Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave
Essay Directions
After reading the essay, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave, respond to all five of the following questions and be sure to keep your answers in essay format flowing like a normal essay, which means numbering is not necessary. You can answer the questions in any order just be sure to include your analysis in each answer to receive credit. The questions for your essay are as follows.
1. Historians, when analyzing black history, often focus on the psychological effects of slavery and racism on black people, but what does the narrative of Frederick Douglass reveal about the negative psychological effects of absolute power on the white slave master, give analysis with examples on his shocking observations of the transformation of his masters?
2. Frederick Douglass notes his mental evolution of going from a boy to a slave and then from a slave to a man. By using examples give analysis to his process of becoming enslaved and then finding freedom, noting specifically when he became free?
3. As a house slave Douglass and his aunt were treated very differently. Describe the gendered difference in the master-slave relationship Frederick Douglass’ aunt had with the master as an attractive female house slave, and that of Frederick Douglass and his mistress when he moved to the city. What are the similarities and what are the major differences and what does that tell us about the unique trauma enslaved women had to endure?
4. What are two things about this narrative that shocked you emotionally and why?
5. Why does Frederick Douglass withhold the names of the slave masters and the white people that abused him despite writing this narrative as a free man and what does that say about the emotional power of fear is it perhaps reminiscent of post-traumatic stress syndrome?
