The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass :: Narrative Life Frederick Douglass

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass   The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass shows several instances in which his personal accounts of slaveholding are highlighted. These instances illustrate important realizations that Douglass makes concerning slavery, and/or about his own condition.   The very first chapter of the novel produces the first example loss of identity. Many slaves had absolutely no concept of time, in terms of factual dates. Slaves were kept ignorant as to the facts of the real world, in most cases not even cognize the year of their birth, preventing the companionship of a captives true age. A birthday is something with which people can identify, as they are a celebrated part of our culture, especially to youth. Douglass here identifies himself as a human being lacking what we may consider a normal childhood simply through the use of dates. We identify ourselves by the dates which surround the events of our lives. offset o f our identity is formed from dates and this was a privilege he was denied. He is, however, provided with a general idea as to how old he truly is, I deign to this from hearing my master say, some time during 1835, I was about seventeen years old (Douglass 1).   Adding to this already tarnished identity is the status of his parental figures. While Douglass reasonably got to know his mother, he never really had a father. His father, according to practically everyone, was a white man, ...opinion was also whispered that my master was my father... (1). Although it is true that he knew his mother, it moldiness be noted that they were separated while he was an infant and thereafter only met a total of four or five times. The consequences of not knowing who you really are may not have phased Douglass much during his childhood. However as he grew older and began to understand how the politics of slavery work, there is no doubt that this lack of principle human right (to which everyone should be entitled) certainly motivated Douglass towards achieving his goal of freedom.   A major fear amongst slave owners is that their slaves will meet to read and write.