The first view we get from Douglass is as a small boy, without a birthday, father, or any sort of identity. "I have no accurate knowledge of my age A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood." (p. 39) .
Learning and knowledge make all the difference in the world, as Frederick Douglass proves by changing himself from a slave to a widely respected writer. You can't judge a book by its cover, if you look within the person you will see someone unique and through learning a world of difference is made. The main focus of this essay are the many struggles Douglass came upon through slavery and strategies on how he overcome them. .
In times of severe emotional and physical abuse, most people turn to their families for support. Frederick Douglass was subjected to emotional and physical abuse. Slaves were property of the slave owner, so, the slaves were continuously traded and families were constantly broken up. Having few blood ties to turn to, Douglass had to find other means of creating a family that would help him deal with the daily issues of slavery. Slavery destroyed any attempt towards having a normal family but he tried to create a family in different ways in order to survive his own conditions. Since his family was torn apart disrupted by slavery at very early age he had to form a family. Douglass never knew who his father was; though he heard about the possibility that his master might be his father. He had been torn from his mother's arms when he was twelve months old and was taken to a plantation. Douglass's only memory of his mother, who died when he was seven, was a memory of her walking twelve miles to tuck him in at night. His only family that remained for him to look to for comfort was his grandmother and his Aunt Hester. He lived with his grandmother on the edge of the plantation. His grandmother was put to raise the children of the younger women.