American History

In the narrative about his life as a slave and subsequent escape to freedom, Fredrick Douglas applied extremely clear and striking language to bring out the reality of the kind of violence that slaves experienced during their daily lives in the American plantations. Throughout the narrative, Douglas provided the reader with a detailed description of horrendous accounts of violence that slaves were exposed to under their masters, which stole the very dignity of this sector of society yet, which no one apparently appeared to care even little about. His main aim was to reveal the evils of a practice that was justified by many especially those in the North who had little information about the true nature of daily events as they unfolded on the plantations of the American south. By narrating his own experiences as well as those of other slaves, Fredrick Douglas used the narrative to highly condemn the violence and other maltreatment that slaves were exposed to, irrespective of the fact that they had no legal power to mount their own defense or even protect themselves. Throughout the narrative, the writer embraced the noble task of enlightening the rest of America and the world at large about the dehumanizing effects that the institution of slavery had on the lives of his kinsmen and how the writer was finally able to triumph over it.

Violence and the enslaved experience
Violence according to Douglas was a tool that slave masters in the state of Maryland used over their servants in such way that more violence became secondary to more control. Slave masters were always ready to apply violence at any given opportunity as it gave them continued reassurance that the Negro was totally under their control. It became a tool that the institution of slavery highly depended upon for its very existence. Douglas narrated the frequent whipping of his own aunt by her slave master while tied to a tree and states that .not until overcome by fatigue would he cease to swing the blood-clotted cow skin (19-20).   The writer goes on to make this allegation quite clear through the statement, ., Behave well or behave ill, it is the duty of a master occasionally to whip a slave, to remind him of his masters authority (Douglas 82).  Slave whipping was an act that the slave masters appear to have taken great pleasure in considering the many incidents of whipping that Douglas put down in his narrative. One of the slave masters, Mr. Severe is said to have been so cruel that according to Douglas From the rising till the going down of the sun, he was cursing, raving, cutting, and slashing among the slaves of the field, in the most frightful manner (24). This theme runs throughout the chapter with Douglas being quick to add, All these lived at the Great House Farm, and enjoyed the luxury of whipping the servants when they pleased... (30).

To the slave masters, slaves were just another property like the horses, pigs, cattle and sheep although the animals received better treatment than the slaves. The writer explains that, Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep and swine (Douglas 54). Yet, the animals lived better than the slaves in that they did not have to experience the bloody brutality or murder that marked the daily lives of the servants. In Maryland, killing a slave was not a criminal offence. According to Douglas, a slave called Demby was shot by a Mr. Gore as he tried to escape the usual whipping and, His horrid crime was not even submitted to judicial investigation (34-37). Two slaves were also killed by Mr. Thomas Lauman while a cousin to the writers wife was killed by the wife of Mr. Giles Hicks. Another slave belonging to Colonel Lloyd was shot by Mr. Beal Bondly for trespassing on his property while fishing. All this was done to create fear and intimidate the other slaves so that they would not in any way try to press for better living conditions or their release.

Although violence was generally a mark of oppression for the slaves, it also helped to arouse an urge for freedom among the oppressed. Despite the horrendous acts of violence that marked daily life among the slaves, as well as a lack of basic education, Douglas mind never got enslaved to this unpleasant way of life and he always harbored a distant desire for freedom. It was apparent that knowledge appeared to be the main key to freedom for the slaves yet the writer presented his own transformation from slavery to freedom as a pure act of violence. After physically being engaged in a fight with his master and oppressor Edward Covey, Douglas claimed to have regained the interest in learning that had long disappeared besides regaining personal spirit as well as the strong conviction to get out of slavery and live a free man. Douglas questioned his condition thus, Why am I a slave I will run away. Get caught, or get clear, Ill try it (71). By fighting back his master, the writer appears to have applied violence as a means to confrontation and for self defense and did not in any way advocate violence against the slave masters. Douglas vividly described the encounter in a language that expressed nothing but victory over his master, .I resolved to fight.. I sized Covey hard by the throat. ..I did not hesitate to let it be known of me, that the white man who expected to succeed in whipping must also succeed in killing me (76, 77-78). Contained aggression helped Douglas to successfully bring under control, the violence between himself and Covey. An act of violence had helped to rebuild his self-esteem. Violence was also used as a tool for ensuring that the slave never improved his status in society by using it to deny the slave any access to formal education or religious enlightenment. The slave masters feared that any access to such information would give opportunity to the slave to make his life better. As stated by Douglas,  it was unlawful as well as unsafe to teach a slave to read..Their minds had been starved by their cruel masters. They had been shut up in mental darkness, (40, 85).

Family life was extremely difficult for slaves in Maryland where Fredrick Douglas was born. Babies were separated from their mothers during infancy and placed under the care of older women who had passed as economically unproductive to plantation farming. Douglas clearly states their plight as follows, Frequently before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it. And the child is placed under the care of an older woman, too old for field labor (17). Although Douglas frequently depicts women to have been the worst victims of violence within the institution of slavery, children were not exempted from the brutality either. The writer narrates an incident in which, Master Andrew- a man who... took my little brother by the throat, threw him on the ground, and with the heel of his boot stamped upon his head till the blood gushed from his nose and ears. (Douglas 55). Hunger and cold was also a way of life for the slaves including the young children. There was never enough to eat for the slaves while food rotted in their masters houses.

In his own words, Douglas wrote of a slave girl, I have seen Mary contending with the pigs for the offal thrown into the street. (46). To stress the plight of the slaves, Douglas goes on to inform the reader that A great many times have we poor creatures been nearly perishing with hunger, when food in abundance lay moldering in the safe and smoke-house (60-61). Beds were completely non-existent for slaves and blankets were a privilege for the men and women. In his narrative, Douglas describes the conditions the slaves encountered during sleeping time, ., old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down side by side, on one common bed, .the cold, damp floor, each covering himself or herself with their miserable blankets. (23-24). Clothing was also hard to come by for slaves and more so for the children who knew no season and as Douglas narrates, Children ., of both sexes, almost naked, might be seen at all seasons of the year (24). Even life in jail was better than life on the plantations as stated by Douglas, While in jail, we found ourselves in much more comfortable quarters ..we had a good clean room. (94). Slave women were sexually abused by their masters some of whom used them as breeders for more slaves and it appears that the writer may have been born from such a union as stated by Douglas, The whisper that my master was my father (18), and, .he bought her, as he said, for A BREEDER (Douglas 69). To avoid conflict with their white wives, slave masters often sold off such children popularly referred to as Mullatos to other slave masters.

Conclusion
Through his accounts of malice and cruelty towards the salves, Fredrick Douglas was able to help his readers visualize the kind of evils that were associated with the institution of slavery. By narrating the beating and whipping scenes now and then, Douglas managed to expose the excessive brutality that slaves had to persevere in a manner that was geared towards attracting crushing emotional appeal from the readers. His narration of the slavery experience after he had escaped from slavery not only raised the emotions of his audience after they got an impression of slavery that they never  before had but also earned him the rank of lecturer in the American Anti-slavery Society. Fredrick Douglas became a strong figure in the abolitionist movement.