The life of Frederick Douglass Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The life of Frederick Douglass - Essay Example Douglas relocated to work for a new owner by the name Sophia Auld. His new master began as a nice and humble woman, but with time turned out to be highly cruel and hateful. This woman started teaching him the alphabet and spelling. However, her husband found out of the alphabet lessons and argued that if slaves know how to read soon they would become hateful and dissatisfied by their status. In the end, they will develop desires for freedom. In this context, Douglass took the argument as an anti-abolitionist statement. The slave would later talk about this on his lectures. Consequently, Douglas decided to undertake self-administered learning. He would ask for a little help from his neighbors. His interest in learning grew to a point where he started purchasing books.The highlight of his slave life is when he got into a physical confrontation with his boss Edward Covey. Covey had a habit of beating up his slaves, and on one day, Douglas fought back at him and beat him up. As a result, this made Covey never to try beating him again. The master feared that it might damage his reputation as a brutal slave owner (Risley 67). This was a real turning point in his slavery life as he earned some respect from his master. From historical information, we find out that before this, his master would administer regular whips to the slave. This made him extremely weak, and one day he collapsed on the field. He then decided that he could no longer face increasing brutality and unfairness in the camp.... In the end, they will develop desires for freedom (Douglas 54). In this context, Douglass took the argument as an anti-abolitionist statement. The slave would later talk about this on his lectures. Consequently, Douglas decided to undertake self-administered learning. In addition, he would ask for a little help from his neighbors. His interest in learning grew to a point where he started purchasing books and other learning materials. The highlight of his slave life is when he got into a physical confrontation with his boss Edward Covey. Covey had a habit of beating up his slaves, and on one day, Douglas fought back at him and beat him up. As a result, this made Covey never to try beating him again. The master feared that it might damage his reputation as a brutal slave owner (Risley 67). This was a real turning point in his slavery life as he earned some respect from his master. From historical information, we find out that before this, his master would administer regular whips to th e slave. This made him extremely weak, and one day he collapsed at the field. He then decided that he could no longer face increasing brutality and unfairness in the camp. In this regard, Douglas opted to fighting back as the only way of earning his respect (Huggins 43). This happened when the slave confronted Covey about an issue, which according to conventional master-slave relationship would warrant a beating as punishment. The fight that ensued was tough, and finally, Douglas turned out victorious. This combat victory was a major turning point in his life. Douglass then started thinking of how he could escape from slavery. Despite substantial efforts, his first attempt was not successful. He had to rethink again. In the process of developing a secondary plan, the slave met