Frederick Douglass

The narrative of Frederick Douglass was incredibly entertaining for me to read. I define an entertaining reading as a reading that makes me feel some sort of feelings for the writer or character. In this particular case, the writer was the character and the fact that it is a true story I felt a great deal of compassion. The journey of Frederick Douglass' life from slavery to consciousness was a representative of all slaves of the time. His audience was white northerners who knew about slavery but didn't know of the darker side of slavery. The slave owners would fear their slaves into lying about the cruelty and neglect. Frederick Douglass wanted to show to the northerners the truth behind slavery through his own testimony, so he began by walking them through the gates of hell, slavery.

When I first began to read his story I felt angry and was in disbelief that one human could be so cruel to another. I was angry over the treatment and neglect of the slaves. The beatings were brutal, the slaves were robbed of their individualism, their family was taken away, they could not love another person, and they were treated like animals. Frederick Douglass described his master as a horrible man who enjoyed whipping and the cries of his slaves. Working slaves were given just a few shirts, pants, socks and a jacket for the entire year. The children were given even less. I found it hard to continue to read but grateful I did, as I continued my feelings changed from anger to astonishment. I was completely amazed how someone with Frederick Douglass' background could leave his gory past behind him and become a respectful, intelligent, young man. I was proud to read his writings and I felt privileged.

Frederick Douglass values "consciousness" for a number of reasons. The obvious reason is this is how