F. Douglas And M.Rolands

Douglass, escaping slavery at the age of twenty-one, created a life out of nonexistence that slavery bestowed upon him as well as his race. Douglass' autobiography illustrates the evils of slavery as well as the struggle to rise from it and prosper. Douglass views America a land of opportunity for those who are completely free. He learned the importance of the written word and strove to learn how to read and write after prompting from a slave master's wife. From this point, Douglass knew that freedom depended on his education and strove to obtain it. As seen in his autobiography, Douglass acts as his own man, capable of intelligent and influential thought. Douglass became a prominent speaker on the evils of slavery and the need to abolish it. He served as an example that a black man could be educated and taken seriously by others. Douglass' influence on slavery is astounding. His autobiography caused many to feel compassion and realize the injustice that slavery encompassed. Douglass notes that American has provided him with a discerning and distasteful view of the New World while in slavery, but American began to encompass freedom and liberty when he became free and was listened to and treated as a human and not a piece of property.
             Mary Rowlandson and Frederick Douglass had been raised in the land known as America. They did not have prior residences to compare and contrast the New World's conditions and life to. Their contrast was between captivity and freedom. Upon experiencing both, the realization that freedom was the better of the two and the prize of which America boasted is seen in their accounts. Mary states, "When I lived in prosperity; having the comforts of this World about me, my Relations by me, and my heart cheerful; and taking little care for any thing; I should be jealous .
             least- (Rowlandson 151). Mary recalls the luxuries that the New World has given her many gifts and that these are gifts to be cherished.