Frederick DOuglass

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass opens with frustration and sadness concerning his ambiguous age. In the first paragraph, Douglass describes how slaves never had an actual record of their births since owners preferred to keep their slaves ignorant and thus powerless to take over or runaway. Basically, slaves were treated as animals and birth dates only came as close as seasons within a year. Douglass makes it explicit how frustrating it was …

…because his own Aunt Hester was the victim. This event must have been extremely emotional for Douglass who had no idea of such things occurring on a plantation. The emotional pain as well as fear that affected Douglass must have been extraordinary. Douglass wished, "I could commit to paper the feelings with which I behel! d it." This incident was indubitably a major factor that helped motivate him for his escape to freedom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**