The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass - 2047 Words

Frederick Douglass was an African American social reformer, orator, and writer. He became the leader of the of the abolitionist movement after escaping from slavery and publishing his autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. His narrative showed white anti-slavery sympathizers, how slaves were brutalized by the slave holding system. Harriet Jacobs was an African American writer who escaped from slavery and was later freed. She became an abolitionist speaker and reformer. Jacobs wrote her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and published the book in 1861 under the name of Linda Brent. By reading slave narrative written by male and female is the idea of their experience as male or female such that†¦show more content†¦I still made him no answer, nor did I move to strip myself. Upon this he rushed at me with the fierceness of a tiger, tore off my clothes, and lashed me till he had worn out his switches, cutting me so savagely as to leave the marks visible for a long time. (Douglass 357). With this in mind, Douglass demonstrated that his commitment to nonviolent resistance was crucial in securing his passage to manhood and self-actualization; he was a model of patience, endurance, and fortitude. This demonstrated male maturity through his courageous action. An example of how Douglass had patience, endurance and fortitude were when Mr. Convey did not teach Douglass to manage the oxen. He sends Douglass with a team of oxen into the forest to retrieve some wood, therefore he does not know how to managed the oxen and upset the cart; he narrowly escapes injury and got stranded in the middle of the woods with a damaged cart and a team of oxen tangled in their own reins. He managed to untangle the oxen and control them; the oxen becomes frightened for a second time and runs off. He returns to his mater and reports what happen. Mr. Convey punished Douglass by making him take off his clothes; he didn t listen to his master s orders and was forced to take off his clothes by his master. Mr. Convey tried breaking Douglass as he felt that he was broken in body, soul and spirit. He is constantly abused by Mr. Convey as a result, he had patience, endurance, and fortitude. Douglass