Frederick Douglass Essay

In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave, Douglass describes the dehu homophileization of both slaves and slave owners. Many slaves were dehu humansized by getting beat, set on and even killed. He has seen more horrid things like the incident with Denbys death and how he had to fight over scraps of aliment. Douglass not plainly describes the dehumanisation of the slaves, he as well talks about how it too changed many of the slave owners that he had encountered.The first time Douglass sees the dehumanization of the slave owners was when he met Mrs. Auld. She had never owned a slave before so she enured him with respect and with kindness. At first, Mrs. Auld is described by Douglass as angelic, kind, and humble. She taught him the first principle and how to read. Frederick said, When I went thither, she was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman. There was no sorrow or woe for which she had not a tear. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach.(pg. 82) However, her husband scorned her for teaching a slave how to read. He influenced her with his corrupt mindset about treating slaves and changed Mrs. Auld from Angelic to demonic as Frederick described. He said, Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these celestial qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became st wholeness, and the lamblike disposition gave right smart to one of tiger-like fierceness.This shows how immensely Mrs. Auld was changed just by her husband commanding her and grave her what was right in his mind. Once she discovered this new found baron, that she has power over another human being, she used it to her advantage and went from being the squeamish lady that taught Douglass how to read to the lady that would punish him if she caught him reading. Another example of the dehumanization of the slave owners is Mr. Covey. He was a very religious man and was also cognom end the n****r breaker because all the slaves that went to him, he emotionally broke, loss their life even more depressing and gloomy. Mr. Covey was proud of his nickname and cared very much for his re congealation.It says in the fable, Added to the natural good qualities of Mr. Covey, he was a professor of religion a pious soul a component and a class-leader in the Methodist church.(Pg. 101) Covey was devoted to religion and pause his slaves to build on his reputation that he has. The dehumanizing part is that he likes what he does and how he beats the poor slaves. The novel states, My natural elasticity was crushed, my judgement languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died the no-account night of slavery closed in upon me and behold a man transformed into a brute this shows how cruel Mr. Covey is that he make Douglass transform. Everything that he learned went away, his slight sense of joy if there was any was now wiped a way from him. Douglass also talks about the dehumanization of the slaves.Branching off from Mr. Covey, Many women slaves were dehumanized by being fuck up machines. Mr. Covey bought a women slave, Caroline, and her only job was to breed with another man which was Samuel Harrison which was a married man. This is very contradictory because Covey claims to be a man of god when he is doing things like this. Another example of the dehumanization of slaves was when Douglass and his set out were separated when he was born. The slave owners didnt want them to get in affection with each other because they thought it would distract them from working. In the novel it says, I do not recollect of ever seeing my mother by the light of day. She was with me in the night. She would lie down with me, and get me to sleep, simply long before I waked she was gone.This shows how his mother would walk all the way to another plantation just to see him at night when he was sleeping because she loved him very much. It was very dehumanizing when Douglass described what kind of food they had to eat, We were not regularly allowanced. Our food was coarse corn meal boiled. This was called MUSH. It was put into a large wooden tray or trough, and set down upon the ground. He later describes how the children were called to eat the mush like pigs and how they had to fight over the small-scale they had. It was the survival of the fittest. As you can see, dehumanization had an effect on the slaves by destroying them physically and mentally, making them depressed and malnourished, and in some cases, dying. There were also effects on slave owners but not as rash as the ones slaves endured. Mrs. Auld went from being a dainty, angelic lady who was nice to everyone and everything to cruel and punishing.