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Frederick Douglass - Living a Nightmare

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To fully understand what it was like to be a slave during the time period of Frederick Douglass is impossible. To be a young African boy, treated as an inexhaustible resource and ripped away from your family, is unfathomable. The struggles that Frederick portrays in his narrative could even possibly be considered miniscule compared to the endless torture others, who didn’t escape, endured. Frederick Douglass offers a unique and eye opening perspective into the life and journey from a slave to a free man. Frederick, born in Tuckahoe, Maryland, only aware that he was born around 1818, is born into a greater disadvantage than most slaves in that his father is a white man. His mother, Harriet Bailey, is a slave and is rarely able to see her son. Though important it is to see her, Fredrick never establishes a loving connection with his mother. The first stage of Frederick’s life begins with Captain Anthony who supervises the overseers at the plantation Frederick is at. As expected, Captain Anthony is a cruel man. This is Frederick’s first introduction into slavery, and a vivid bloody one at that. On multiple occasions Frederick is subject to witnessing, and sometimes feeling as though he participated in, brutal beatings and whippings. Frederick works for numerous slave overseers and experiences both fair and cruel treatment from them. Through all this he is witness to the unjustness of slavery. Especially pertaining to multiple incidents where overseers murder their slaves and not even an eyebrow is raised. Luckily for Frederick’s sake he won’t stay on the plantation. At an early age Frederick is chosen to go to Baltimore to work for Captain Anthony’s son-in-law’s brother, Hugh Auld. Frederick is happy to be leaving the plantation as he views it as a new life that couldn't get any worse than what he had already experienced. Baltimore is a new type of experience for Frederick. Mrs. Auld is kind and even goes to the extent to b

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