American Literature

Frederick Douglass narrates the story of his live as a slave in the slave-holding states of the south. Throughout the narrative, slavery is portrayed as a monster that dehumanizes both the slave and the master. It robs the slave the dignity of being human, and corrupts the character of the slaveholder by making him insensitive to human suffering. By referring to the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the paper examines how slavery was destructive to slave masters and their subjects in the southern states of America before the abolition, and how it affected the south in general.

The first dehumanizing experience of the slaves started right after birth. Birth details were kept in the farm records, together with those of farm animals. As a result, most slaves like Douglass were not sure of their parentages. They believed that blacks were inherently incapable of participating in civil society and thus should be kept as workers for whites..they kept slaves ignorant of basic facts about themselves, such as their birth date or their paternity, enforcing ignorance that robs children of their natural sense of individual identity (Spark Notes 2010). Similarly, slaves were bred like animals so as to support manpower in the farm plantations. The slave masters like Captain Anthony used to tie slaves together like animals so as to mate they even monitored the womens ovulation cycles so as to increase chances of conception. This was a gross undermining of human dignity by degrading fellow men into the level of animals, such that they could be bred and domesticated. In addition, slaves were owned like property that could be auctioned and sold to the highest bidder.

The slaves were also denied enough food and good shelter despite the fact that they were overworked in the farm. Their masters gave them spoiled corn to brew alcohol during holidays so as to remain drunk and unconscious of their state, and consider themselves useless without the benevolence of their owners. At the firm, they were severely whipped (Douglass 18) and even shot by the cruel overseers like Mr. Severe and Austin Gore when they paused to take a rest. This demonstrates the inhuman nature of those who managed slaves.

Slaves were also rent out like property. Douglass himself was traded between his masters sons in law, Hugh Auld and Thomas Auld, who in turn leased him out to Mr. Covey, so as to soften his stubbornness as he (Covey) was famed as a slave breaker (Douglass 68). He overworked slaves under his care and beat them mercilessly. This experience had the effect of changing Douglass into a brutish and dangerous man, when he eventually rebelled and fought with Mr. Covey. At the death their master, all the slaves were assembled together with the farm animals, men and women, old and young, married and single, ranked with horses, sheep and swine so that they could be distributed out (Douglass 54). This outrageous disregard of family ties and kinship shows how slaves were degraded and treated like animals with no familial relationships or emotional feelings. Consequently, children of the same mother were separated without any considerations, leaving their aging grandmother desolate in a small hut in the forest, where she gropes her way, in the darkness of age, for a drink of water) (Douglass 58).

The impact of slave holding upon their masters is best demonstrated by the transformation of Mrs. Sophia, Hughs wife. While living with Hugh in Baltimore, he recounts that his mistress, Mrs. Hugh was gentle, kind, generous and friendly since she had not owned slaves previously. At first, she is portrayed as an angel who was blind to the differences of color. She treated Douglass kindly and even offered to teach. However, her character soon changed to rival that of Mr. Severe, Covey and Gore. After her husband pointed out that an educated slave is useless since he became unmanageable, she changed drastically and became an oppressor (Douglass 47).

The southern states suffered and still suffer from the evils of slavery, specifically in terms of economic development. By holding on slave holding, they concentrated in agricultural production when the north was undergoing an industrial revolution. Until today, the north is the economic hub and most developed part in America, with a concentration of industries, banks and universities.