing such things with constant whippings and cruel treatment, just like they would treat an animal. Then they would perform little acts of kindness like returning a small share of a slaves wages to make himself to be a pretty honorable sort of robber. (Pg. 105) But by doing things of that nature, slaveholders didnt make slaves happier, they grew full of resentment and a want to be free. Whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free. (Pg. 102) The point most clearly identifiable in the novel is that slavery could be overcome and the key was knowledge. Knowledge by slaves lead to unrest and the want for freedom.

Learning to read and write was the knowledge Douglass gained which enabled him to escape. He then used those tools to help others gain freedom; not by teaching other slaves to read and write, but by writing his story so that those ignorant to the evil of slavery could become aware and channel their love of their own freedom to desire every man become his own master.

Research essay sample on Read And Write Frederick Douglass