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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Essentially, slavery is a form of human interaction that seeks to further domination of one party over the other. As such, it deprives the weaker party of a chance to enjoy its freedom accordingly. Numerous studies contend that it literary kills the worth of the person as the masters’ aim at destroying the honor and pride of the slave. Consequently, the slave becomes vulnerable and unable to survive without the help of the master. Of great reference is the fact that the slave is also deprived of his or her liberty and freedom. Slavery had far reaching implications on the holistic wellbeing of slaves in America. Comparatively, it is indicated that American slavery was characterized by a high level of brutality that had never been experienced in the past.

For instance, it is posited that slaves in the Roman Empire were allowed to interact with the families of their masters. Such an instance was not experienced in the American society due to the fact that the same was stratified according to social classes. It is against this disturbing background that his paper reviews the role that violence played in the narrative of Fredrick Douglass. In order to enhance a harmonic consideration, it underscores the extent to which one’s gender determined the Millward Winter 2010 six types of violence that they experienced. Finally, it analyzes the experiences of the slaves in light of Fredrick’s narrative.

Since it was entirely meant to reinforce power and domination, slavery was characterized by a high degree of violence. Arguably, this is fundamental in the creation and maintenance of power and domination. It is notable that slavery was exercised in communities that were highly stratified. As such, the masters employed violence repeatedly in order to prevent the reduction of the numbers of slaves through freedom and/ or death. Further, Douglass (2001) indicates that violence was also employed to encourage the slaves to work and produce more. In this regard, it is indicated that the slaves worked harder in order to avoid the punishment that was associated with laziness. In addition, violence during slavery was instrumental in maintaining the stratified conditions between the masters and the servants. As such, Nudelman (2003) argues that there was no mingling and that slaves found interacting with the White population were punished accordingly. In this case therefore, violence was a critical tool in preventing the slaves from maintaining a close relationship with their White masters. Violence was also employed in destroying the existing social ties that the slaves had. As indicated earlier, this culminated in a condition of increased vulnerability and dependence on the master for survival.

Notably, violence was accorded a gendered approach and women had different experiences from their male counterparts. Comparatively, women experienced different forms of violence that had diverse effects on their wellbeing than their male counterparts. Thus gender played a critical role in determining the kinds of violent episodes that each segment of the population experienced.

Fredrick’s narrative brings to the light the various inhuman conditions that characterized slavery. He cites that they were traded for money and other resources. In this respect, Horton and Lois (2006) assert that their human worth was reduced to that of goods that could be easily exchanged for cash. This had negative implications on their psychological wellbeing as they were uncertain of the time that they could be sold. Basically, selling implied that they could no longer stay with their families. Historical evidence points out that slaves were sold for various reasons.

To begin with, those who worked in the plantations were commonly sold in instances where they became troublesome. In such cases, their masters considered them a threat to the overall economic production and social wellbeing. At this point in time, it should be appreciated that the plantation owners controlled the economy and politics of the region. This was made possible through increased economic production. Thus any activity that could affect production was not compromised. Also slaves were usually sold when their masters died. In his review, studies ascertain that the death of a master or slave owner led to the breaking up of his estate. Further, Harden (2003) reports that the masters often sold the slaves in order to get a chance to sexually exploit the wives of the slaves. Selling of slaves had adverse effects as it led to breaking up of families and important social ties as they never saw their relatives again.

In some instances, they were also hired in exchange for cash. Harden (2003) shows that this was particularly common with the slaves that resided in the urban areas. The urban economy was characterized by commercial activities that did not require a lot of slave labor. While it is indicated that in most cases the slaves were hired by the owners, Douglass (2001) notes that slaves leading desperate lives could hire themselves out through vendors.

In his narrative, Douglass (2001) confirms that slaves were generally exposed to brutal treatment. This was characterized by physical assault, torture, threats, intimidation and sexual exploitation. They were expected to adhere to the conditions laid down by their masters. Any form of disobedience of the White population immediately led to brutal retaliation. Further, some laws were put in place to prevent the saves from utilizing their property in the ways that they deemed important. At this juncture, it is worth noting that slavery undermined the holistic freedom of the slaves. Various methods were employed in punishing the slaves, in line with the severity of the offense. Common methods according to Douglass (2001) included slitting tongues, breaking legs, and boxing ears, severing fingers and mutilating the body. Furthermore, cuts with a stick and verbal abuse were also employed during punishment. However, the most popular method that was employed in punishing the slaves was severe whipping. In this consideration, it can be ascertained that the punishment that was administered to the slaves left them with permanent emotional and physical scars.

Conclusion

Slavery is a social ill that greatly undermined the human worth of the slaves by depriving them of fundamental freedom and liberty. It was a form of domination and power that was characterized by a great degree of violence. In particular, the physical assault that violent punishment inflicted on the slaves had adverse emotional effects. From the review, it is clear that violence was employed for various reasons that ranged from increasing productivity to denying the slaves the fundamental freedom. The experience that the slaves dreaded most was their being sold. This is due to the fact that it broke their family ties and encouraged sexual exploitation of the enslaved women. It is in this consideration that this paper concludes by ascertaining that slavery and violence exposed the slaves to inhuman conditions and greatly undermined their holistic wellbeing.

References

Douglass, F. (2001). Narrative of Frederick Douglass. Yale: University Press.

Harden, S. (2003). Slave Patrols: The Southern Experience. Harvard: University Press.

Horton, O. & Lois, E. (2006). Slavery in America. Oxford: University Press.

Nudelman, F. (2003). Slavery and Violence. North Carolina: University Press.