Treated Like Animals: Frederick Douglass

            There is no reasoning on earth that could justify the amount of suffering that Frederick Douglass went through as a child and a young man. One of the most shocking images to me was that of the children running around with nearly no clothes on in the middle of winter! How can you let small children live with so much pain by freezing them for the simple lack of a blanket and some decent clothes? Douglass refers to the fact that most children were provisioned two shirts a year and pants were considered a luxury they did not need. The slave owners treated these children like filthy miscreants that were no better than the lowest animal! Douglass described many a child stealing scraps from the pigs in order to get something to eat so that they simply would not starve to death. The anguish that these people were subject to from sheer hunger disgusts me, especially when there was quite clearly a surplus of food at the plantation owner’s house.

            The act of whipping that pervades the story makes my stomach churn as well. The overseers and slave owners seem to whip the slaves merely because they have the ability to do so. Captain Anthony whips Aunt Hester for visiting a friend at night and he relishes the whipping by whipping her harder based on how loud she screams. The cold-bloodedness of this scene broke my heart and I felt as if I was standing with Frederick Douglass as a child when he witnessed all of this. In the city, Douglass describes the deplorable situation of his neighbors, Mary and Henrietta. Mrs. Hamilton whipped them in the head and on the shoulders nearly every minute and referred to Mary as a “black gip.” I’m blown away at how these women ever survived after the loss of so much blood and I wanted to slap Mrs. Hamilton after this description. When Douglass finally rises up against Mr. Covey towards the end of the chapters, I almost jumped out of my chair and yelled at the prospect of his success. No longer would he stand to be whipped like a common animal and treated with less respect than dirt on the road.

            Frederick Douglass’s narrative showed the inhumane practices of slavery that were acceptable in the 1830s. My emotions were like a roller coaster throughout all of the chapters that we read. I felt disgust towards the slave owners, despair for Douglass and the other slaves, anger at the whippings of innocent people, and triumph for Douglass as he finally harnesses some way to stop the cycle of violence for himself. The power that learning to read and write had on Douglass is clear throughout his piece and it seems to have given him the courage to move forward and pursue his freedom from slavery. His narrative is well written and deeply moving. I am sure that I will not be able to get rid of the images of starving, half-naked children for quite a while.