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Monica Fowler American Civilization
May 27, 2009
“Frederick Douglass” Paper
A lot of different things stood out to me while reading the book called “Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass”. Most obvious, was the fact that slavery was, in the least, very
barbaric in all aspects. In my opinion, slaves were thought of and treated like animals and the
slave owners were very ignorant in their beliefs of slavery and their slaves. This book really
opened my eyes to all of the hardships slaves had to suffer. To name a few, they were separated
from their family, suffered severe physical and mental abuse, and were deprived of many things,
including freedom. I also came to know the seriously distorted views their masters had about
slavery with regards to religion. There were definitely various negative things from this book to
write about. Instead of writing about the inhumanity of slavery made apparent in this book, I
chose to write my paper on a different, more positive aspect of the book that also stood out to
me, and that was the tenacious desire and will power Frederick Douglass possessed. I also noted
while reading, how his remarkable intelligence combined with his determination, was such a
successful recipe for freedom.
There are several passages in the book that exhibit Douglass’s strong will power and
exceptional wit. In the beginning of the book, he proclaimed that he “would not live and die a
slave” and stated for as long as he could remember, he had a strong belief that “slavery would
not always be able to keep hold of him”. Another way he displayed his hardy will power was
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Monica Fowler
American...