Sociology

In his famous autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, a former slave recounts how an ignorant human being born into slavery can escape and become a positive role model for other people suffering in a variety of ways.  As a student from the Middle East this book reflected some of my own personal experiences, fears, and hopes for a more harmonious world in the future.  The three aspects of the book that strike me as the most profound are the episodes of violence to control human beings, the personal pride that remains despite the violence, how education is treated as a tool to escape ignorance and oppression. The book is, in my view, mostly about the origination of resistance, under what conditions it arises as a function of a genuine personal pride, and the necessity of education in maintaining a resistance posture in the face of adversity. From an enforced ignorance that seeks to prevent resistance from ever arising to brutal physical beatings intended to temper the resistance impulses when they do become manifest, Douglas eventually experiences through education a spiritual awakening which causes him to question the morality and the proffered justifications for slavery in a manner which still resonate today among a diverse global population.

My interest in this book was instantly captured as Douglass describes the conditions of slave life as constituting, essentially, a world of darkness.  This darkness, in turn, is characterized by a lack of knowledge about the most mundane facts such as birthdays, by a lack of power to affect the way farms are operated or slaves employed, and by a shocking violence that meets any slaves attempt to behave in ways not specifically prescribed by the white masters.  Regarding his own origins, for example, Douglass knows very little.  He does not know his date of birth and while he remembers his mother whom had died he is not sure about his fathers precise identity.  Douglas notes that this ignorance is deliberately imposed and maintained.  At one point, for example, he writes that The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege. I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it HYPERLINK httpwww.questiaschool.comPM.qstaod97002098(Douglass 1).  The first condition of slave life is thus one of imposed ignorance.  Even where a white owner might know the facts sought by the slave, Douglass believes that these facts will not be forthcoming.  He considers this type of enforced ignorance to be one means through which the white masters keep the slaves ignorant, uneducated, and docile.  This is a very interesting observation, that people in power want to keep other people ignorant, because it shows that knowledge is power.  The same principles that Douglass writes about might be applied today to events around the world in which people in power also try to keep most people ignorant by withholding the true facts.  This might be applied with respect to the Wall Street bailouts, armed conflicts around the world, or even substandard relief efforts in Haiti.  Douglass writes about a universal conflict between a minority group in power and a majority group deliberately kept ignorant and in the dark.

In addition to slaverys explicit policy of enforced ignorance, another significant condition of slave life that shocked was its extraordinarily violent nature.  It was the norm rather than the exception for masters to resort to extreme physical violence in order to encourage conformity or to punish nonconformity.  In illustrating this type of extreme physical violence, Douglass describes a Mr. Plummer who was a miserable drunkard, a profane swearer, and a savage monster. He always went armed with a cowskin and a heavy cudgel. I have known him to cut and slash the womens heads so horribly, that even master would be enraged at his cruelty, and would threaten to whip him if he did not mind himself.  HYPERLINK httpwww.questiaschool.comPM.qstaod97002100(Douglass 3)

Despite the occasional rebukes for excessively violent behavior, the violence never really seems too far away.  The second condition of slave life, as expressed so vividly in Douglasss narrative, is the constant threat of extreme and vicious physical violence.  Even the occasional master who cringes when seeing or hearing about these types of violence ultimately tends to consider such violence a necessary means for keeping the slaves in line.  Slaves are to know their place and not to question or criticize authority.  The white owners are portrayed like all knowing gods and the blacks are like work animals.  A white owner, in this context, would no more ask his horse whether it is ready to plow the fields then he would ask a black slave with an illness if he is ready for a sixteen hour work day with little food and little rest.  It is therefore amazing, given these conditions, that Douglass is able to retain his self-respect and to development a very well-rounded personal pride.  His strength in this respect deeply affected me as I read the book.

Finally, I was impressed by Douglasss efforts to improve his understanding of his condition as a slave through education.  Education, for him, is as powerful a weapon as the whip for the slave owner. It is while living with Master Hugh that Douglass notes that During this time, I succeeded in learning to read and write HYPERLINK httpwww.questiaschool.comPM.qstaod97002119(Douglass 22).  Although some people throughout history may have considered experience without literacy to constitute an adequate education, Douglass feels that the two can not be separated and I agree.  More specifically, he feels that an enlightened experience requires literacy and education.  Reading books is extraordinarily important in Douglasss view because it allows him to seek answers to his oldest questions and it also allows him to explore notions of slavery and freedom in more depth.  In describing his teacher at the time, his mistress, he comments rather sarcastically that She was an apt woman and a little experience soon demonstrated, to her satisfaction, that education and slavery were incompatible with each other HYPERLINK httpwww.questiaschool.comPM.qstaod97002119(Douglass 22).  Douglass comes to learn that someone or some group of people are trying to hide important knowledge from him and he becomes even more determined to discover this forbidden knowledge.  Education is therefore a means to an end.  Education is the means to ending slavery and securing individual freedom.  Again, this type of theme impresses me because it can be applied in modern times sadly, institutionalized education at times does not seem to effect the kind of change envisioned by Douglass.  Individual education, on the other, may perhaps help to change the world for a better future.

In conclusion, Douglasss life in my view illustrates how an individual quest can change the way people think and behave.  From a child born into slavery, who didnt even know his birth date, he emerged into one of the worlds greatest proponents of individual dignity, freedom, and liberty.  Douglass proves that education demands a critical mind, that a critical mind can discern between truth and self-serving lies, and that it is sometimes necessary to put beliefs to the test in the form of action.  Douglass experiences beatings, painful separations, jail, and constant hardship and, yet, he persists and prevails.  His persistence is perhaps just as noble as his written words.  Frederick Douglass remains a great inspirational figure for all people who feel abused, oppressed or shielded from knowing the true conditions in which they exist as human beings.