“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” – Frederick Douglass.
A paper written for POL S 312: Survey of American Political Thought.
In his autobiographical classic, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass utilizes both his considerable literary technique and righteous anger to convey to readers the desperation experienced by an enslaved person, and the redemption that comes with emancipation. His autobiographical work details the processes of systematic degradation and privations which are used in negating the self-worth of enslaved persons, and how, once enslaved, the enslaved person must proceed along an arduous path of redemption, with self-defense and education playing key roles in that process, if self-respect and autonomy are to be reclaimed.
For Douglass, slavery is a self-evident wrong and a deformation of the natural human condition. “Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? … There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him [Douglass’s emphasis]” (Stauffer and Gates ed. “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” 206-207). Douglass sees slavery as a crime against both God and humanity, which “… must be proclaimed and denounced” (Stauffer and Gates ed. “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” 207).
The process of transforming an autonomous person into a state of abject slavery is, according to Douglass, both calculated and systematized, and it dehumanizes both the enslaver and the enslaved. The enslaved person goes without bed, adequate food and clothing, but even more oppressively, experiences a consistent lack of sufficient sleep (Douglass Narrative 48). Systematic physical abuse is the norm, while often entailing sexual violence – such as the experiences held by Douglass’s Aunt Hester, a beautiful woman habitually assaulted by her overseer, who “… stripped her from neck to waist, leaving her neck, shoulders, and back entirely naked …” while proceeding to brutally whip her for being with another man (Douglass Narrative 45-46). In addition to physical violence such as this, psychological degradation is also consistently employed, robbing the enslaved person of their autonomy, and reducing them to a state bereft of formal education. This process degrades both the enslaved and the overseer, as is shown by Douglass’s description of his first foray into formal education. Having been taught to read by the wife of one of his enslavers, who in turn was admonished by her husband for doing so, Douglass realizes that he “… now understood the pathway from slavery to freedom”, as education makes the enslaved person “…unmanageable…” for the enslaver (Douglass Narrative 64). Having been recriminated by her husband, the woman who taught Douglass becomes progressively more deformed by the vice of slavery, so that her once kindly demeanor has transmogrified into a visage far sterner and intolerant (Douglass Narrative 63-66). Finally, the ultimate psychological torture to the enslaved person is to deny objective truth itself. The simple act of speaking truth is an assurance of misery and possible death, as these are the consequences “… of telling the truth … in answer to … plain questions” (Douglass Narrative 54). It is also worth noting that, for Douglass, the impulse to subjugate captive peoples is not one merely confined to white enslavers in North America, but a tendency which has been apparent throughout human history, citing the example of the Norman subjugation of the Anglo-Saxons (Stauffer and Gates ed. “The Color Line” 501-502).
How did Douglass find redemption and recover his humanity? In the most beautiful passage of his first autobiography, Douglass contrasts his life in bondage with the freedom and autonomy of the ships sailing on Chesapeake Bay: “you are loosed from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains, and am a slave! You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip!” (Douglass Narrative 84). During this period of reflection and depression, Douglass is subjected to the sadism of one Edward Covey, a “slave-breaker” who beat Douglass consistently during a six-month period. After one particularly brutal beating, Douglass fought back. In another altercation two days later, Douglass was again attacked by Covey, and, as before, Douglass fought back against his assailant, who ended up “… getting entirely the worst of the bargain” (Douglass Narrative 88). The desire to be free like the vessels on Chesapeake Bay, along with the resolve of never tolerating another beating regardless of the consequences, restores Douglass’s sense of autonomy and self-worth. “My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact” (Douglass Narrative 89).
Freedom’s facilitator is education, but for the enslaved person education is also a fearsome burden, as it clarifies to the enslaved person their debased condition. “Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever. It was heard in every sound, and seen in every thing [sic]. It was ever present to torment me with a sense of my wretched condition” (Douglass Narrative 69). In conjunction with this recovered sense of self-confidence, Douglass utilizes the education that he clandestinely received from his former master’s wife. For Douglass, education in itself is of prime importance, but education, culture, and a work ethic must also be wedded to “… some truly unselfish and noble purpose” (Stauffer and Gates ed. “The Trials and Triumphs of Self-Made Men” 302).
Douglass possesses a special insight of freedom’s preciousness, and the qualities needed to nurture it. His perspective on freedom is that of a person born in a condition stripped of all autonomy and dignity, which few contemporary readers can relate to. However, most readers can identify with states of hopelessness and frustration, both of which entirely define Douglass’s life before his escape. Freedom is precious, and works such as Douglass’s emphasize this for his readers. Hard-won freedom, though, while treasured by the formerly enslaved person, may also lead to feelings of ambivalence caused by years of systemic degradation, so that the joy of freedom is “… like the quick blaze, beautiful at the first, but which subsiding, leaves the building charred and desolate” (Stauffer and Gates ed. “My Bondage and My Freedom” 103). Still, for Douglass, freedom is always to be preferred over slavery.
In conclusion, Frederick Douglass, through his remarkable literary and oratorical gifts, articulated from his personal experience the enslaved person’s plight in an unprecedented way. With his graphic and detailed descriptions of the degraded existence of enslaved persons, Douglass sheds light on the shared experiences of millions of human beings to a readership which may only possess vague notions of the horrors of slavery. Douglass’s works, as well as his life, consistently emphasize the artificiality and systemic barbarity of slavery, as well as the transcendental redemption found in education, self-respect, resistance, and a higher purpose. An enslaved person’s struggle against their oppressor in itself restores their “manhood” – their self-worth. As Douglass eloquently states, “That we should have to contend and strive for what is freely conceded to other citizens without effort or demand may indeed be a hardship, but there is compensation here as elsewhere. Contest is itself ennobling. A life devoid of purpose and earnest effort is a worthless life. Conflict is better than stagnation. It is bad to be a slave, but worse to be a willing and contented slave” (Stauffer and Gates ed. “Why the Colored American in Not in the Columbian Exposition” 526). It is this emphasis on both dignity and autonomy, regardless of external circumstances, which, for Douglass, leads to redemption for the enslaved person.
Bibliography:
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, edited by David W. Blight, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003.
Stauffer, John and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. editors. The Portable Frederick Douglass. Penguin Classics, 2016.