"As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing." Frederick Douglass.
"The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" was written by Douglass when he was a young man. He was born into slavery, and this account of his life was very important because it recalls the personal struggles Fredrick Douglass, as well as the trials of those closest to him. It also reveals that Douglass was a true dream chaser, using his deep desire for freedom as a catalyst to bring that to fruition.
"The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" describes in great detail how torturous the it was to be a slave of a cruel master. He describes how his Aunt Hester, accused of disobeying her master, was stripped to her waist and brutally whipped, hands tied to a hook above. It's events such as this that triggered Douglass to escape the life of a slave and live as a free, respected man. .
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born near Easton in Talbot County, Maryland. Because he was born into slavery, he had no accurate documentation of his birth. Separated from his mother as an infant, he had only a few memories of of his short time with her. .
"The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" is filled with descriptive and true stories of Frederick's life as a slave. The book is written in a straight forward manner, and in a unique approach, he uses his point of view as well as his master's to tell a story.
Throughout the narrative, Frederick Douglass explains how slave owners would purposefully keep their slaves ignorant, using their lack of education and social ignorance to keep them "under his thumb". .
While reading this book, I came to the conclusion that slavery ends where knowledge begins. Slave owners fought to keep slaves uneducated because they were afraid of losing power over them. "As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing," Frederick Douglass stated.
