It was impossible to provide good care for children in plantation nurseries such as the one his grandmother oversaw. He could not hide from the sight of beatings and lashings of his slave family. His worst memory involves his Aunt Hester, whom his master accused of being in interest of another man other than himself. This jealousy sent the master in a rage and he physically and verbally abused his aunt in front of his eyes. A man who was probably his father represented this violent act; the role of father was distorted to Douglass and had caused him to search for support from his fellow slaves. .
Also maybe as a mother figure, his first lesson while living with Mr. and Mrs.Auld. Sophia Auld, Frederick's "mistress", was very humane to him and spent time teaching him the A, B, C's. After he mastered this, she assisted him in spelling three and four letter words. At this point in his lesson Mr. Auld encountered what his wife was doing for Frederick and forbid her to continue. He believed that "if you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell" and continuing with "learning would spoil the best nigger in the world". The masters felt that an ignorant slave was better than any beneficial learning because it would damage the slave and therefore he will go against his master. .
Another obstacle would be how Douglass used trickery to his advantage and made it into a positive action, freedom. He would pretend to ride into town, then walk back and sneak up on the slaves as to scare and deceive them. One day, after a severe beating by Covey, (Douglass 86) Douglass ran for refuge for one night from a slave named Sandy Jenkins. Jenkins believed that a certain root had magical powers and told Douglass that if he wore it on his right side no white man could beat him (Douglass 90). He returned the next day wearing the root, and to his surprise, Covey did not beat him for a time. A few days later, Covey tried to tie him up for a beating.
